![]() I connected to this story immediately and purchased the statue without any hesitation. ![]() I had grown up with a little cloth doll I’d instinctively gone looking for again as an adult during some of the most troubled years of my life. The item’s description was actually a story of enslaved mothers assembling La Madama dolls from fabric scraps created in their own likeness so that if their children were separated from them the doll functioned as a conduit to remember them by, to watch over and guard these children from harm. There I found a listing for a “La Madama” statue. I remember someone in a spiritual Facebook group recommending the products of a Black-owned Hoodoo shop online. Through uncovering the evidence of a resilient ancestral connection, I began seeing myself more clearly.īut with each step forward I would also find myself jerked another ten steps back. Hoppin’ John and cabbage to ring in the new year, the stories of conjure doctors and trickster spirits told to me as a child that in turn enchanted me and frightened me into behaving. I remember how much began to resonate with me immediately about these old spiritual systems, which are so deeply ingrained in Black culture that many of us miss them hiding in plain sight. Somewhere in my early twenties, I began doing research on folks still practicing African American Indigenous religions here in the States. About all the hits and misses, the spiritual and emotional revelations, and the community I’ve found while navigating my journey home to myself. How I’ve been digging backwards for my roots to better inform the shape in which I’ll grow forward. I wanted to show them the road I took to get here. And I say “remember” because our Indigenous traditions haven’t actually been lost, and that’s more than evidenced by how often they reappear uncredited and whitewashed in the witchy and wellness industries, sold back to us by non-Black folks at slap-your-mama prices. ![]() The radical version: I want to make spiritual tools that help us to remember where we come from, and how divinity is inherent to Black people.Īlways was and always will be. The basic version: Inclusivity and representation are nowhere near enough we must be centered in our own spiritual and mindfulness practices. It had to be a 1-minute pitch, but I had several pages of notes and, honestly, I could have given them hours. I think it's just an 'opposites attract' kind of thing.Today I gave an elevator pitch to a prominent women’s entrepreneurship program about why my product, a deck of cards that align specifically with the spiritual practices of Black American folks, is something we all need. "We're so opposite, you know, you got the cowboy hat and the face tattoos. "I relate to him, and he relates to me," Johnson adds. "We struggle with a lot of the same pressures of, we put so much pressure on ourselves to be the best husband, to try to be the best father, for our, to try to be the best leader, to be the best 's almost like a blessing and a curse, because we put so much on ourselves," the singer goes on to say. We've talked about that," Johnson continues, adding that they also deal with many of the same issues that come along with family life and fame. "I have a very thick background on incarceration. Lesser known is Johnson's connection to the prison system: He once worked as a guard in the Texas State Penitentiary System. Jelly has been open about his extensive legal troubles and the time he spent in jail, including for the felony charge that still carries ramifications to this day. "There's a few mistakes that I've made in my life - there's a few decisions I've made in my life where I could have wound up here, or I very well could have wound up in jail." I've always said, like, there was a time in my life where I had to make a decision and that decision was either to chase this dream professionally, with a good mindset," Johnson reflects. "You guys may not look at me and realize this, but I have a pretty jaded past as well. As they've gotten to know each other, the two singers have bonded over their difficult pasts, he explains. ![]() Though Johnson knows that he and Jelly seem to some fans like very different artists - Jelly has a background in hip-hop, while Johnson hails from the Texas rodeo scene - he points out that they've got quite a bit in common.
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