Year of Yes
Zora Neale Hurston said,
“There are years that ask questions and years that answer.”
This year is an answer.
The answer is yes.
Yes, we love ourselves.
Yes, we tell the truth to ourselves.
Yes, we do everything - and I mean everything - in our power to live our healthiest, most fulfilled lives?
Yes! We are an army. A powerful army. We succeeded at organizing, now we advance an agenda together, that starts with healing.
…an army of do-gooders, act righters, way makers and show stoppers.
Yes, we are the solution. I said it, quite hood-like, in this fancy SSIR interview 3 days ago that everyone’s talking about.
They used fancy words like behavior change, narrative change, and systems change.
In the interview, I literally said, “Ha!”
Trust Black women.
Stanford should’ve never gave me the mic. Vanessa and I were at Harvard this month too. They want to know how. How have we convinced you - 7% of all Black women in America - to walk in the same direction, to put on blue shirts, to reclaim the streets of Black neighborhoods.
But they are asking the wrong question.
The real question is why…
Why are we walking? Why do we want to live? Why are we choosing hope in a time of darkness. Why are we coming back to get our sisters when we ourselves are exhausted.
The answer came to me like a bolt of ancient energy. As THOUSANDS of you gathered in your homes and communities on March 10th to say say yes to each other, Vanessa and I stood at the grave of Harriet Tubman.
[STOP: Have you walked today? If not, go for a walk now and listen to the conversation and prayer we had at the grave. Click here.]
We want to live.
…I was saying, a bolt of ah-ha hit.
This is why.
We all came together.
Throwing parties everywhere at the exact same time. From a rural farm town in South Carolina to a women's gym in Los Angeles, Black women hosted their circle of friends, neighbors and family members to say yes.
This year is an answer to prayers.
This year we will get into the best shape of our lives.
This year we will get our minds right.
This year we will call on our men, families and communities to stand tall with us.
This year is an answer.
We are ready.
While you all were serving greens and cornbread, laughing, doing the wobble and making eye contact with each other’s resilience, we were sharing your story and love with Harriet Tubman’s living relatives.
Her family watched you honor her.
It was glorious.
Her 95-year old niece, on her brother’s side is named Mother Johnson - she’s pictured below playing the piano.
She’s a force.
She is with us.
Her daughter guided her in into a community theater, where Vanessa and I waited. She had a silk scarf around her head, and a heavy overcoat to protect her from the snow outside.
Earlier, the mayor’s office introduced GirlTrek in a press conference, he joked with Vanessa that when she came the year before, there was a blizzard, but that today was beautiful. He said, it never snows this late in the season. As soon as he said those words, it began to snow. We knew Harriet was there.
No coincidence.
And at that press conference, there were drummers. When I asked where they were from, they said Ghana. They had no idea that Harriet Tubman’s grandmother was from the Ashanti Kingdom.
Mother Johnson entered the theater, and before she sat down, she took off her overcoat. Vanessa and I were aghast. She was wearing a GirlTrek shirt.
If we were NOT nervous before (we were), we were certainly nervous now.
How much did she know about this beautiful movement?
It turns out that YOU have been inspiring her for years!!! … your energy, your love has somehow circled back to inspire Harriet Tubman’s actual family.
During our commitment circle at the end of our house party, we all stood up and held hands, and made a single pledge of what we will do - rain or shine - this spring.
All of us will start walking on Saturday mornings in solidarity.
Most of us need a jumpstart and are committing to walk at least 5 days a week, 30 minutes per day.
Genius.
Some of us are ready to go above and beyond, to change our diets, to aspire to physical feats, to go on brilliant adventures.
As each of us took a moment or two to speak “word, sound, power” as the Rastas say.
Then, the talking stick reached Mother Johnson.
She’s hard of hearing and was in a rocking chair while everyone else stood in a circle - so we weren’t sure she was tracking the conversation.
Without missing a rock, she said, “My commitment is to walk around my house 30 minutes every day so that I can get strong enough to walk outside with all of you. I want to get better at walking.”
She told me privately that she can’t wait to turn 100 years old.
I told her I would personally bake her a cake. She side-eyed me. We laughed. She knows I can’t bake. I don’t even look like I can bake.
We are walking for Mother Johnson.
That’s our why.
She said her #DaughtersOf story.
It reaches back to our motherland.
We are walking for our mothers and our mothers’ mothers.
That’s our why.
We walk for freedom.
Away from anything, holding us back and toward our wildest dreams.
We walk for joy and justice today,
…not tomorrow.
We are the American dream.
We lace up for our fathers too.
We use Booker T’s bootstraps, depend on the talent that W.E.B. described, we stand for something as Malcolm said and we lean into the moral arc of Martin’s justice.
We are not just the daughters of our mothers, we are the dreams of our fathers.
Whole and complete families - we call in today.
Generational healing is here - clear and compelling.
This year says yes.
To hope.
To wellness.
To ourselves.
The next 18 months will transform our lives. Ya’ll we just met with the national park in Maryland and it’s on! In September of 2024, thousands of us will walk 21 miles in relay teams on the Underground Railroad in what will become “the Woodstock of Black girl healing” and, God willing, an annual pilgrimage, The Ultimate Freedom Trek.
But we’re not ready yet.
We have 18 months to prepare.
This is not for athletes.
This is for Aunties.
Can your aunty walk 7 miles straight for freedom on your relay right now.
We have 18 months to get her prepared.
This is for my Aunt Joyce and Vanessa’s Aunt Peggy.
Each month we will provide an opportunity for you - then your best friend, then your neighbors, then your aunty - to succeed at a very important, life-saving goal: daily walking for 4 consecutive weeks.
The 18th US Surgeon General Dr. Regina Benjamin is on GirlTrek’s Board of Directors and she prescribed daily walking as the most effective intervention to diabetes, heart disease, stroke, and many cancers.
When you succeed at this ”all-star month” you will earn your golden shoelaces.
Your first chance to succeed is April 1st.
That’s next Saturday.
Create a calendar invite to yourself for self-care. Reclaim your time.
Vanessa and I will kick off the April opportunity with a live broadcast.
Please prepare to put on your earbuds and walk with us for 30 minutes on Saturday, April 1st at 7am PT, 8am MT, 9am CT, 10am EST. Dial 1(646) 876-9923 CODE: 734464325 (+16468769923,,734464325#).
We will share a brand new version of the 21-Day Jumpstart program in April, the classic Mamathon training program in May, and a new season of Black History Bootcamp in June!
We are also recruiting summer fellows to host monthly “Welcome Walks” in the 1000 Blackest neighborhoods in America. More to come on that opportunity and application soon.
So much excitement and energy everywhere.
Direct it to your personal path forward.
It’s all for you.
Commit with me right now.
Imagine Mother Johnson is holding your hand like she held ours.
Saturday, April 1st. I begin…
Now whisper to yourself the greatest version of your life. Say it softly. Lovingly. What do you want? What do you want? What, my sister, do you want? Be brave and say it.
Now, let’s get after it.
Ahhhh. The future is bright.
With love and truth,
Morgan and V
All photos by @taylorfreesolo.