Why Black Girl Magic is Dead
Black Girl Magic is dead, y’all.
If reading that just made you furrow your eyebrows, scrunch up your nose, or utter “who said that?,” here me out.
First, I want to honor CaShawn Thompson who gave us #BlackGirlMagic in 2013. It is the phrase we all have come to know and love and served an important purpose at an important time.
But eleven years later, #BlackGirlMagic just doesn’t hit the same.
Yes, the concept of Black women being magical beings helped many of us feel like royalty. It helped those of us who knew we were powerful beings but didn’t have the words to describe our genius, finally demand that folks put some respect on our name.
Tragically, however, the idea that Black women have superhuman powers has endangered our lives. #BlackGirlMagic has been treated like some sort of substitute for justice and liberation. Instead of powerful people doing more to dismantle the systems and policies that are taking Black women’s lives and making us unsafe, they instead demand more labor from us.
They over-rely on our ability to overcome, overwork, and over-endure. As though Black women have some unlimited threshold for pain, trauma, and suffering (there’s actually some research that shows that some white medical professionals believe that Black people have a higher tolerance for physical pain). And that because we have endured–which has been a matter of survival–we must also possess the power to fix everything that’s wrong with society.
Sadly, many Black women have internalized the idea that we are only as good as our labor. That we are only worthy if we are marching on the frontlines or doing all that we possibly can to help everyone in our communities.
There is absolutely nothing wrong with Black women wanting to make a positive difference in their communities. There is something gravely wrong, however, with Black women repeatedly failing to meet their own personal needs because they are so busy running around trying to save everyone else.
This is why #BlackGirlMagic is dead. It’s time for Black women to hang up their superhero or magician capes and trade them for a life of self-care, self-compassion, restoration, community, and interdependence.
Black women, we must rest.
Black women, we must save ourselves.
Black women, we must learn to not give away our magic so freely.
Qubilah is a self-care and personal growth strategist who envisions a world in which Black women trade in their superhero or magician capes for radical self-care, rest, and joy.
If this article resonated with you, please clap for me. And if you know a Black woman who could benefit from reading this article, please share (Maia Niguel Hoskin, Ph.D.) Many thanks.
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