“Are you sure, sweetheart, that you want to be well?”

And so begins the novel, Salt Eaters, by Toni Cade Bambara. “Just so’s you’re sure, sweetheart, and ready to be healed, cause wholeness is no trifling matter. A lot of weight when you’re well.”

For those who don’t know who Toni Cade Bambara is, I imagine you will very shortly be seeking out more information about her. A phenomenal powerhouse of a woman, a black feminist writer and filmmaker, a community activist and self-described cultural worker. I did not realise that I already owned one of her books on my shelf, Those Bones are Not My Child, written in response to the string of murders of black children in Atlanta in the early 1980s. Writing was a form of activism for Toni Cade Bambara; writing and filmmaking and creatively expressing lived experiences that would otherwise go unheard. Take that one step further and empower people to come together in community and find ways to speak out with their voice, now that is the beginning of a revolution.

TCB: The Toni Cade Bambara School or Organising, is a biographical film that celebrates Toni Cade Bambara's work and community activism. The documentary is made up of friends, family members and literary peers, like Toni Morrison and Nikky Finney, who share their personal insight on the rich talent, fierce ambition and deep compassion of this woman, whose spark fuelled a movement that galvanised writers and creatives to take action. “The dream is real, my friends,’ she said. “The failure to make it work is the unreality.”

More than ever, we need this same spark and call to act. It is as relevant now as it was in the 60s, 70s and 80s when Toni Cade Bambara worked with communities to create consciousness around feminism and black awareness and civil rights, work that still needs to be continued today. Alongside this add our need to create change to our cultural consciousness around queer identities, diverse bodies, and neuroinclusivity. We all have different aspects to our identity – our age, race, sexuality, gender, a physical body that will have its own unique set of limitations, a lived experience that is entirely our own – we all have a voice, even if we cannot communicate verbally. We all deserve to be heard, but too many of us are silenced.

Toni Cade Bambara inspires us to speak up, act now, create change, because we are the revolution.  How we contribute may look differently for each of us based on our skills, passions and abilities, but none of it is in vain, it is all part of the collective action required for a cultural shift away from individualism and towards community which cares for people and planet.

I see this in so many of the inspiring community networks in Dundee. And it is something heartfelt that we have built into Room to Be. From what was just an idea – a dream – we have created a reality; an LGBTQIA+ community founded on a sense of belonging, inclusivity and respect, that cares about the environment, empowers its members and encourages reconnection with nature, creativity and each other.

What next? Or as Toni Cade Bambara would ask, ‘What is your plan?’ How do we expand this, working collectively, to create a movement that has the potential to heal so much more than ourselves?

Are you sure, Dundee, that you want to be well?

This article was written by Emile Mackie, writer, gardener, community activist, and member of Room to Be. They are personally interested in furthering this conversation. If you would like to join forces in building a writing and listening circle that centres marginalised voices and intersectionality, looking at art and creativity as activism, please reach out. You can contact Emile by emailing roomtobe.dundee@gmail.com

MASSIVE THANK YOU to Take One Action and DCA who hosted the screening of TCB: The Toni Cade Bambara School or Organising on Tuesday 25th August 2026, including a panel discussion with filmmaker Monica Henriquez who directed and edited the film and Edinburgh artist Jj Fadaka. It was hugely inspirational.