Rakiba Brown—May you R.I.P.

Editor’s note from People’s Tribune, Detroit: Rakiba Brown was an activist involved in the Occupy Detroit movement from its inception in October of 2011. She could be loving and disagreeable at the same time. But you always ended up with a hug and feeling better about yourself after any discussion. This tribute appeared on her Facebook page after her death.
DETROIT — Oh Rakiba. You were, with me, almost equal parts sharp and cutting, and warm, soft, and loving. You sugarcoated nothing, conceded rarely, and loved fully.
I knew when I got a hug from you (and you were a fantastic hugger for a lady that never minded cutting folks down to size, haha!) that you meant it, and it was real, and your biting retorts and jabs made your immense well-spring of tenderness all the more powerful and generous.
You never, never, shied away from speaking your truth. And similarly, you never missed an opportunity to extend real compassion, in the moments when you could do so honestly and without inhibition.
THAT is love, YOU are love, and I will never be the same for having met you, struggled WITH you and ALONGSIDE you, and been granted the tremendous opportunity and gift to hear your voice, and thoughts, and through those, the undercurrent of your song, which you sang out with such strength and sureness and beauty.
You changed me, and taught me, and brought me (sometimes kicking and screaming), just a little bit closer to truth and light.
And so today, is a terribly sad day, a day of great loss. There’s a Rakiba-shaped hole in the world and my heart, and that’s a mighty hole indeed, and since nothing and no one is shaped quite like you, it’s not a hole that can be filled.
It’s not the first time you’ve made me cry Rakiba, and it won’t be the last I bet, and I love you.
And I love that you were HERE, and always will be, on this planet, in this time, in such an indelible, TRUTHFUL, powerful way.
You are a woman I will always look up to, now I just have to look up a little higher. Rest in power Rakiba, you are so loved, and for just exactly who you are. You are, were, always will be… tremendous.
Thank you. For never once trying to hide it.
Thank you for you.”
Emma Howland Bolton was also a founder of Occupy Detroit and is a teacher in the Detroit Public School system