Joy Comes Through
By: Rebekah DeAnn Mason
In a Time of Grief and Fear, Joy Comes Through the Work We Do To Connect With Our Voices. We Share Our Stories. And We Who Believe In Freedom Cannot Rest Until It Comes.
Justice Through Joy was never just a name for a passion project. It’s always been a commitment.
An intentional plan to create community, a space for women of color and gender queer people of color who engage in the U.S. legal system to connect authentically.
A space where celebrating our joy is just as welcome as recognizing the world in which we are othered.
I created this… even though no one asked me to.
Even when Self-Doubt and Insecurity kept me company.
Even when I wondered if maybe… no one else needed this.
I kept texting.
I kept calling.
I kept hoping.
And I did the thing.
Because buried inside of me, deep in my bones…
I knew this couldn’t wait.
I needed to create the thing I didn’t know I was missing.
That thing I needed when I practiced law.
That thing I still need now.
And deep down, maybe I always knew I was creating it for Me.
The Me now… and the Me back then.
Justice Through Joy was born from a question that refused to be quiet:
How do we keep going in systems designed against us?
And this… is how I answer.
This project, which stirred inside of me for years, has always been a call to action in solidarity. It acknowledges the weight of the work which remains to be done. I created Justice Through Joy, a justice and joy focused community and storytelling project even though no one asked me to.
It was born of my desire to be of service and in community outside of the church walls that no longer held me in. By the time I took steps to bring it to life, it felt urgent. Because it is.
Because there is just so much work to be done. And if we do this work, we may be left weary, weighed down, tired and unsure. But we must continue. Because it is our ticket to freedom.
As long as we take care of ourselves and our loved ones, we who believe in freedom, we cannot rest just yet. Not until freedom for all of us comes.
Read the full reflection at WaitingforLefty.org.
Waiting for Lefty is where I show up fully. It’s where my legal advocacy, creative resistance, grief, and joy find voice together.