i am sassa

Tracy Chapman’s music was my first encounter with the reality that not all people are treated equally. Her self-titled album was released the day before my seventh birthday, and I grew up listening to her with my dad.

I remember the reality hitting me hard. She didn’t mince words, and her voice was so powerful I think it drove her message straight into my little heart. I loved all her popular songs, but the one I listened to most was Behind the Wall. Her acapella voice is like a knife in that song. Stripped of any instrumentation, it had to be real.

I wanted to paint Tracy today because her music, to me, is hope. But it isn’t the shiny kind of hope that’s packaged to be palatable. It’s hope despite…which is what I feel today. Hope despite disappointment in my beloved state choosing hate over love. Hope despite my horror that so many people chose what I see as such a dark path. It’s a hope that acknowledges the pain of where we have been and the hard work we still have left. A hope that holds joy and celebration in one hand, and pain in the other, and honors them both.

Thank you, Tracy Chapman.