Maya Lewis
Maya Lewis, associate professor of Social Work, reflects on what Inauguration Day meant to her & her twin girls.
It was a glorious day, indeed!
We were decked out in our pearls and pink and green shirts that shouted, 'My VP Looks Like Me!' We had on our fancy pants and our shiny skirts on as I rustled the girls up to gather in front of the TV and see this brilliant Black woman take the oath as the next VP of these United States.
I was elated and had tears, the girls were captivated at the ceremony. Even at 6, it seems they understood the gravity of moment (well they should since I’ve talked about it relentlessly since forever). After the oath I cheered, they cheered and we ate a cupcake and they both turned to me and asked, "Mommy, can we go change and play now?"
When I had them, I knew I would do my best to raise my daughters with fearlessness and freedom and joy...I wanted them to experience the world from the position of the center and not the position of the outsider or other.
I grew up here in South Jersey, a Black girl in a school full of white kids always feeling as though I wasn’t enough. It wasn’t my parent’s fault: they poured esteem and love into me. It was society constantly hitting me over the head making me feel as though I was smart but not smart enough, I could be expected to do well but it was still only going to be well enough. There were limits in America. As a Black woman, I could get right up to the edge of greatness but would not be allowed to cross the threshold.
When I found out I was having twin daughters, I was excited, and I was also determined.
After spending critical years at Spelman College, meeting and befriending, and being among the most dynamic Black women, I began to understand that the limits America placed on us were fake. When I had them, I knew I would do my best to raise my daughters with fearlessness and freedom and joy. I wanted them to know that they have the absolute right to be in any spaces where they desired to be. I wanted them to experience the world from the position of the center and not the position of the outsider or other. I wanted them to know their strength, to know the power they bring from their ancestor women warriors, and to know that they belong.
I think we are on the way to realizing this goal. The girls are constantly questioning the patriarchy (lol). They always are asking me, "Mommy, why is it always he, why not she?" They asked when we say the blessing before dinner if we could refer to God as she, and they want to know why Kamala Harris is only the first woman VP?
To them, Black women already belong in the greatest and most important of places. I know that they are still so young and that their view of the world is very controlled by me. I know also there is a chance of that confidence waning when they reach adolescence.
But, with the election of Kamala Harris, the glimmer of hope that their view of themselves and the world won’t change, is getting so much brighter. So yes that day, that January 20th, was a glorious one indeed!
This Voice was originally published in 2021. At the time of publication, and presently, Maya Lewis was an associate professor of Social Work.
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