March 25, 2026, I am celebrating the 87th birthday anniversary of my beloved teacher, elder sister-friend of five years, and guiding ancestral spirit of thirty years, Toni Cade Bambara.

Her presence has shaped me in ways both visible and unseen. The ideas and concepts in my early shorts and my feature length film, NO! The Rape Documentary were initially developed under her guidance in her scriptwriting workshops at Scribe Video Center. I return to her words, her clarity, and her integrity as a source of grounding and guidance, again and again.

For those who may not yet know her, Toni was a trailblazing, visionary Black feminist writer, filmmaker, organizer, and cultural worker devoted to liberation, accountability, and transformation.

If you feel called, I invite you to spend time with her literary and cinematic works, and to watch TCB: The Toni Cade Bambara School of Organizing, directed by Louis Massiah and Monica Henriquez. Visit the film’s website to learn more:

Some of the timeless words from her deep well include:

“Revolution begins with the self, in the self. We’d better take the time to fashion revolutionary selves, revolutionary lives, revolutionary relationships.”

“Words are to be taken seriously. I try to take seriously acts of language. Words set things in motion. I’ve seen them doing it. Words set up atmospheres, electrical fields, charges. I’ve felt them doing it. Words conjure. I try not to be careless about what I utter, write, sing. I’m careful about what I give voice to.”

“Are you sure, sweetheart, that you want to be well?… Just so’s you’re sure, sweetheart, and ready to be healed, cause wholeness is no trifling matter. A lot of weight when you’re well.”

“The job of the writer is to make revolution irresistible.”

May we honor the power of words, live with integrity and compassion, and participate in making liberation irresistible.