Savage Society

It was the summer of 2017 and everything seemed as fluffy as cotton candy. Not the sticky blue one that nobody ever likes, but the pink, slightly bubblegum-flavored one that makes you feel like a princess. As I packed my suitcases, I overheard all the wild dorm room stories from the year before. I couldn't help but take a deep breath and smile as I looked at myself in the mirror. WOW. I had completed my first year of college. That in itself was a huge fucking first considering I was literally the first in my family to attend Grambling State University, a HBCU(Historically Black College University). 

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Returning back to Portland, a city that had already predicted my life story as tragic, I felt the weight of all the childhood and generational trauma come down on me harder than the summer Louisiana rain showers.  

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For the first time in my life, I was an individual, and not Asia Bell's daughter or Perlia Bell’s granddaughter. I was simply Asianique Savage: a scholar and force to reckon with. An educated Black woman that holds knowledge like the chamber of secrets, and able to adapt as if reptiles shared my bloodline. Shedding all the preconceived notions about who I was supposed to be according to my family's history, I worked overtime to beat all the odds. Experiencing firsts at college toughened me up in a way that only God knows. First heart breaks, first failures, and first time not being one of the smartest Black girls in the class. First time being challenged, first time finding community, and first time being loved on by people that didn't feel sorry for me. For the very first time in my life, I was able to introduce myself as myself. The clean slate felt like a rebirth. 

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Fast forward eight years – I’m a college graduate, business owner, and political leader. Having to experience a lifetime of firsts without the people I love the most, like my mother and youngest brother, hasn't been as fluffy and satisfying as the pink cotton candy that I used to love. Yet, I've learned to love my blue cotton candy just as much. The suitcases that once held all my secrets and anxiety, now take me places, and hold excitement and new achievements. Those thick Louisiana rain showers are no longer suffocating, but refreshing. Stepping into this new mindset offers a new love for not only my family's legacies, but also my legacy. What do I want to leave behind? Who is Asianique Savage? Will my story be just as influential as my mother and grandmother’s? 

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I’ve spent my entire life considering what life would be like if I wasn't Asianique. Daydreams of growing up in a two-parent home like The Huxtables always seemed like the way to true happiness & success. TV shows never portrayed my family’s story–a Black grandmother grieving the loss of her only daughter while raising four grandchildren–because it wasn’t what a happy home looked like on paper. Now I know that even the most beautifully built homes and families can collapse due to improper internal structure & lack of accountability. Everything that glitters ain't gold.

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I’m settling into Portland life with a clear vision and outlook. My home, North East Portland, is where I have experienced trauma, love, heartbreak, and what it means to lean on faith. The harsh reality is that not all firsts will be happy and healing like I saw on my favorite TV shows as a kid. Watching my grandmother and our village work hard to create firsts for me and my brothers is what a loving, happy home looks like to me. 

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I want to use this opportunity to thank every individual that went out of their way to be present in my life, watch me accomplish and fail, but never give up. Because of that village, I am here today experiencing an angelic feeling of creating my own individual story in my city. The city of roses. 

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With Love , 

Asianique 

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From a young age, Asianique worked to decrease gun deaths and shootings in Portland, always with the understanding that we must listen to the voices of those who’ve lost loved ones to gun violence and those who gun violence directly affects daily. She is now the Director of Gun Violence Prevention Programs at Alliance for a Safe Oregon where she does community and political advocacy work to spread equal opportunity to help shape policies and laws centered around gun violence in Oregon.

Prior to working with the Alliance, Asianique advocated for and served veterans, youth, unhoused community members, and survivors. She has a Bachelor of Arts in sociology and psychology from the HBCU Grambling State University. Find out more at here