SAYHERNAME Morgan Sankofa
Bio
Say Her Name
https://www.aapf.org/sayhername
Stories (56/0)
Love, Empaths, and Breaking Obsessive Tendencies
I was reading a post by fellow Vocal writer Naomi Robinson who wrote a brilliant advice piece titled "The Empathic Mind." She is also a fellow Empath, like myself, and I find it fascinating that discovering the layers of who I am in relationship to others really has the ability to make me feel less of an outsider in this life, and more of belonging to a collective community of distant peers, wrestling to find themselves and be content in these identities. I discovered that I was an Empath a few weeks ago after a counseling appointment. It just dawned on me, and every instance from when I was a child until now, struck me, and the moment of realization just clicked. For me, this has to do with my relationship with other women. I tend to be the "side-kick," the one that will stick with the one that claims me as their friend until it's over. Even when I was a child, I remember the pull of wanting to prove my devotion, in patterns, consistent, unwavering, until I was told to stop, and then the earth-shattering feeling of rejection struck. It's sort of like this dumbfounding feeling where you are confused about what you did wrong. When I create something from my heart, an "invention," as I used to call it, this was the equivalent of showing love to me. I would create stories, flip books, paper jewelry, and create my own (during class...), then I would give them to friends and classmates, and to objects of my affection, usually other girls. Looking back, I realize that I was probably more of a nuisance, interjecting until acceptance from the other, and finding joy in making her feel good, and making her get closer and closer to me. This is not a relationship, this is emotional force.
By SAYHERNAME Morgan Sankofa6 years ago in Humans
Every Woman Should Go to Therapy
I had never heard of Adinkra or their symbols and meanings until I got a chance to go to the Museum of African-American History and Culture in Washington D.C. This is not anything that we learn within our institutions of education at any level, at least not at any of the schools that I have attended primary or secondary.
By SAYHERNAME Morgan Sankofa6 years ago in Psyche
Having No Fear in an America That's Trying to Make Us Powerless
When I think about movements of progress and innovation, I picture courageous leaders. These women, men, and even young folks that are passionate, or inspired by their communities, the wrongdoings that overarching systems of power have weighted on them, decided that enough is enough. They may have been fearful, but they took up their arms of power, their voices, their bodies, their writing, their minds and showed up for their brothers and sisters. We all make a choice every day. Do we want to stay silent during this pivotal time, where our rights are being stripped? As a Black queer woman, I feel like it is my time to stand up (as we always have). I may not have that much money, but my words are rich. When we get up to serve, with conviction, dignity, selflessness, and intellect individually, we make a decision to use our power and talents to see progress. We do this to elevate ourselves out of poverty, out of degradation of our image by our families and culture or by media perpetuations, from flawed institutions such as religious spaces. For example: How can you be a part of a religious institution that is supposed to be your home and comfort when you cannot bring all of yourself to it? Checking your struggles at the door for a spiritual session that forces hurt people, scarred people, broken people, to join you, only if they have to dress up their problems with a smile and a suit, or force themselves to feel a spirit that is just simply not there. Why would a person want to contribute to that divide that patriarchy brings, when we are just a fraction of the way for progress for all women in America, and globally? Religion should be rooted in peace and healing; we really come to religion because we are afraid, or broken, or damaged, to cry out and seek comfort. But what we end up with is shame and short-lived bursts of hope. Without social action we will continue to give into the failed system that is leaving us so disconnected, forgotten, angry, and without abundant good.
By SAYHERNAME Morgan Sankofa6 years ago in The Swamp
Why You Should Not Ignore Your Pain — Fix It
Emotional battles are the core of women's experiences and existence. Trauma, heartbreak, childhood wounds, physiological ailments, failures in friendships, forced situations, failed communications, peer violent language, mental instability, abusive relationships — are just a small list of the afflictions everyday that creep its way into the innocence and gentleness of our origins. Just this past weekend a close family member of mine was in an atrocious accident. The outlook looked so bleak but this person is living, recovering, and healing today. Life is truly an emotional roller coaster with strong, beautiful highs and deep pits of hideous lows. This battle is real and it should not be pushed down, it should be let out and endured.
By SAYHERNAME Morgan Sankofa7 years ago in Longevity
Does Free Will Really Exist?
I was sitting in church this Sunday. This day I was so in tune with just me and the higher power. I was in my own head giving thanks to the higher power for my life and the life of my loved ones. The pastor kept referencing free will. This idea that we all have 100% choice over our everyday actions given to us by god to choose a life that guides you either on a path of destruction or a path to everlasting life. Do I believe that we have free will? My answer is a flat-out no. In my views, no government system that exists on our globe fully gives humans that capacity for free choice because all practices are taught within systems and structures. There are always limits to how we dress, communicate, and exist around each other.
By SAYHERNAME Morgan Sankofa7 years ago in Viva
Hopeless Ro-maniac
A quote that feels salient now is one of the late Heather Heyer made famous. "If you're not outraged you're not paying attention," the woman slain in the act of domestic terror a few weeks ago said. Emotionally, it seems as if people take life day-to-day cringing and waiting for the doom, whether it's family drama, political drama etc. The worst part is the anticipation, you are waiting pressured, stressed, tossing and turning in bed at night from the uncertainty. This deducts years from lives, makes children cry to their parents at night wondering if the person that calls themselves the president is going to have them deported, have them arrested, have them forced and abused by armed cops.
By SAYHERNAME Morgan Sankofa7 years ago in Longevity
Waiting for Our Land to Be Free
When is enough, enough? Having the endless pit of rejection can lead a person to do anything for extra money. The economy has been far from perfect for so many decades, and it seems like progress in regards to wealth is like climbing up a steep mountain. Where do we see the future jobs and money? Some say STEM (science, technology, engineering, and math), some create their own brands and businesses, and some decide to follow the new industries at any cost.
By SAYHERNAME Morgan Sankofa7 years ago in The Swamp
Why to Not Silence Your Voice as a Black Female
The event was going better than I thought. This was finally our time. A young black woman living in Middletown, Pennsylvania created an anti-hatred, racist, sexist (all the above) demonstration and no one was stopping it even with the school media attention and interview. Until... in the distance we see two white boys walking up to the demonstration site. A huge flag supporting the 45th president, boots, geared up and ready to fight and hold on to their rights against women, people of color, and the true America that I love. One which is full of every nationality, sexuality, and walk of life co-existing and gathering to find their life's purposes. This was 2016. You might have thought that this was a sit-in from the 1960s and these boys were coming to take down the "disruptors." This itself showed me how important that safe space for expression of more progressive folks actually is for black people and for black women in particular. Why can't black women have an outlet? This is why I resonate so much with the Black Lives Matter movement that has finally put all black people on a pedestal four years strong and still kicking. That is powerful.
By SAYHERNAME Morgan Sankofa7 years ago in The Swamp