Women of Water

The Goddard train dropped off another passenger.  Gailanne left a note in our guest bed for Shameka reading, "Where you lay your head, last night was my bed.  When you wake at 3, you better think of me."  Shameka came in wearily from lots of East Coast travelling.  She got some rest before I introduced her to two dear friends, Erica & Josslyn.

Shameka is an actress & writer who is creating content this semester about water in the African American experience.  She, Erica, & Josslyn are all beautiful artists of color.  They began swapping stories about being discouraged from swimming in the ocean because "Black folks don't do that."  As Shameka engaged in this research she found evidence of slaves being discouraged from water as it was a potential means of escape.  So many of these early experiences in the US were absorbed into cultural identity. Her work is understanding water as an archetype for movement & transformation, as well as a physical connector between brown people around the world.

Lovely, exuberant Erica immediately began sharing her own history as a surfer girl in LA.  Later, she moved to Bahia, Brazil where she was engaged in truly challenging organizing among the homeless in favelas.  Elders told her she needed to live by the water where Yemaya could nourish her spirit each day and sustain this work.  The following day, she found her sea-side home.

Watching swimmers in Bahia she was struck by beautiful brown bodies rushing the waters.  Jamaica & elsewhere in the world hadn't made the same impression because Brazil, like the US, is filled with citizens whose skin tone runs the gamut.  However, even though color is so widely varied among Brazilians brown people are still the highest percentage in the water.  Something in Erika was reaffirmed as she swam amongst them.

Some of Erica's greatest teachers were the Sisters of the Good Death.  These elder women waited at the river for slaves liberating themselves.  If the emancipating slaves didn't survive the journey these women told their families they would provide a "good death" with all attendant ceremony.

The conversation wandered amongst us.  Shameka is headed to Atlanta & we all encouraged her to go further east to Savannah, land of pirates, Gullah culture, Tybee Island, & water.