Weathering this Storm

Black women stay inside, the forecast for the next four years is expected to be dark and gloomy, with spurts of disbelief!

It has been 10 days since the 2024 elections in the United States. Donald Trump beat Vice President Kamala Harris, and here in New York City, there’s still a strange, eerie energy in the streets.

For me, as a Black woman in public, I felt the stares, the pauses, and the comments sent my way, like, “Welp, here we are,” “We have to stick together,” and “Thank God we live in a blue state.”

I chose not to comment. I didn’t fill the empty space; I didn’t bring up the election—because as a collective, my group, we did our job.

We always do our job! We always show up; in fact, 91% of us showed up in support of democracy, equality, and freedom. We were the only group in this country that put our differences aside to preserve the Constitution. We were the only group that overwhelmingly decided that reproductive rights and a woman’s right to control her body mattered more than the price of eggs. We were the only group that recognized that a president that is a convicted felon, dedicated to preserving White supremacy, was probably a bad idea for the nation.

We mobilized, we canvassed, we did what we always do. We moved the needle and tried to save the nation. And you know what that got us? Nothing.

Do you know what “weathering” is? It’s a term that describes the cumulative health impact of chronic stress, particularly stress related to systemic racism, which disproportionately affects Black women. Weathering refers to the premature biological aging and health decline that Black women experience due to prolonged exposure to social, economic, and environmental stressors linked to discrimination, racism, and sexism. 

Weathering is real, and although, “Black don’t crack”, it does erode under immense pressure, oppression and disenfranchisement. 

With that said, I think it’s time for Black women to exercise our power in a different way. Let’s not weather this storm. Let’s take off our rain boots, coats, and hats and sit this one out. Let’s watch old episodes of Living Single, Martin, and Seinfeld as Trump appoints his clowns to his circus. Let’s read books while White women scream, “my body, my choice” (even though 53% of White women voted for Donald Trump). Let’s light candles with relaxing essential oils while people search “how can I change my vote.” Let’s eat that ice cream while Don Lemon talks about the impending doom upon us.

In fact, let’s rest our minds, bodies, and souls collectively. Ten days ago, we showed up; now, let’s show up for a day of unified rest. Let’s rest our minds and our dollars, let’s use those PTO days and put on our out-of-office messages. Let’s just watch and when people say, 

“Can you believe this?!”

We can say, “Yes, yes we can… because slavery, Jim Crow, Tuskegee experiments, Black Wall Street, Reaganomics, forced sterilization, gerrymandering, Black maternal mortality, the prison industrial complex, environmental racism, food deserts, maternal healthcare deserts—and Texas….  Yes we can”

If you are a Black woman I invite you to be very unbothered, very restful and very content on December 6th, 2024! If you are not a Black woman I invite you to share this with one, so she too can bask in the essence of doing absolutely nothing, after doing so much for all of us.