Welcome To Beautiful Ventures
The Bench By the Road, Hilton Head, South Carolina
Thank you for visiting and welcome to Beautiful Ventures!
Racism is a combination of prejudice, discrimination, violence, and institutions that reproduce racial inequality and injustice, regardless of intent. Our schools, neighborhoods, and criminal-punishment system actively privilege whites at the expense of people of color, even when the rules governing these systems are racially “neutral.” Anti-blackness entails all this and more. It is not simply about hating or penalizing black people. It is about the debasement of black humanity, utter indifference to black suffering, and the denial of black people’s right to exist.
— Michael P. Jeffries, Ferguson must force us to face anti-blackness, Boston Globe, November 24, 2018
"There is no place you or I can go, to think about or not think about, to summon the presences of, or recollect the absences of slaves . . . There is no suitable memorial, or plaque, or wreath, or wall, or park, or skyscraper lobby. There's no 300-foot tower, there's no small bench by the road. There is not even a tree scored, an initial that I can visit or you can visit in Charleston or Savannah or New York or Providence or better still on the banks of the Mississippi. And because such a place doesn't exist . . . the book [Beloved] had to" (The World, 1989).
This quote by the great Toni Morrison, which later inspired The Bench By the Road Project, reflects the same sentiment which gave rise to the founding of Beautiful Ventures.
As Morrison felt compelled to pen Beloved as an homage to the taking of African lives during the Transatlantic Slave Trade, in this 400th year since those who somehow survived its horrors stepped foot on U.S. soil, as their descendant, I felt compelled to summon their descendants and justice-loving allies who together have the power to retire and replace harmful constructs - such as anti-blackness -- and to make liberatory ones the new normal.
These ancestors and elders have taught us how not to be crushed nor distracted by the lie that is anti-blackness, but rather, to engage in creative, memorial-making work instead. Our work -- of transcending anti-blackness -- is simply to keep on be-ing. The beauty of Black folks’ human be-ing-ness is our centering affirmation. It is our starting point and our finish. It is the truth that we already know and have always known. And from that place, we do what all peoples have done over time and space -- we author our own stories. We tell of who we are , who we have been and who we are becoming. On our own terms and in our own voice.
We build community, skill, power and wealth of Black story-driven creatives and their communities. We are Beautiful Ventures.
Reader, you may have found us by way of a recommendation of the site by a friend, stumbled upon us while searching The Internets, or caught me or a member of our team or Advisory Circle [hyperlink] out there in the world speaking, consulting or presenting and were interested to learn more. However you arrived, we are glad you are here!
We are a global, multi-racial, community of storytellers and story-lovers who center and celebrate Black story-driven creatives and creative social entrepreneurs. We believe they are the ones who can literally rewrite and replace the current anti-black narrative in popular culture with a Black humanity-affirming narrative. Simply put, we know we drive popular culture, so we now purpose to build our own narrative power to influence a change from one that harms Black people to one that heals, affirms and liberates Black people (and all people).
Friend, If you resonate and rock with the Mission, Vision , Values [hyperlink] of Beautiful Ventures - its because it was designed with you in mind! You are the One we are looking for and we are all the Ones we’ve been waiting for - so relax, sign up on our newsletter list and settle right in! You are welcome here.
In this Blog, we will ask the members of our community to keep the Blog active. We will engage a variety of topics including:
anti-blackness
story-driven creativity
building narrative power
contemplative action for Black liberation
And of course, we will feature the works and words of members of our creative community.
Thanks for reading this far. We hope you’ll find value, resonance, challenge, opportunities, information, your tribe, and inspiration here … and we hope you’ll raise your hand to write a post or two, as this Blog is intended to be a community space (Got a blog post to share? Send it to info@BeautifulVentures.com).
Whatever you do, come back often!
Yours with head and heart,
— Melinda
