As a black woman in America I'm automatically targeted. Not only with one but TWO minority factors. Let me first start off by saying this, I LOVE being a black woman. Nothing could ever make me hate the content that God created me as. What's disheartening is that the world doesn't and seem to never deem me as valuable because of the category that I fall under. I remember being a child and being so confused about racism and here I am as an adult still confused but numb to what has been my reality and many other's reality for decades.
If 2020 didn't bring enough tragedy, ending this week mentally drained was not on my list of things to do. All across the country we saw the verdict or shall I say non-verdict for the officers who took the life of Breonna Taylor. So much talk about things that don't matter between individuals on social media has shown me that people really try to justify murder. As grieved as my heart is I can say that I've almost become numb to these sorts of situations yet I still long to see justice for African-Americans all across the world. I still yearn to see change. I have this hope that change will come...ONE day.
I can't help but to think about a lot of the things that as a child I wondered why we glorified songs that have degraded us as women for years. I never understood how men with the same color skin as me with daughters who look like me could degrade yet say they protect and love us in the same breath. This is not to blame or shame black men at all but I'm painting a picture. I think about how some black women have been conditioned to believe that the only way they will be successful is if they sell their bodies and their worth. The black culture have been conditioned to do whatever to sell ourselves and make money no matter the cost. It pains me to see that we are generating the same cycles. Yes, EVERYONE has a choice in how they live their life but let us normalize unlearning these toxic conditioned behaviors. Seeing so much unfold about black women particularly Breonna and Meagan shows me that this is bigger than what it shown to be and it always has been. No matter what the circumstances of their stories were it doesn't justify the murder and harm that was inflicted upon both of them. Crime is not related to skin color. Nor should your skin color be the cause of situations being down played by the world.
Black women I want to remind you in case no one told you lately. You are a prize and a force to be reckoned with. Some of the most loyal individuals, trail blazing women that have made monumental changes in this world have been black women. You are special and you deserve all of the love, care, and protection. Black woman you are royalty. Continue to be great, continue to shine. Continue to love with no limits. Everything that you are, there are other black women rooting for you! I'm rooting for you! Don't let no one take away what God has placed on the inside of you. No man, no song, no opinion or action from someone else validates who you are in Christ.
My prayer today is that black women all across the world will feel loved, and that we will be protected by the men who look like us. I pray that we will continue to break generational curses and toxic conditioned learning. I pray that we will continue to love out loud and that we will see justice one day for our black women and our black men. I pray that we see change in the trajectory in the actions of those around us. I pray that we will be seen as valued and cherished individuals.
With love,
-Yours Truly, Eb