Back in the days when it was okay to make blatant, cruel fun of Black folks, we used to see images of ourselves grinning from ear to ear, eating fat, juicy slices of watermelon. This image was so cruelly used that today, when many of us see a watermelon, we go running in the opposite direction. Especially those among us who have achieved a level of economic status: "Watermelon? I eat kiwi and cantaloupe." How many of us have choked on watermelon? There's some deep collective pain there. This fruit is a symbol of this country's disrespect and mistreatment of us. It's too bad that the image-makers didn't pair us up with greasy fried chicken or coffee cake. Now that would have been a real public service. Those foods have done real damage to our hearts and thighs. And we would have been left in peace to eat our vitamin C-packed, nonfat, colon-cleansing watermelons.
I don't give a damn, I'll make my own rules!
Thursday, March 22, 2007
Wednesday, March 21, 2007
Day 40 – The safe place
We be cool.--Gwendolyn Brooks
Black folks created "cool." Cool is a suit of armor that no one can penetrate. Cool goes off on folks like a firecracker and brags about it afterward. When cool's shield is up, no one can get close. Cool masks the fear of rejection and the pain of love gone wrong. Some of the coolest, toughest women are overweight; they use their weight as a shield. Cool is a front for insecurity. At some point, cool sister, you must relinquish your chill for real feelings.
Self-love cancels out all fear. Today I will allow my inner warmth to shine through.
Black folks created "cool." Cool is a suit of armor that no one can penetrate. Cool goes off on folks like a firecracker and brags about it afterward. When cool's shield is up, no one can get close. Cool masks the fear of rejection and the pain of love gone wrong. Some of the coolest, toughest women are overweight; they use their weight as a shield. Cool is a front for insecurity. At some point, cool sister, you must relinquish your chill for real feelings.
Self-love cancels out all fear. Today I will allow my inner warmth to shine through.
Tuesday, March 20, 2007
Day 39 – Beautiful women
Ain't I a woman? -- Sojourner Truth
What does it mean to be a Black woman of African descent living in America? Many of us latched onto the feminist movement of the sixties; others continue to cling to male-run religious systems. But when have we, as individuals and as a group, taken time to define our own identity? Apart from our roles as mother, wife, sister, daughter, worker, where do we fit in the universal scheme of things? Black women in America are in a state of psychological crisis. We have a twelve-in-one chance of marrying. We are, in great measure, overweight and unfit, and we lead the nation in heart disease, poverty, and a myriad of other ills. Who are we? Better yet, who should be we become? We are women of strength and beauty and tenacity, who are no less deserving of love and health than any other group on the planet.
I will not allow forces outside myself to define me. I will create the me that I want to be!
What does it mean to be a Black woman of African descent living in America? Many of us latched onto the feminist movement of the sixties; others continue to cling to male-run religious systems. But when have we, as individuals and as a group, taken time to define our own identity? Apart from our roles as mother, wife, sister, daughter, worker, where do we fit in the universal scheme of things? Black women in America are in a state of psychological crisis. We have a twelve-in-one chance of marrying. We are, in great measure, overweight and unfit, and we lead the nation in heart disease, poverty, and a myriad of other ills. Who are we? Better yet, who should be we become? We are women of strength and beauty and tenacity, who are no less deserving of love and health than any other group on the planet.
I will not allow forces outside myself to define me. I will create the me that I want to be!
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