Josephine Baker (courtesy photo)
NOTE: This speech is part of a Black History Month assignment at NationHouse Independent Afrikan-Centered School where young people wrote speeches as a historical figure.
Hello and bonjour again family and friends. It has been nearly 50 years since I have spoken to you all. You know that I lived a long and content life, full of the wonders from around the entire world. I have experienced the pain and the comfort of the 20th century, and I can tell you my friends that it was not an easy life. Nevertheless it was a life I would not have traded for any other.
Seeing the world now is an interesting experience for me. I never thought that I could be everywhere and nowhere at once. I can still comprehend what I observe. However it is difficult to fully express the abstract notions of my being into human words that barely describe the profound ideas I have to offer. But I will try my best to explain, so bear with me.
Now that I am free from my previous human form that trapped the metaphysical part of me in one single body, a part of me that no one, not even myself could ever understand, I am free. I have become a part of knowledge, nature, understanding, confusion, and all things including nothing. I can feel everything. And everyone. You are all suffering due to the lack of understanding that you have and seek about life and about yourselves. The toxic systems or shall I say Containments of self expression and change that keep the majority of the population going in a never-ending cycle of discontent and a need to be accepted by the current people in power, have led and continue to lead the human race into a deeper hole of self consumption. Knowing that I have lived through the peaks of racism, misogyny, and continuous war, it would be appropriate to say that things have gotten better, but only on the surface.
In a previous speech I said that “ I have always taken the rocky path. I never took the easy one, but as I got older, and as I knew I had the power and the strength, I took that rocky path, and I tried to smooth it out a little. I wanted to make it easier for you. I want you to have a chance at what I had. But I do not want you to have to run away to get it.”
I wanted to express that even though things have progressed in terms of having more equal opportunities for Black people, or being able to eat comfortably in one’s favorite restaurant without being called out of their name, the main problem is you. You’re trapped and you don’t even know it. When I said that I never took the easy path and had the power and the strength to smooth out a little, I was referring to making a way for Black people, specifically Black women to be able to express and find the ability to truly love themselves, but more importantly I was referring to smoothing out the path toward reaching my own individuality. I didn’t want to be just another Black woman. I didn’t want people to see that as my identity. I wanted them to see that being Black was A PART of my identity, which was Josephine Baker.
I was my own person and I want you all to know that, but don’t disregard the fact that you have come from a profound lineage of hardworking people. People that have literally been here hundreds of thousands of years ago just to end up creating a shrine such as you. The problem is the systems that instill a way of order into the human mind. See, if you looked at me what would most likely be your first thoughts? Well I’ll tell you what most of the first thoughts were of the people back in my day.
Words like “nigger” and “whore” were thrown at me regularly. I was just a stupid Black woman to them. They saw me as too lazy to get a real job and be a respectable lady, but you know what I realized? I realized that they feared me. Yes, They feared a Black woman and as I told you in the speech I wrote for the March in Washington “ Now I know that all you children don’t know who Josephine Baker is, but you ask Grandma and Grandpa and they will tell you. You know what they will say. “Why, she was a devil.” And you know something…why, they are right. I was too. I was a devil in other countries, and I was a little devil in America too.”
They feared me because they knew that I knew that I was not going to be defined by their ignorant definition of what it means to be me. A Black woman. People tend to demonize things they don’t understand. So strive to be your own little devils. A devil truly knows who they are and what they can do, because guess what if you’re the society’s sweet little goodie two shoes angel you become as malleable as playdough. It’s sad but your safest option is the one that’s holding you back, because it comes off as “Oh if I play by the rules the white people won’t get me”, but in actuality they are always going to find a way to destroy you and your self identity. Putting you in categories such as races, sexuality, and religion was made to define you without you getting the opportunity to define yourself. Don’t be fooled by the concept of finding yourself within the definition of somebody else’s perception of you.
If you’re Black don’t let that define you. Let it be a part of who you are. A characteristic that can be expressed in various ways depending on the unique individual that you are. Continue to smoothen out the path toward your own way of life. Your own happiness that should not be decided and given to you out of pity, because that means it’s not yours. Find yours. Keep it. And cherish it forever, or the alternative will lead to the loss of self and the manipulation of your mind.
Thank you for your time and always fight to be a better version of yourself every single day.
About Josephine Baker
Josephine Baker was born on June 3, 1906 in St. Louis, Missouri. In 1925, she fled to Paris in search of a better opportunity and became a renowned and remarkable entertainer. She was an amazing French singer and dancer who also became the symbol of beauty in Paris. However she was also known to be a World War II spy.
During the German occupation in France, Baker worked with various organizations such as the Red Cross, the Résistance (secret society that opposed the German occupation), and the Free French, which allowed her to travel around Africa and the Middle east to perform and entertain the troops. She was later given the Croix de Guerre (a French military award that rewards acts of bravery) and the rosette of the Résistance by the Legion of Honor.
Baker also adopted 12 children of different races, religions, and sexes, naming them “the Rainbow Tribe” which she described as“an experiment in brotherhood.” She spoke at the March in Washington in 1963 and in her later years she continued to perform until her passing on April 12, 1975 in Paris. She was a human rights and a civil rights activist as well as being one of the most successful African American performers in French history.
Sources:
The Watoto Speak! 