{"id":27176,"date":"2025-04-10T02:22:35","date_gmt":"2025-04-10T06:22:35","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/artsatmichigan.umich.edu\/ink\/?p=27176"},"modified":"2025-04-10T02:38:13","modified_gmt":"2025-04-10T06:38:13","slug":"black-girl-diaries-2-line-leader","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/artsatmichigan.umich.edu\/ink\/2025\/04\/10\/black-girl-diaries-2-line-leader\/","title":{"rendered":"black girl diaries (2): line leader"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<p>i remember when i was nothing but Hope<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>i remember when i thought that my Hope was enough<br>to save the world.<br>when i felt that everything was to be done right.<br>when i had the answer to absolutely everything<br>and nothing could change it.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>in elementary school i was always<br>running to be the line leader,<br>to tell my peers to buckle up<br>and wait their turns<br>and stand up straight<br>and quiet down<br>and then it&#8217;d all be fixed.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>and i remember wanting to be president.<br>to solve world hunger and bring world peace,<br>to bring a better life.<br>the eyes of a child and the eyes of an idealist<br>are one in the same, and<br>both are so very needed.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>my eyes grow dimmer,<br>my prescription weaker,<br>and i have cataracts on my soul, my spirit,<br>and i can barely see the light anymore.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>the Hope, it persists nonetheless<br>like a echo.<br>it has lasted far longer than i ever thought it would.<br>i can even hear it now.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>but it is dying, slowly and steadily, no matter how many times i resucitate it.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>i now see those who i love and care for<br>who i worry and fear for<br>being told by others who will never care to know my loved ones<br>to buckle up<br>and wait their turns<br>and stand up straight<br>and quiet down<br><br>to listen up<br>and quickly move<br>and shut their mouths<br>and stay alert<br>and don&#8217;t speak up<br>and don&#8217;t resist<br>and don&#8217;t you dare.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>and to refuse would be risking everything.<br>i fear for those risking everything.<br>i fear for them, and for those who will be told they&#8217;re risking everything<br>no matter what they do.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>when do you cry for help?<br>when it is too late? when you&#8217;re there just in time?<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>where is our line leader. does such a person, such an entity, even exist.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>will it ever.<\/p>\n\n\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>i remember when i was nothing but Hope i remember when i thought that my Hope was enoughto save the world.when i felt that everything was to be done right.when i had the answer to absolutely everythingand nothing could change it. in elementary school i was alwaysrunning to be the line leader,to tell my peers [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2289,"featured_media":27180,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1334,1],"tags":[776,2165,281,15,420],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/artsatmichigan.umich.edu\/ink\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/27176"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/artsatmichigan.umich.edu\/ink\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/artsatmichigan.umich.edu\/ink\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/artsatmichigan.umich.edu\/ink\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2289"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/artsatmichigan.umich.edu\/ink\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=27176"}],"version-history":[{"count":3,"href":"https:\/\/artsatmichigan.umich.edu\/ink\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/27176\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":27182,"href":"https:\/\/artsatmichigan.umich.edu\/ink\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/27176\/revisions\/27182"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/artsatmichigan.umich.edu\/ink\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/27180"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/artsatmichigan.umich.edu\/ink\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=27176"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/artsatmichigan.umich.edu\/ink\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=27176"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/artsatmichigan.umich.edu\/ink\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=27176"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}