Dear Black Women…

Dear Black women and femmes,

 The number of messages and calls I’ve received since sharing the mission of Afrominimalist.org has been both heartwarming… and heartbreaking. Last night, I couldn’t stop thinking about our exchanges and conversations. Because I was revising the chapter in Less Is Liberation that addresses weathering.

 Coined by Dr. Arline T. Geronimus, ‘weathering’ is a term that describes the toll of systemic racism and oppression on the body. Black bodies age faster. Black bodies deteriorate more rapidly. Black bodies have higher rates of chronic illnesses and diseases. Black bodies have higher rates of premature deaths. And this is irrespective of our social status and socioeconomic achievements. As Dr. Geronimus so plainly and painfully illustrates:

 “Living life according to the dominant social norms of personal responsibility and virtue is not universally health promoting. On the contrary: if you’re Black, working hard and playing by the rules can be part of what kills you.”

 Yet we continue to work hard. Despite how it makes us feel. Unfortunately, working hard is the only life many of us know. As I shared with a beautiful, brilliant young Black woman yesterday: many of us are the first in a long lineage of women who had no choice, no other alternative but to work hard to provide and survive.

 Many of us are mirroring the work the Black women in our families and communities modeled for us… even though we no longer have to. We simply need to, individually and collectively, stop prioritizing the work of others over the work we need to do on and for ourselves. We can start by choosing less as a tool for our personal liberation.

 Learn more about Dr. Geronimus’ work in her most recent book, Weathering: The Extraordinary Stress of Ordinary Life in an Unjust Society.

Let Go. Be Free. Choose Less. Be Well.