There are three distinctive things you’ve written here that stood out to me:
1. “Corporate diversity initiatives celebrate surface-level representations of Blackness while sidelining the lived realities of systemic racism.”
2. “It’s always “listen to Black women” on paper, on campaign trails, in viral hashtags– but rarely in our homes, our ballot boxes, our hearts, or our school curricula.”
3. “How do we carry memory without becoming trapped by it?”
They stand out because they address a silent grief that it seems only black women can hear & understand. I can see clearly the rage that pounds against brick wall by brick wall never making a dent while everyone else just sits and watches—content with our suffering. Only ever assuming that this is the way it is “supposed to be.” Unconscious and completely sinister. Black power is an idea to them and not an actualization of our divine ingenuity.
I felt deeply infuriated and annoyed by how much, how often and how clearly I have communicated my needs, my desires, how it would contribute to my family/community—only to feel slighted by the people who would have benefited by my well being (my being a black woman). Even though my children are young & I’m doing my best to keep them from over exposure to the harmful ideals of social media, performed activism, internalized racism, etc. I see the behaviors trickling through from environmental influence.
So I ask the same question after repeating the things my mother and her mother did even though I thought I would “do better.” How can we honor what was without becoming it now? Thank you so much for sharing this potent work. Well done!
You have given me much to chew on. I love the way you verbalized this. Unconscious and completely sinister. … only to feel slighted by the very people who would have benefitted from my wellbeing.
Whew a word. Thank you so much for reading and replying so thoughtfully.
Thank you for sharing these authors' stories and helping me understand and empathize with the beautiful community of Black women writers who also mentor the next generations.
There are three distinctive things you’ve written here that stood out to me:
1. “Corporate diversity initiatives celebrate surface-level representations of Blackness while sidelining the lived realities of systemic racism.”
2. “It’s always “listen to Black women” on paper, on campaign trails, in viral hashtags– but rarely in our homes, our ballot boxes, our hearts, or our school curricula.”
3. “How do we carry memory without becoming trapped by it?”
They stand out because they address a silent grief that it seems only black women can hear & understand. I can see clearly the rage that pounds against brick wall by brick wall never making a dent while everyone else just sits and watches—content with our suffering. Only ever assuming that this is the way it is “supposed to be.” Unconscious and completely sinister. Black power is an idea to them and not an actualization of our divine ingenuity.
I felt deeply infuriated and annoyed by how much, how often and how clearly I have communicated my needs, my desires, how it would contribute to my family/community—only to feel slighted by the people who would have benefited by my well being (my being a black woman). Even though my children are young & I’m doing my best to keep them from over exposure to the harmful ideals of social media, performed activism, internalized racism, etc. I see the behaviors trickling through from environmental influence.
So I ask the same question after repeating the things my mother and her mother did even though I thought I would “do better.” How can we honor what was without becoming it now? Thank you so much for sharing this potent work. Well done!
You have given me much to chew on. I love the way you verbalized this. Unconscious and completely sinister. … only to feel slighted by the very people who would have benefitted from my wellbeing.
Whew a word. Thank you so much for reading and replying so thoughtfully.
Thank you for sharing these authors' stories and helping me understand and empathize with the beautiful community of Black women writers who also mentor the next generations.
Welcome back 😊!