You are everything the world needs & everything it seeks to destroy.
for all my sisters
Last night, I went to bed with dread in my heart and woke up with despair in my eyes. This week, like so many others, is filled with news that continually tells me I exist just to be harmed by the world.
When I opened my eyes today Alice Walker’s words in The Color Purple were on my mind:
“A girl child ain’t’ safe in a family of mens.”
I extend Walker’s declaration to say truthfully no girl or woman is safe in a world where patriarchy, white supremacy, transphobia, anti-LGBTQ+ violence, and ableism are the norm.
I’ve written before about the basic fact that ‘Black women are the only ones showing up for black women.’ I’ve spoken about the need to center Black Women in our work, but today… today is just hard to deal with. And so I wrote this for my sisters.
#NiaWilson #MeShonCooper #SashaGarden #LatonyaRichards
We must #SayHerName
Black women: today is hard to deal with and that is okay. To those of us for whom today feels like every other day, I see you too. We are not required to be stoic in the face of our own annihilation. Hold each other up as you can. Be honest about how you are feeling, even if you can only share that honesty with yourself.
Too often, we are not specific enough in our declarations of love and admiration for each other. I want THIS message to be clear. Now is the time to be specific, to say all the things you have always MEANT to say.
I mean ALL Black Women.
I especially mean my Trans Sisters & GNC siblings. Your safety must be a priority for us all. Not just when tragedy strikes but ALL the time.
I am talking about my Disabled sisters — we need to ensure your needs & voices are centered in all our work. Not as an afterthought, but an integral part of the how we build towards freedom.
I lift up my sisters dealing with mental health challenges — we are many in number, but not in attention. Lifetimes of being told to “just deal with it” have brought us here. Now we need to do something different and care for ourselves, fully.
I look up to my elders who are struggling to survive growing older in a capitalist society. There is no pension for justice work, we must build into our individual & community work a way to care adequately for those whose shoulders we stand on.
I brim with pride for my young sisters ready to light the world on fire. We must follow your lead & funnel resources to your endeavors. Your time is now & I am so grateful you are here.
I mean the scholar pushing to get that next degree. I mean the dancer reaching for the stars. I mean the domestic worker toiling way past quitting time. I mean the sister who just got another rejection letter and can’t find a job to make ends meet.
For the Mother struggling to raise free Black children, the woman struggling to become a mother & to the woman who can’t bring herself to bring another life into this godforsaken world. You are all important to me.
From the Black immigrant sister who is just getting used to this country to the sister who can trace her family on these shores past chattel slavery. I see you, you are valid.
I shout out loud for my Muslim Sisters whose visibility makes them additionally vulnerable. I nod to the women who toil at their congregations while predators are lifted up as examples daily. I hold close the sister who has left all religion behind because God never showed up for her.
I hear my dark skinned sisters when they continually call out colorism in our midst. It is my job to amplify your voices and stand at your side when you call.
I even speak to those Black Women who have actively harmed me — you too deserve to live in peace & I wish that for you always.
But most importantly I mean YOU my sister. You who are reading this right now. Go look in the mirror. I am talking to you. You matter. You are light. You are everything the world needs & everything it seeks to destroy. That duality is real; it is not in your imagination.
Go easy with yourself.
Seek love.
Close your ranks.
Be bold.
Stay quiet.
There is no RIGHT way to do this.
It’s ALL valid.
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