Dear Black Woman;
I would like to know have you healed from the burden you have had to bear the last 400 years?
Are you healed from the exhaustion of code switching and hiding your truth because other people can't handle you?
Have you healed from the time that the guy you like said you were cute but too dark for him to date? Or the time when your mother put a relaxer in your hair telling you she didn't have time to mess with all that hair in the mornings cuz you didn't have that "good hair". You were 5.
Have you healed?
Have you healed from the white guy in your office who was shocked when you said you didn't date white guys and he replied I'm surprised because you're so light.
True story.
Have you healed from growing up so fast because you carried the burden of your broken family and had to be Mother to your younger siblings and now you still mother everyone, except yourself.
Have you healed from the 57 different ways that white people have said your name even though they should know by now that the T is silent. It's Ethiopian. Damn! Facts.
Have you healed from the when he left, when he cheated, when you found out he was seeing you and a few men too. True story.
And what about the daily micro aggressions?
How are you healing from all those celebrities and now Designers wearing and promoting black face? Do you still want that Gucci Bag? Do you feel conflicted? How do you heal from that message because it's living inside of you.
Do you chuckle to yourself when you know this white person standing in front of you, asking "where did you grow up?" feels as though it's their duty to do investigative reporting because what they really want to know is "are you a safe black?"
And I haven't even talked about the shootings yet.
It is time to excuse yourself from the conversation, get up from the table, leave the march and go heal! Your healing, Black Woman is a political act. It is an act of social justice and in some cases it is down right an act of war because our being well on every level is a push back against many systems at once.
In all cases, the most important form of activism you can engage in, is your own act self healing.
I want to invite you to sojourn with me in a series of healing circles for Black Women called "Excuse Me While I Heal", that explore how we can release the effects of slavery and present day racism from our energetic and physical bodies.
We begin on March 10th with a virtual circle on micro aggressions and assaults.
And I haven't even talked about the shootings yet.
Reserve your seat in the virtual circle here: https://blackwomenshealingcircle.eventbrite.com