ABCs for My 1, 2, 3

An Alphabet Story for My Daughters

Jamie K. Corbin

A is for adversity. Its inevitability is the cause for your instruction.

B is for Black girl magic. You possess an innate beauty, power, and resilience. Generations of perseverance will lead you to accomplishment despite the systems surrounding you, designed to stile your success. C is for childhood – interrupted. Your father declared it time to protect you with the explanation and education of what it means to be Afro-Latinas in America when you were just 7, 5, and 3.

D is for double standards. They are diicult to accept, so don’t. Speak up for yourself and for others, ight for justice and equality, and don’t yield to discouragement.

E is for education. This is your path forward into progress, and the reason you’ve never lived a day without books; the reason we teach you to read and think before you step foot in a school building. Commitment to your education is a strategic, rebellious shot ired against the injustice that awaits you, an indignant response to the severely punitive literacy laws of the past. Your ancestors fought to open the doors to educational opportunity for us, and we will not waste their sufering and sacriice.

F is for freedom. It’s a declaration, a promise, and a dream that will never come to fruition as long as we allow unjust systems to stand from sea to shining sea.

G is for gun rights. This constitutional guarantee to self-protection exists in writing only. Tamir’s mother knows all too well that in the hands of a Black child, toy guns can be life-threatening. No, darlings, you may not play with your friends and their water guns this summer, or next...or ever.

H is for Holy Trinity. They who decree the imago Dei with each breath of life given, spoken into every shade of lesh found in creation. You are imagebearers of God, beautiful contributions to the kaleidoscope of cultures and souls that constitute the citizenry of Heaven. The Father, Son, and Holy Spirit

are your authority, source of love, and eternal salvation. Never forget that.

I is for “I can’t breathe.” the terriied last words of George Floyd, a pleading echo of community trauma reverberating through generations. Just like George’s momma couldn’t protect him, your father and I couldn’t shield you from the sufocating grief for what was lost this summer; it trespassed on your souls without consent this summer, little ones. I’m sorry.

J is for Justice for Breonna Taylor. She’s an embodied symbol of our country’s forced, but honest confession of how little a Black woman’s life is valued. Our country’s wicked, perverse theology of power and oppression determined this value long ago, but no longer can it be denied in good faith by those who have been complicit in its existence. Will this change before you are considered women? I just don’t know.

K is for Klansmen. They have been emboldened to abandon their white hoods when they lynch Black people in hoodies like Trayvon Martin, or attack our nation’s capitol with a treasonous lag in tow, waving on errs of white supremacy.

L is for lives that matter. Black bodies should matter, just as much as any other. Black lives matter. Your Black bodies and lives are valuable, full of wisdom, worthy of respect, dignity, honor, love, and trust. We remind you of your ancestors’ contributions to our country and point out what you ofer the world on a daily basis, desperate to arm you for this life-long battle.

M is for Martin Luther King, Jr. His words speak to your mission: Be positive peacemakers – bring forth justice – rather than negative peacemakers who accept a lack of tension as an accomplishment worthy of praise. Your own brothers and sisters in Christ might call you divisive as you ight for justice, but it’s injustice that is divisive, not your eforts to end it. Don’t be silenced by those seeking to keep a peace that doesn’t actually exist.

N is for natural hair. Twists, braids, crowns, pufs, cornrows, or wild and free – you are fabulous, and by extension your hair is fabulous, but your beauty extends beyond your hair. Yes, it is unique and exquisite. No, you don’t have to let people touch it.

O is for one another. Our family operates within the words of Jesus, and He shares many directives about how we are to interact with one another – if you start and end with love, you will be on the right path. Loving well is a life skill that sounds simpler than it is. It takes intention, humility, and practice. There will be times of deep conlict when disconnection will seem faster, when vengeance will seem more satisfying, when violence will seem safer – but resist the temptation and save yourself the heartache of losing your integrity and witness along the way. Love one another well, that is how you change the world.

P is for pasión. An abundance of it courses through your little bodies even now. Son Latinas who love iercely from la corazón. Don’t listen to those who would shame you for it, and don’t ever apologize for it – God gave it to you for a purpose. Using your pasión wisely will energize you, but using it in any way other than what He intended will leave you depleted and hurting.

Q is for questions. “Why don’t people like my Black skin?”, “When did you know our church didn’t want us?” “How can one country have two lags?” We struggle with what to say because the answers are complex, don’t make sense, and you are still so young. This tension between the honesty we have always promised you and the protection of your hearts is itself a relentless reminder of why we have to continue ighting for what’s right, even when we are tired. R is for representation. Alicia Keyes, Yara Shahidi, Caila Marsai Martin, Simone Biles, Naomi Osaka, Coco Gauf, Amanda Gorman, Vashti Harrison, Abby Phillips, Michelle Obama, Kamala Harris, Stacey Abrams, Priscilla Shirer, Jo Saxton, Jackie Hill Perry and so many others, all using their Black girl magic to make a way for you to do the same for future magic bearers.

S is for status quo. You are Black girls with brains, beauty, and boldness. You pose a grave danger to the ways of the world, sweet girls, so do not be surprised when the world comes after you. Stick together – lift one another up, protect each other, and celebrate even the smallest of victories – especially when your father and I are gone.

T is for tax. Being Black in America will cost you something. Your health, opportunities, and dignity will be unfairly taken from you.

U is for understandings. You need to understand that history is fundamental. You must learn it before you share it, and share it before you can inluence it. Understand that ighting for social justice is a journey – some are farther along than others. You will have to discern whether the moment calls for patience and grace or a healthy boundary to remain an efective agent of change.

V is for visionary. The world needs you, my loves, to lead in a way that opens hearts, minds, and eyes to imaginative thinking. Lead in a way that opposes oppression, create power and share it.

W is for wait. People will admonish you to wait patiently for justice. That is a tactic meant to disarm you, to make you question if what you are seeing and experiencing is as oppressive as it feels. But, justice is not something that is absent today and then arrives at an agreed upon date. Justice is an ongoing proclamation that demands defense. Waiting is not a choice.

X is for xenophobia. Sometimes it is said that people are afraid of what they don’t know. But I think people are more afraid of what they do know. There is a racial reckoning going on in our country, and the Church is not exempt. People are afraid because they know wrongs have been done. Their bodies can feel their complicity, even if their minds don’t want to acknowledge it. And, their hearts are at odds with their creator. Fear is a powerful emotion that makes people do ungodly things. Love, however, is the opposite of fear. Choose love.

Y is for yearn. Your father and I long for a diferent reality with all of our being. We will ight alongside you, for your grandchildren and their grandchildren’s grandchildren until our dying breaths.

Z is for Zion. We have an eternal reality. Mijas, do not lose your faith along the way. This world, with its unjust history and systems, is not our forever home. While we are here, our family ights for what is right. It is your duty as a citizen of Heaven to practice and share now what we will experience later: love, peace, joy and justice.