Curiosity simply put is a “strong desire to know or learn something.”  An INC. article from March 19, 2025, titled “How to Use the Art of Curiosity to Build Genuine Connections”, takes it a step further by discussing ways that curiosity can be used to create a space to find common ground.  This may seem like an opportunity to examine ways in which the Black population can build a bridge with other racial and/or ethnic groups. However, I believe we should use curiosity to build internally first.  For far too long Black people have been asked to build bridges to others, while rarely (if ever) are bridges built toward us.  Our curiosity should address our history, current state, and future movement.    

               With the ongoing (and ramped up) attempts to distort and erase our history, the question of who we are becomes ever more important.  To simply state we are descended from Africa, faced significant adversity, and currently exist, is not enough.  A critical study and factual analysis of our history must continue.  If the question of our history is not settled, taught, and embraced, we will always start from a weakened position.  Our curiosity concerning our beginnings has pulled Black people in multiple directions, since our questions remain completely unanswered, we will continue to attach ourselves to various religions, alien cultures, organizations and trending movements.  Often this creates inner turmoil, a divide between a Black identity and another.  When faced with a challenge or obstacle we are uncertain through which lens we should view the situation.  Am I Black first or religion X first?  Am I Black first or fraternity X or sorority Y first?  Am I Black first or gender X first?  For as long as the question of our identity remains unsettled, we will constantly find ourselves at this intellectual crossroad and others will continue to take advantage of it.  If our curiosity about our past remains unanswered or settled upon, our present and future state will remain in jeopardy.

               By every measurable metric of societal development, we often fall last (or close to last) in categories deemed positive and at the top (or near it) of categories that are negative. Our curiosity must address the question of why this is so and what are some tangible solutions?  Lines of inquiry and conclusions should drive our communal evolution; we must be comfortable in raising questions without fear of criticism and our conclusions should not require the acknowledgement of others for them to be valid. What role have others played in our current state and what must be done to correct our trajectory? Curiosity may lead us to areas that are not “warm and cozy” nor should it, as our condition is not warm and cozy.  Curiosity will also lead us to be self-reflective and question what role do we play in our current state? In this context curiosity becomes a means by which we can seek to improve both individually and collectively.  Answers to these questions lead to my final point, curiosity about the future.

               Once we have established where we are from, and how did we arrive at our current position, we must be curious about our future.  These questions should be far-reaching and abstract, our curiosity about the future should be limitless.  In this space we can raise hypothetical questions and solutions.  With a firm foundation grounded in the past and the present we become better architects of our future. Our curiosity should seek to create a future free of current restraints and establish new paradigms. Our questions should not arise from a place of fear but from a position of power and triumph, our questions should concern an immediate future and one well beyond our years.  Let our collective curiosity create a collective consciousness for a better future.