Malebo Sephodi Quotes

Our bodies knock

and we pretend like we can't hear

They knock to tell us to rest

to slow down

They knock

We do not open

They walk away

That's when you know - you have lost yourself

In being everything for everyone, when am I anything for myself?

Sometimes we have no luxury of choice. We must do certain things for survival. That should not stop us from doing the things we love.

Yes, many years of oppression may have complicated things and it seems impossible for blacks to create their own means of production. But, I truly believe that we must start somewhere. We must reimagine a world where we are proudly black and support all things black in order to reinvent the economic wheel. We talk. We produce theories. We prove ourselves and and and... But we must also put our money where our mouths and theories are. This is why we fight each and every single day.

There is plenty of work that needs to be done by men to dismantle patriarchy

I want to live in a society where we are all liberated. This is what my feminism looks like

I longed to love this frame that was projected towards me. I continued staring. This was me, my body, and it was mine.

Through Miss Behave I am attempting to reclaim my voice one word at a time and live my truth to the best of my ability

Because books saved my life, literally, I've become close to them

It's time to reclaim your life..
One breath at a time.

Now that you find yourself here, what are you going to do?

Existing in this era comes with many contradictions. Contradictions because we have so much to unlearn.

Reinvent yourself over and over and over and over and over until you find home. There is no timeline for the soul.

And It was said to me: "embrace the glorious mess you are". How easy it is to see darkness in the winter shedding and not see that even in its gloominess lies great beauty. That even in our great struggles - lies within a great victory. How then does the Spring green come about without the fertilisation of the Winter brown? Isn't it the very brown that gives way and life to the green we await to goggle in awe. There is power and sheer beauty in your mess. A true triumphing chaos that renders sweet melodic honey to your journey. So again it was whispered to me "embrace the glorious mess that you are

The healing will no longer be theorised and wished upon
One day
We will be walking manifest of healing

Misbehaviour does not require a cape, shades or a bazooka. It is in decisions we make that challenge the notions adopted to keep us well behaved

If you can help it, do not die bored or uninspired

Navigating joy and trauma simultaneously - #aBlacklifemanifesto

Society is obsessed with women's bodies and I take my body back by doing whatever it is that I want to do with my body

On top of dealing with the emotional trauma associated with conscious and unconscious recalling, you must deal with the possibility of no one believing you or making you doubt your experiences. When women speak out about their abusers, they have to deal with the police and society not believing them

Stop looking for healing in places

Healing is not static
Healing is a journey

And that makes us (black women) feel like we have spokespeople, because everybody we encounter feels they have a piece of you and can tell you how to live your life

There have been many things that have set my soul on fire throughout my life. Mainly situated within the different phases I go through. In the past, community work did just that, but right now, since I am in a very self-reflective phase, black artists are setting my soul on fire; especially jazz musicians. Like never before, there is a rise of a young cohort who are blowing the jazz scene apart. My soul blazes because black artists are channels that keep us accountable, heal us and reveal different mysteries to us.

When you know you're ENOUGH!

When you stop focusing on all things that you're not.
When you stop fussing over perceived flaws.
When you remove all imposed and unbelievable expectations on yourself.
When you start celebrating yourself more.
When you focus on all that you are.
When you start believing that your perceived flaws are just that - perception...

Take time off...

The world will not fall apart without you

And...

Know thyself
Know
Know

To misbehave us to denounce the social norms that limit individuals based on who they are. That to make history is to upset patriarchy, a system that is intent on controlling and marginalising others.

There comes a moment when you realise that there are no more chapters left in the book of your (current) life and it's time to start a new book.

Yes I am aware of the rules.
Yes I can totally see how I err the Queen.
Yes it is this very fact of slaying her language.
That gives my soul its melodies.

In order to validate our Africanness, we hold on to tradition at all cost, banning critical engagement in an attempt to preserve its sacredness

To experience true joy, is to desist from defining happiness through the lens of capitalism

This life is not about getting it right
It's about taking the steps that will
show who you are
There is no prescribed formula
Just try and figure it out with every step

Sometimes a moment of survival is about navigating between rage and joy

I personally am tired of being a subject of study and rescue. A subject that is not imagined upon to have their own thought patterns.

The most beautiful thing is that despite the shallow life we sometimes succumb to - the soul has no timeline and it knows what it wants and will yearn within until it seeks the journey

I am shedding.
I am not a new me.
I am my old me in my new me.
I remain, carved with the soul of my knife.
My mess scattered all over my countenance.
I am me.
Take me as I am.

How do I negotiate my way across life with a system that I find so violent yet it seems so normal to many others?

Find art in every single thing