It's TED Talks Daily. I'm your host, Elise Hugh. Joy. As humans, we seek moments of joy and we want to hold on to it. In her TEDx CMU talk from 2021, community organizer Miracle Jones meditates on what joy means to her and why seeking and holding on to joy is crucial during difficult times and especially vital in the work of anti-racism.

Smile. Don't forget to let Daddy see you smile. That's what I would hear for months at the age of four.

From the time the sheriff took my dad away,

until the time the probation officer said it was okay

for him to come home on his own.

Smile.

It's weird to me. call finding joy so many things these days resiliency determination survival etc but at the end of the day joy it's just a simple moment

of gratitude and happiness you allow yourself to have.

Joy, it's not this toxic positivity where we force ourselves to ignore the realities of the world

and avoid the problems in our life.

Joy, it's just a moment of reflection and happiness by which we are able to tell

ourselves, there is more to this life.

There is more to this world than just pain.

Joy is how our ancestors survive. Joy is how we know what to fight for.

Joy is how we build our community. Joy is how we show love. Joy is why we're still here.

You see, there is this indescribable joy that comes from being able to live and thrive

despite all of the obstacles and barriers that come with living in anti-blackness.

A part of it is a hope that things will soon get better,

and part of it is a celebration of still being around,

still being here.

I first encountered this when I was four years old.

When the sheriff came to take my dad away for the first time, I was so afraid and confused.

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