Affirmations of the Week: A Care Package for When We’re Mad As Hell
Serena Williams has been on our mind since last week. In front of the world, for the umpteenth time, the greatest athlete of all time has experienced misoygnoir. Something many of us, and those we love, experience. It's grueling, isn't it? The vice tight grip of racism and sexism. The expectation that we endure harm and injustice without complaint. The overreaction to and mischaracterization of our self-defense. It all takes its toll, doesn't it?
If it does, we see you, we are you, we understand.
Today, Dear Black Women delivers a care package filled of reminders of our humanity with messages from our singers, our ancestors, our poets, our artists, our resources and, of course, Black women in the Dear Black Women movement.
If you've ever been mad as hell, this is for you.
Our dbw community,
we send love.
“Sometimes you’ve ignored your need for oxygen, because you felt someone else needed it more, or an authority figure was demanding you give them their oxygen...What (and where) is your oxygen mask?”
“Black woman-strong, tough & overloving. Black woman- when will you put yourself first? You give, give & give until your cup becomes empty. Don’t you realize you need nurturing too?”
our singers,
they send love.
“Freedom for my body
Freedom for my mind
Freedom for my body
Freedom for my mind”
Y’all remember this classic with mad greats on ONE song?
TLC, Mary J Blige, Aaliyah, Queen Latifah, Salt N Peppa, SWV, Monica, Vanessa Williams, Meshell Ndegeocello and more!
“Don’t touch my hair
When it’s the feelings I wear
Don’t touch my soul
When it’s the rhythm I know”
Our poets,
They Send Love.
Upile Chisala
Alex Elle
PTI: Peep Dear Black Women’s Upcoming Events
Our artists,
They send love.
Bisa Butler
“It’s time for us to stand up and be noticed...And it’s time for us to realize that we are beautiful just the way that we are. ”
Aida Muluneh
“Our homelands are inside of us, and when we return a more truthful experience emerges.”
our ancestors,
They send love.
We stand on the soldiers of giants. Click on the image of any of our spotlighted ancestors to learn how they swirled the poison of misogynoir and turned it into power. Also take a listen to our founder Flo’s reading of our ancestor Frances E. W. Harper’s moving poem, “Bury Me in a Free Land”.
“I ask no monument, proud and high,
To arrest the gaze of the passers-by;
All that my yearning spirit craves,
Is bury me not in a land of slaves.”
