April Ryan - Black Women Will Save the World: An Anthem

To my late mother, Vivian; her mother, Etta; her mother, Ida; and her mother, Laura; and to the unnamed others who came before them and endured the atrocities of slavery to safely deliver the next generation.

As Maya Angelou penned in her poem Still I Rise, I am the dream and the hope of the slave. I descend from Nigerian, Ghanaian, Congolese, and Senegalese foremothers whose strength preserved the dream of a brighter future. This book is dedicated to each and every one of them. Their strength, and blood, flows through me and my daughters.

I am who I am today in large part because of incredible Black women.

When I look back on my life, I dont need to look very far to see the many Black women whose extraordinary investment in me shaped me into the man I am today. When I reflect on US history, Black women have been some of the most extraordinary benders of the long arc of our moral history toward justice. Through their grit, guts, light, and love, they have strengthened this country even though this country didnt always love them back.

My mother, Carolyn, was my first hero and the ultimate role model across all of my life. She was active in the civil rights movement and, in 1963, helped to organize the March on Washington. She raised my brother and I to understand that the privileges we enjoyed as Americans were paid for by the sacrifice and struggle of others. She imparted to me the facts: you cant pay back the blessings you receive, but you must through struggle pay them forward.

After I finished law school, I decided to commit my life to the fight to make the American dream real for everyone. That commitment led me to Newark, to the neighborhood I call home to this day, where I joined with others to fight for people whose worth and dignity go too often unseen and unappreciated. There I met extraordinary Black women who so often led communities, held them together, and empowered them through the force of their love. One of those great women was Ms. Virginia Jones, the tenant president of the housing project where I lived. She gave me a lesson that I will never forget.

One day, not long after I first met her, we stood on Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. Boulevard, where she asked me to take a look around this neighborhood and tell me what you see.

My response was simple. I see projects. I see abandoned buildings. There is a bodega down the block

She was obviously angry and disappointed. You cant help me. You cant help me.

What do you mean? I replied, confused.

The world you see outside of you is a reflection of what you have inside of you, she started. If you only see problems and darkness and despair, then thats all theres ever gonna be. But if youre stubborn, and every time you open your eyes, you see love, you see the face of God, then you can help me.

Ms. Jones transformed my perspective on the world. She knew the worth of her neighborhood, the potential of its people. And she never gave up. She had a defiant love for her people and community, despite profound personal pain and tragedy.

My personal experience is by no means unique. Our nations past is filled with incredible, capable Black women who have left a lasting mark on our communities and our country, some whose names we know and many more who are forgotten by history.

Despite persistent efforts to hold them back, despite carrying scars from being qualified yet still so often denied, Black women continue to defiantly love our country. We are all better off because of it.

Today, Black women are increasingly breaking through glass ceilings and ascending to many of the positions of political power, prestige, and prominence that they have more than earned, from Kamala Harris to Ketanji Brown Jackson. Black women collectively are also showing their might at the voting booth, ranking among the most active (and important) voting blocs in the United States.

April Ryan has firsthand experience with both witnessing and playing a huge role in Black womens long overdue ascendance, chronicling the halls of power in Washington for over twenty-five years. She has navigated many of the obstacles that have stood in the way of so many Black women and, in the process, broken so many barriers herself.

April is filled with extraordinary toughness and determination. She speaks to our common values, the enduring and urgent need for truth tellers, and how often the most difficult challenges bring out the best in who we are. She is a living example of how the fire of adversity reveals and forges greatness. And she loves this country.

That is why shes such a fitting person to share this storythe story of Black womens rise.

My hope is that these pages will inspire all people to carry forward the work that Black women in America have been carrying for years. The story of Black womens ascendance is a great American story and should help renew, reaffirm, and reignite our commitment to the unfinished business of this country.

February 25, 2022, 2 p.m., in the Cross Hall of the White House. The world watched to mark herstory: the very first nomination of a Black woman to the United States Supreme Court.

I was at home in icy Baltimore, working on various stories to commemorate the historic nomination. I was also trying to wrap my mind around the fact that a colleague of minea white manwas given the story to break.

As I gazed upon the televised images of Judge Ketanji Brown Jackson and Vice President Kamala Harristwo powerful, superbad Black women standing behind the president of the United StatesI thought about the scores of Black women who have fought, are fighting, and will fight to break into the ultimate power structure, a feat that had eluded us for so long. I fought back tears. And anger. Tears for the triumph. Anger for its price.

President Joseph Biden said of Judge Jackson that she was chosen for her legacy of excellence and decency. He called out her strong moral compass and said he believed that her ability to stand up for whats right was what the court needed today.

The opticsJudge Jackson standing next to Vice President Harris just a year after Harriss historic ascension to the second-highest office of the landshowed the entire world that Black women were no longer just heard but seen.

As she savored the moment, Judge Jackson remarked, I thank God for delivering me to this point. One can only come this far by faith.

Indeed.

Todays generations of Black women have arrived here if only by faitha faith that we keep and a faith kept by our ancestors in spite of the unfathomable pain, torment, and exclusion in centuries past.

All my life, I have known and embracedeven if, at times, unconsciouslythe undeniable fact that Black women will save the world.

How could I not believe that essential truth? I did not have to go far.

As a child, I watched my amazing mother move mountains with grace and conviction. She raised me from the cradle to be strong and wise. She showed me how. My mother always held her ground: She created space for me to grow up safe and secure in who I was, while lifting up the young people in our communitya community of all ages, races, and gendersby helping them excel and achieve their best life. She was, in every sense of the word, magic.

For Black women reading this, thats a familiar sentiment. Magic. Well, we are magic. Juggling it all and helping everyone, including and especially the times when no one notices. Black women: we make the extraordinary ordinary.

This has been unfailingly true throughout our history. As I grew older and learned about our past, the remarkable leadership qualities of Black women circled back again, and again, and again. Black women have played an extraordinary and largely unacknowledged role in the arc of our country.