When Freedom Rings
As February unfolds, we honor Black Americans—past, present, and the generations yet to come. We celebrate a history rich with resilience, brilliance, and unshakable spirit. A history that refuses erasure.
This past week, I reminded a friend, no matter how some in power try to rewrite or diminish our story, Black people have always been excellent storytellers. We inherit not only what we have endured, but also what we have achieved—and we pass it down, from one generation to the next.
Our heritage is an arsenal of inventors, writers, artists, educators, and leaders. Figures that make young Black hearts rise with pride, saying, “I want to grow up and be like that person.” We carry Anna Julia Cooper, whose mind shaped education and thought; J. Max Bond, Jr., whose hands built spaces of remembrance and honor; Garrett Morgan, whose inventions saved lives; Marie Van Brittan Brown, whose genius created the first home security system; and Charles Hamilton Houston, whose legal strategies dismantled segregation brick by brick.
And when some try to deny our achievements and ignore our pain, we know the truth. We have always held both our suffering and our greatness. We remember, we are the sum of our ancestor’s courage and our children’s dreams. Our culture has always been resilient—capable of holding joy and grief, brilliance and scars, in the same heartbeat.
Now, as cities and states rise up, we see that the call is no longer just “let freedom ring”. The question has become: when will freedom ring?
When freedom rings, it will mean:
People can sleep at night without fear of being torn from the life they know.
Children can be raised to fulfill the purpose God has placed within them, unshackled by limitation.
Breaths can be drawn freely, without anxiety gripping the chest.
Justice will be no respecter of race; law enforcement will serve all, not just a select few.
Some of our white brothers and sisters are awakening to a truth Black Americans have always known: slavery, segregation, discrimination, and violence were never abstract—they were real, deliberate, and normalized. And while the injustices of the past may have seemed distant, the injustices of the present now ripple across lines that once felt untouchable. The illusion of immunity is cracking.
When freedom finally rings, it will not ask your race, your accent, your income, or your zip code. It will recognize what should have always been undeniable: a human being is a human being, made in the image of God.
That sound will not be soft. It will echo with courage.
It will resonate with the good trouble we’ve been willing to make.
It will hum with justice finally catching up with truth.
And when it rings—may it find us awake, bold, and ready.
Mama Wisdom Reflection: “Remember, you are the promise they fought for, the dream they dared to dream, and the hope that will not fade.”
