Co-created by POC Only Affinity Space | 1st Friday Fellowship
Our Year in Search
Every year, Google releases a Year in Search video that asks a simple question:
What were we, People of Color, searching for?
Not just in browsers, but in our lives.
At today’s POC Only – 1st Fridays Fellowship, we watched the Google 2025 Year in Search video and recognized may familiar experiences. The video brought up some joyful memories and some triggering events too. Unfortunately, we didn’t see our faces, our birthing stories, our elders, our culture was missing. So we decided to author own.
As we reflecting together, we realized we were searching for many of the same things during the first half of this year.
We searched for joy.
We searched for music that moves our bodies and memories. For symphonies that reimagine stories we love. For songs that demand we turn the volume all the way up. For books that remind us of childhood streets, neighborhood stories, and the beauty of ordinary life.
We searched for places we’ve never been but should have visited long ago.
We searched for the next unforgettable dance.
We searched for food.
Not just because many of us were hungry and hadn’t taken a break for lunch yet…
We searched for fresh juices, family recipes, spices, shared tables, and meals that bring people together.
We searched for food sovereignty.
For land stewardship.
For the reminder that nourishment is about more than eating. It is about belonging
We searched for rest.
We searched for vacation.
For emotional bandwidth.
For recovery.
For permission to feel.
For permission to stop pretending we’re okay when we’re not.
We searched for beds to sleep in and the strength to get out of them.
We searched for restoration.
We searched for truth.
We searched for the stories that aren’t making headlines.
For the realities happening in our own immediate view.
For the international stories that deserve attention.
For the questions that make a some folks uncomfortable but are so necessary.
For clarity amid smoke and mirrors.
We searched for ways to stay informed without losing ourselves in the despair.
We searched for home.
Some of us searched for the meaning of new home.
Some of us searched for how to adapt to community while still holding onto ourselves.
We searched for belonging in places that were not built with us in mind.
And we searched for the courage to build belonging anyway.
We searched for resilience.
We talked about loss.
About being overlooked.
About giving so much while wondering if our contributions are truly seen.
About organizational changes, layoffs, and missing colleagues.
About carrying the weight of being targeted while continuing to advocate for what is right.
We searched for ways to keep going.
And somehow, together, we persevered.
We searched for ourselves.
We searched for what it means to grow beyond old relationships.
To stop living for other people’s expectations.
To embrace our differences without apology.
To remain strong enough to love ourselves.
To have hard conversations.
To tell the truth.
To remember that we, people of color, are not the problem in spite of the narratives being told about us.
We searched for community.
Again and again, this was the answer.
Not the destination.
Not the achievement.
Not the title.
The company we keep.
The people who remind us to ask for help.
The people who pour into us when we’ve spent months pouring into everyone else.
The people who help us enjoy the fruits of seeds planted long ago.
The people who remind us that healing isn’t something we do alone.
We searched for hope.
We searched for the next generation.
For our children.
For a future where more people are fed, rested, loved, and free.
We searched for a world where everyone can show up fully as themselves.
We searched for reasons to stay in the fight.
And by the end of our time together, many of us felt even more resolved.
So, what did will build for our futures?
We will create joy.
We will speak truth.
We will prioritize rest.
We will foster resilience.
We will tend to each other.
And perhaps most importantly, we will be the reminders that even in difficult times,
we are surrounded by incredible people.
People worth valuing.
People worth showing up for.
People worth fighting alongside.
