It was Sunday June 28, 2020 and I was driving down US highway 19. I decided to check out the Auchumpkee Creek Covered Bridge. I saw a group of men standing by their Harley Davidson bikes in a shaded area.
Milton of Born Losers Bike Club
The website seconds Milton’s claim that Born Losers MC is the oldest, active, Black motorcycle club in the Atlanta area. Established in 1959.
Milton of Lithonia, Georgia’s Born Losers Bike Club
Auchumpkee Creek Covered Bridge.
Located 60-miles outside of Atlanta, Auchumpkee Creek Bridge makes for a nice afternoon drive and quick kickback. Plenty of green space to take photos, meditate, or enjoy a packed lunch. Watch and listen as the creek water rushes by.
Bike riders out for a leisure Sunday afternoon ride
I have been in deep thought about the importance of self-care during these times. In 2015, Bree Newsome made national headlines when she scaled a 30-foot flag pole at the South Carolina statehouse and took down the Confederate flag. In an article entitled, “Charlottesville Reinforced That Self-Care Is an Essential Part of My Activism,” Newsome shares the importance of self-care stating, “I have a tendency to go, go, go until I burn out…self-care did not come naturally to me at first…since committing myself to social justice a few years ago, it’s something I’ve developed out of necessity.”
For Psychology Today, Dr. Diane Raab provides a list of self-care suggestions, including “Get out in nature and unplug. When possible, turn off your cell phone, and take a walk or sit in nature.”
The trauma in learning that Breonna Taylor was murdered by police while resting in her home. The mental injury caused by being subjected to horrifying videos of Ahmaud Arbery and George Floyd’s final moments of life has impacted our hearts and minds. Being mindful and intentional about our self-care and healing is of extreme importance at this time. I am committed to helping amplify this necessity and circulating information on ways to do so.
Image 1: “Cooking on an outdoor grill at Catoctin Mountain Park. 1970” here young people are participating in the Washington, DC area’s Summer in the Parks program. This program started in the summer of ’68, a couple of months after the assassination of Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. and the subsequent DC Riots. “After the riots, the program took on a new meaning as a way to help heal a troubled city.”
Image 2: information for #BlackBirdersWeek. Sharing because Christian Cooper should not have experienced what he went through. Also, being in nature is a suggested self-care method.
Image 3: information for Girl Trek’s “Black History Bootcamp” 21-Days of Walking in the Footsteps of our Foremothers.”
VisitBlackHistory.com 