Someone sent me this in one of those [usually] annoying emails:
The Strong Black Woman
While struggling with the reality of being human instead of a myth, the strong black woman passed away.
Medical sources say she died of natural causes, but those who knew her know she died from being silent when she should have been screaming...
Smiling when she should have been raging...
From being sick and not wanting anyone to know because her pain might inconvenience them.
She died from an overdose of other people clinging to her when she didn't even have energy for herself...
She died from loving men who didn't love themselves and could only offer her a crippled reflection...
She died from raising children alone...
She died from the lies her grandmother told her mother and her mother told her about life, men, and racism...
She died from asphyxiation, from secrets she kept trying to burn away instead of allowing herself the kind of nervous breakdown she was entitled to, but only white girls could afford...
She died from being responsible, because she was the last rung on the ladder; there was no one under her to dump on...
The strong black woman is dead...
She died from being dragged down and sat upon by un-evolved women posing as sisters and friends...
She died from tolerating "Mr. Wrong" just to have a man around the house...
She died from sacrificing herself for everybody and everything when what she really wanted to do was be a singer, dancer, or some magnificent other...
She died from lies of omission because she didn't want to bring the black man down...
She died from the myths that would not allow her to show weakness without being chastised...
She died from hiding her feelings until they became hard and bitter enough to invade her womb and breasts like angry tumors...
She died from never being enough of what men wanted, or being too much for the men she wanted...
She died from being too black and died again for not being black enough...
She died from being misinformed about her mind, her body, and her capabilities...
She died from knees pressed too closely together because respect was never part of the foreplay that was being shoved at her...
And sometimes when she refused to die, when she just refused to give in, she was killed by the lethal images of blonde hair, blue eyes, and flat butts...
Sometimes, she was stomped to death by racism and sexism; executed by hi-tech ignorance while she carried the family in her belly. the community on her head, and the race on her back...
The strong black woman is dead......or is she?
I know I'm not! Pass this on to all the strong black women that you love, respect, and admire. I just did.
~There was no author to credit...but reading this made my day!
