THRIVING Melanin Family Magazine November 2018 | Page 5

The McGhee Famly
FROM LEFT TO RIGHT
Israel,Jennifer, J'adore, Josiah, Justin-
Christopher, and Jocelyn
FOREWORD BY JENNIFER MCGHEE
Hey, hey, hey!! I cannot fully
express to you how excited I am
about the success of this
relaunch!!! It is wonderful, truly
wonderful, to be able to put
something together that is not
only for our community—but
written by people from our
community with a vested
interest in this community!
We live in interesting times.
Some people want us to leave
our community and return to
our native motherland. Others
want us to forgo our community
and merely be “Americans,”
doing away with any of our
cultural and sociological ties
altogether. In my not-quite-so-
humble opinion, neither of
those options works for us.
You see, while we can
appreciate where we came from,
while we can hold that place in
esteem historically and
culturally, “it ain’t where you
from, it’s where you at.” This is
where we are. We have to build
our community our way—with
our own music, our own
theology, our own culture. We
can’t linger on where we once
were; we focus on where we are.
That’s what this mag is for.
I want us to love our melanin. I
want us to love our men and
women, our children and our
families, our businesses and our
institutions. I want us to love
our hair, our names, our food,
our worship, and everything
about us that makes us us.
That's why
this magazine is so important—it
is a full celebration of us. We do
not need anyone else to
embrace us, as long as we
embrace ourselves.
Thank you to everyone who
helped me put this together. “I’m
so excited, and I just can’t hide
it!” This is the beginning of a
lovefest within our community
that we will put into print. Come
and celebrate with us! Whether
you are reading the mag, writing
for the mag, or putting ads in the
mag—this is all about the
Melanin Community doing it
together! Get in where you fit in,
and let’s continue to build us
OUR way!
SEPTEMBER
2018 • THRIVE |
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