{"id":18375,"date":"2016-11-30T17:09:13","date_gmt":"2016-11-30T17:09:13","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.challengedetroit.org\/?p=18375"},"modified":"2016-11-30T17:09:13","modified_gmt":"2016-11-30T17:09:13","slug":"briding-the-gap","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.challengedetroit.org\/blog\/briding-the-gap\/","title":{"rendered":"Bridging The Gap"},"content":{"rendered":"
\"Ambassador

Ambassador Bridge<\/p><\/div>\n

Challenge Detroit is absolutely nothing of what I expected and for that I’m extremely appreciative. Being honest, my friends usually look like me and the idea of anything else seemed odd. But not now. Granted, there were times I questioned whether or not I belonged and whether or not I was capable of delivering. It was not until our “race relations” conversation that I began to really understand why I had been so reserved with my peers. I am thankful for that open space. I am thankful for the honesty that was shared. I am thankful for emotions and opportunity to be free in Challenge Detroit….which brings me to this poem that was featured in my latest read.<\/p>\n

“I’ve had enough
\nI’m sick of seeing and touching
\nBoth sides of things
\nSick of being the damn bridge for everybody<\/p>\n

Nobody
\nCan talk to anybody
\nWithout me Right?<\/p>\n

I explain my mother to my father my father to my little sister
\nMy little sister to my brother my brother to the white feminists
\nThe white feminists to the Black church folks the Black church folks
\nTo the Ex-hippies the ex-hippies to the Black separatists the
\nBlack separatists to the artists the artists to my friends’ parents…<\/p>\n

Then
\nI’ve got the explain myself
\nTo everybody<\/p>\n

I do more translating
\nThan the Gawdamn U.N.<\/p>\n

Forget it
\nI’m sick of it<\/p>\n

I’m sick of filling in your gaps<\/p>\n

Sick of being your insurance against
\nThe isolation of your self-imposed limitations
\nSick of being the crazy at your holiday dinners
\nSick of being the odd one at your Sunday Brunches
\nSick of being the sole Black friend to 34 individual white people<\/p>\n

Find another connection to the rest of the world
\nFind something else to make you legitimate
\nFind some other way to be political and hip<\/p>\n

I will not be the bridge to your womanhood
\nYour manhood
\nYour human-ness<\/p>\n

I’m sick of reminding you not to
\nClose off too tight for too long<\/p>\n

I’m sick of mediating with your worst self
\nOn behalf you your better selves<\/p>\n

I am sick
\nOf having to remind you
\nTo breathe
\nBefore you suffocate
\nYour own fool self<\/p>\n

Forget it
\nStretch or drown
\nEvolve or die<\/p>\n

The bridge I must be
\nIs the bridge to my own power
\nI must translate
\nMy own fears
\nMediate
\nMy own weaknesses<\/p>\n

I must be the bridge to nowhere
\nBut my true self
\nAnd then
\nI will be useful”<\/p>\n

Before Challenge Detroit, this is how I felt, truly. I was tired of being the thesaurus for people who may or may not care to learn more about each other’s culture. Not now though….it’s nice to know that I am part of a cohort that desires a bridge not so someone can come acorss, enlighten them and return. No…my fellows and I desire the bridge so we can cross it ourselves, so we can learn, so we can encourage, so we can become better.<\/p>\n

Thank you.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Challenge Detroit is absolutely nothing of what I expected and for that I’m extremely appreciative. Being honest, my friends usually look like me and the idea of anything else seemed odd. But not now. Granted, there were times I questioned whether or not I belonged and whether or not I was capable of delivering. It […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":320,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[26,19,75,155,1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-18375","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-community","category-detroit","category-live","category-live-detroit","category-uncategorized"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.challengedetroit.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/18375","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.challengedetroit.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.challengedetroit.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.challengedetroit.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/320"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.challengedetroit.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=18375"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.challengedetroit.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/18375\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.challengedetroit.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=18375"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.challengedetroit.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=18375"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.challengedetroit.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=18375"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}