Why Light & Ebony Counseling?

I can remember it as if it were yesterday, we had a News Week article we dissected weekly and this one focused on Denzel Washington in American Gansta. "Why do black men go to jail?", his voice was soft, and his facial expression curious. My high school Current World Issues teacher paced back and forth as he glanced across the room. He could have not have been any taller than 5'7, his pale skin was begging for sunshine. "Joe, Mason, Cetara, you're black. Why don't you all tell us, why do black men go to jail? Within a matter of seconds Joe responded, "I don't know I'm mixed", and Mason right after him, "I'm not sure, I'm mixed too". The fury started to build in my stomach so rapidly due to my fellow conrads throwing me under the bus without any regard, and being pressured to be a spokesperson for my entire race, but could I blame them? The only adequate response I had at the time was laughter, a roaring laughter that caught everyone off guard and caused faces of confusion, "Are you serious" I responded with a judgmental tone.

Ever since I could remember everyone else was telling me who I was, my skin told on me in every room. I was one of 3 black students in the entire middle school, part of the only black family in my entire neighborhood, and didn't have my first black teacher until I was in college. You would think with living in a predominantly white area, my blackness would be a minimal focus, but somehow someone would always make sure to mention that I was black regardless of what the focus or conversation was. It was like they felt the need to remind me, as if somehow I could forget. Because of these and so many other experiences being a black woman, being a minority, and being an advocate all became deeply imbedded parts of my identity.

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God got my heart when I was young. I can remember baring my soul at the alter when I was 8 years old, sobbing in worship. I grew up in a christian household, and attended church about 3-4 times a week and I loved it. I would occasionally pull my "I'm a Christian card" when confronted with situations that didn't align with my faith, but it wasn't really until I attended college when I started to face more turbulence concerning what I believed. My identity as a believer became more grounded when professors and my peers publicly nit picked at aspects of my beliefs and paraded around accusing anyone that could believe such wild concepts as ignorant and small minded.

Here I was with these two important aspects of my identity, both my race and my faith. For a long time I put my race above my faith, because it was the part of my identity I had to fight for the hardest. It wasn't until later that I realized a large part of the burden tied to my race was rage and resentment that God desired to free me from. It took time, but I can honestly say that Atlanta has been a large part of my healing journey when it comes to ridding myself of the bitterness I held towards white people because of all of the racism and discrimination I endured during my upbringing.

I know you must be wondering, what does all of this have to do with the name of your practice? Well, everything. My counseling practice is called Light & Ebony Counseling because it honors the two most important aspects of my identity which also reflect the community I desire to serve. Light is a representation of my faith, and ebony is a representation of my race. I now lead with light because I want to welcome God into all aspects of my work, and seek him to help others gain freedom in the areas they feel burdened and held back.

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