I Write So They Can Rest

Our ancestors can rest peacefully in the knowing that we are writing to preserve the stories of our history, the stories our them, the folklore of our culture. We write 'cause we're their vessels.

Get in, we are going for a ride to spend a few hours writing in peace. What would be a Black woman’s ideal peaceful writing scene? They say the writer’s dream is to be in a cabin on a mountain free from society to just write, but what would make this dream ideal for a Black writer?

Having my hair braided back so it’s not in my face and I can put on a scarf for the day to keep it cute would be a start. Comfortable clothing, but still cute because I would want to document my first moment writing in peace. Everything doesn’t have to be content I know, but it’s 2025 so let’s reframe that mindset into understanding documenting our life is how we build our community, period.

Get wild with this daydreaming because our ancestors are living through us now. Do you know how proud they are of us specifically, the ones that came with the plot twist, reading and writing. But not just writing, sharing our stories without fear, without holding back. Telling the stories of our ancestors because we know their voices were silenced, but we understand the assignment is to preserve it once and for all.

This is why I write, this is why we write, this is why we must continue writing.

ThandoTalks

submitted this piece explaining why she writes and I think we all can relate.

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This is why I write.

ThandoTalks

I write for the ones whose hands could not hold a pen. 

I write because history has to remember me and my people. 

My writing belongs to the ones who have carried the history of my lineage in their hearts without an outlet. 

My pen is an oracle, and these words have been borrowed from many generations before me. 

I write because my ancestors have something to say. 

I write because so much has to be said, and I am here to say it all. 

My writing is an offering, an offering I am making for the sake of all those ahead of me, and all those who are still behind me. 

I write to remember who I am and whose I am. 

I write to make my own blood boil, I write to evoke the anger that got bottled inside me for so many years, until now. 

I write to make this English language confess to all the wrongs done against my ancestors, while it was being spoken by the perpetrators. 

I write because I hold the pen, I write because my ink is meant to scribble until the day I die. 

My writing represents the awakening of my ancestors through me. 

I am writing because they want to speak, and I am here to deliver the speech. 

If not me, then who?! I write because I choose to be the one whom they will use for such a time as this one. 

This writing is not revision, this writing is revelation at it's highest frequency. 

I write to release the rage, I write to revisit the ruins in the land where my roots remain still to this day. 

I write because the mantle has now been given to me, I write to erase the lies and uphold the truth. 

I write because this is the language of my soul, I write because now is the time to let it all out! 

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