The New Year is already knocking on the door and ready to burst onto the scene. It’s that time of year when we make a list of resolutions — things we pledge to ourselves that we will do, accomplish, address, overcome and/or achieve.
Rarely, however, do we consider forming New Year resolutions as a collective; as Blackfolk.
If our symbolic and unified Black community has a wish list for things we need in abundance in the coming year, things we resolve to do or access, here are the five things that should top the list.
PROTECTION
When President Donald Trump’s inauguration (Jan. 20, 2025, which is also MLK Day) arrives, many of the 350 executive orders he already has set up and ready to unleash will officially bring to an end the 60 years of federal protections Black people have enjoyed. Though racists never stopped being bigots during that period (1965-2025), those protections allowed Blackfolk collectively to improve in nearly every quality of life indicator. With those protections removed, attacks on our people (physical, policy/political, legal, etc.) will grow exponentially. We will need protection, and it won’t come from the “gubment,” Superman or any other outside force. We will have to protect ourselves.
BLACK JOY
One thing we will need an overabundance of is Black Joy. The anti-Black rhetoric of MAGA world coupled with the anti-Black policies of Project 2025 will be taxing on our spirits. Trump has already said his first order of business is ending “birthright citizenship.” That’s the 14th Amendment which gave Black people who were formerly enslaved citizenship status.
This Trump move is being sold as a weapon to use against illegal immigration, but the potential ramifications for anyone not considered by MAGA folk as “real Americans” should be concerning. That said, Black Joy, allowing ourselves to do the things that keep our spirits uplifted, will be worth more than its weight in gold. As the Good Book says, “It is the Spirit that gives life.” And Black Joy feeds our spirit, picking us up when we’re down.
RADICAL SELF-CARE
Directly related to Black Joy (and our need for protection, for that matter) is recognizing that we deserve to partake in radical self-care. This looks different for different people. For some, radical self-care looks like a day spa trip. For others, it’s weekly gardening. meditation, yoga, positive affirmations, long walks in nature, working out, dancing and creating (painting, writing, singing, etc.) are additional vehicles of self-care. And let’s not forget two big ones: community service and therapy. It’s been scientifically proven that one of the best ways to help yourself is to help someone else. So, service really is self-care. But please don’t sleep on the care you, me and we can receive by getting therapy when needed.
SELF-DETERMINATION
With no protections, no institutions actively seeking to benefit from diversity and no real institutions that we own and control, we’ve got work to do. This is especially true when you realize that power lies in the institutions a people owns and controls. If your people didn’t create the institution (bank, college, daycare center, hospital, etc.), that institution was not created to serve your interests. It was created to serve the interests of those who built, owned and control it. The call for self-determination is the call for Blackfolk to build those institutions we need to survive and thrive. The challenge: institutions, like people, take time to grow into greatness. And we Blackfolk will turn our backs on a Black-owned anything after just one bad experience…even though we keep going back to other people’s institutions that have treated us poorly for years. In 2025, we must resolve to be about that self-determination, institution-building life.
A MIND TO
But for any of those first four things we need to materialize, we must resolve to develop “A Mind To.” When you have “A Mind To” you can do anything, come what may. Without “A Mind To,” any little roadblock or setback will derail you. Protection can be ours if we have “A Mind To.” Black Joy can flourish in and around us if we have “A Mind To.” Radical self-care can be a regular thing for us if we have “A Mind To.” And self-determination via institution-building can be our new standard, but we must develop “A Mind To.”
Let’s go.
