​Generations of trauma, systemic racism, and cultural barriers make resilience look very different from what we have meant in our society. This is not to say that we should discard resilience. In fact, I would say we should pay more attention to it. While resilience can be developed, we should consider how some have no choice but to be resilient. For a Black Man such as myself, being resilient is an act of resistance and survival.

As a Black Boy growing up during the crack era in Baltimore city, I certainly have had my share of need for resiliency.  Whether it was due to dropping out of high school at the advice of my so-called counselor or being relentlessly bullied for my excessive stuttering, I learned quickly that you must keep going, no matter what.

I also realized that there are some situations in which this bounce-back looks different depending on family structure, economic conditions, zip code, and educational level.

So pull yourself up by your bootstraps, particularly for Black, Brown, and Indigenous folks can and has looked different. 

One of the most important aspects of resilience, in my opinion, is upset prevention. You heard the saying, “An ounce of prevention is worth a pound of cure” well, let’s begin to prepare for the next upset
It could be manufactured, a natural disaster, or even a traumatic experience.

No matter, let’s stock up on some water, can goods, rice, brans, tissue paper, batteries, flashlights, cleaning agents, large trash bags, kitty litter, a first aid kit, alcohol, hydrogen peroxide. 

Store a copy of your personal papers ( life insurance, mortgage papers, birth certificates, social security cards, vehicle registration, medical cards) and some books to help calm the mind and pass the time; these are the physical items we need.

One of the most important items you and I will need is a strong mind and body, so let’s start walking at least 3 to 4 times a week, drinking more water, eat more fruits and vegetables, meditation and prayer. 

Everything we are allowed to acquire in this life is on loan; the spouse we have, the parents we have, the children we have. We are all here for a short moment in time so let’s make the best out of what we currently have and strive to get better results tomorrow.

Till next time, start with just $10 a week purchases on emergency supplies and that daily walk.

​This means we have had to deal with grief in the most unusual ways, have had to adapt to new customs in saying goodbye, and forging ahead in this new normal, in many cases, untethered and unsure. 

So, believe me when I say I sit in gratitude for having both my parents still with me in this realm, even though the dynamics of our relationships are changing. 

I know, at this point, you may be asking, "Sister Maria, what does this have to do with sustainability? Being green?"

Well, the very foundation of what I do and why I do it is because of relationships—my relationship with the Planet and my relationships with the people around me. 

The relationship that is shaping much of what my life is going to look like for the foreseeable future is the relationship with my mother. 

Reaching in the past, at how my mother parented me, and how she showed up in the world independent of who she was to me, my siblings, and her spouse is intriguing.

Every step that my mother took or didn't take has given me the esteem I needed to confidently walk into spaces where no one else looks like me. 

Every lesson my mother instilled in me has given me the love I needed to confidently say in these spaces I should not be the only one here who looks like me. 

Every time my mother volunteered in our community to make it better than she found, it gave me the blueprint I needed to confidently embark upon the task of bringing some people who look like me with me! 

My mother's example is the reservoir upon which I draw when I get tired in this work. 
My mother's voice is what I hear when I want to give up.
My mother is more than just the reason I exist, but she is why and how I live. 

Out loud, unapologetically black, and with the knowledge, that servant is not a dirty word but one of the best possible titles to ever be called. 

Henrietta Cornelius Milburn Coward is the relationship I hold dearest to my heart; it has made and is making me who I am. She, my mother, is who I am honoring in my musings today, this day, and every day as she is the EPITOME of being as black as coal. 

Sis. Maria 

​When I attended the Black to the Future Action Fund's Climate Justice is Racial Justice Event I was beside myself with delight. We are talking about phenomenal black women who are talking my talk! 
Do yourself a favor, and watch this fact filled hour of unapologetic black power. #Thankmelater

The Climate Justice is Racial Justice Event was absolutely one of THEE highlights of my "Earth month."

What resonated with you Sister Maria, you ask?
Structural & Systemic Environmental Racism
Collective Responsibility
Land

Have you all downloaded the new report by Greenpeace USA, Movement for Black Lives, and Gulf Coast Center for Law & Policy.  This is the most comprehensive analysis to date of fossil fuel racism and how fossil fuel production is creating a public health crisis for Black, Brown, Indigenous, and poor communities.

But if you haven't, here's the gist...

I hate to be the bearer of bad news, but unfortunately, many of us, have already died.
Died due to environmental racism and climate inequity.  The report speaks directly to how Black, Brown, Indigenous, and poor communities have not only been left behind, but are barely holding on to God's unchanging hand because of it.

Let us leave our egos at the door. Pull out our laptops. Be present. Be intentional. Be Mindful. 
And get this WORK!! Our future is RIPE with infinite, transformative, regenerative possibilities!
​Build back better can't be just a slogan, an ideal, it has to be the equitable framework that guides all we do and hope to do... and that's ON Mary had a little Lamb (.)

With Earth Month behind us, we may be looking for other opportunities to participate in some #DopeAzzGreenLife Activities.

Join us on May 11, 2021! We will be soaking in all the goodness that is the RBGNewDealness
Learn More & Register Here: rbgnd.org

I asked the above question on Facebook and received an overwhelming response from my friends and family.

Thus, Black as Coal was born.  One of my soul sister's suggested I use what is meant to be derogatory and dehumanizing, Black as Coal, a slur used toward black people with a darker hue, and embrace it, take away its power to destroy, and use it to build.
Because I am blackety, black, black, mind, body, and soul this is right up my alley. 

I know you may ask, "what in the same hale does this have to do with Sustainability?"

Well, a lot.  It is difficult navigating through this world that thrives on a white supremacist ideology.
If you are black and reading this, I do NOT have to regale all of the aggressions we have to endure just trying to live.

​So imagine me, navigating all my super blackness in a field, a mission, a calling that has been so incredibly white washed it is not even funny.  No really, it's not funny. 

​So here I am, Black as Coal, gleefully  so, using a  moniker that was meant to destroy to build a community. 

Isn't that what we have always had to do as black people?

Take every bit of manure life throws at us and make something beautiful grow from it? 

That's what my grandmother has done, my grandfather, my mother, my father, my ancestors, and their ancestors.

The strange fruit, still here, taking isht, yet, still building.

And it's certainly not lost on me that I am choosing this title in the sustainability space where coal should be frowned upon.

Being one of the blackest of faces in the whitest of spaces:
​
I live in San Diego, CA.  One of the most diverse places to live. 
We have every BIT of the melting pot in our fair city, county. 
Yet,..

C'mon son!

​This is riDAYUMdiculous! 

There are nearly ONE million Latinx community members who live in San Diego County?

Yet the first Latinx woman to be elected to the Board of Supervisors happened in 2020?

And we would like to call that progress? #HowSway

This city, this town, this county, is white as the whitest of white as it pertains to positions of leadership and the sustainability space here is no different.

There are approximately 150,000 black folk in San Diego County. 

Growing up in a city with over half a million black folk...

​Yeah, I am the blackest of faces in the whitest of spaces, Black as Coal. 

And even in a city with a half a million black people, we were still under-represented! 

So I AM GREEN's Black as Coal will be a virtual community, our place. 

A place where we are proud to be Black, Unapologetically! 
A place we can...
vent
laugh
cry
celebrate
commiserate
plot
plan
 and be safe.

As we work together, no matter what part of the world, whether you are the 5 other black people in my neck of the woods that work out in this sustainability space or in the middle of Burlington, VT! 

This is the place for you, for us, to be Black as Coal,

To reclaim our birthright:
​
Clean Air, Clean Water, Clean Soil, & a Dope Azz Green Life!