Somebody has some explaining to do!
As I sat down to write this column on Monday night, I was shaking my head. How did I miss that Monday, December 2, 2024 was designated as the National Day of Rest for Black Women? Aren’t I a Black Woman? Could I use a little rest? I was reading theGrio Wrap-up Special edition newsletter and Senior Vice President and NABJer Natasha Alford wrote about this day, which is deemed as one to “reflect on the important, prioritizing peace, and well-being, particularly for Black Women.”
Heavy sigh!
Ladies, we should’ve been shouting it from the rooftops weeks in advance leading up to this moment. And just think, this day of rest comes after so many Black women spent hours at work to come home and head straight to the kitchen; making everyone’s favorite mac & cheese, pound cake, sweet potato pies, frying up the chicken and fish; while stuffing the turkey, and so much more.
Truth be told, we should have a National Day of Rest every week, and we should also lighten the load on our Black women the other six days because we’re doing entirely too much.
Health and wellness, protecting our peace, self-love – all have to become priorities in our lives. If we don’t do better about taking care of ourselves, we won’t be around to hear people talking about, “Oh, she sure could make a mean pecan pie,” “She really knew how to make you feel special,” or “No one’s biscuits melted in your mouth like hers!”
We have to do better for our Black women. Some of us eat and eat and eat and won’t even wash the dishes, take out the trash, or do anything special.
Another day won’t go by.
For all of you who have been shown love, supported, and uplifted by a Black woman, it’s time for the big payback.
I know some will say many women respond negatively to your acts of kindness, love, or respect. Still, do the right thing!
If you can teach us how to hate you, you definitely can show us how to love you!
Don’t act like you don’t know what makes her smile, or what makes her feel good. You know, and because you don’t do anything, that means you’re saying even more about your character, in addition to showing that you are not a decent person because if this is someone you claim you love and you know what it takes to make them happy and you don’t do it, well, shame on you.
I was so focused on December 3, because it is the birth date of the Honorable Eddie Bernice Johnson, who was born December 3, 1934. The thought of this first birthday without that dynamic sister who poured so much into me, never asking for anything in return, but looking for ways to help me grow and be a better person; well, it’s kind of overwhelming.
She deserved a lot of National Days of Rest because she was one Black woman who worked tirelessly, and when she transitioned on December 31, 2023, people around the world sang her praises.
Hopefully, many shared their expressions while she was alive to hear them.
Just as December 2 is National Day of Rest for Black Women, my sisters, how about us also taking at least an hour a day?
I know it’s challenging. It’s like so much to do in so little time, so few resources and time, but we have to try.
I pray for you, Black women, all of you, and I pray for this world that only values us when we’re doing something for them.
Shame on those Black men who are fixing their mouths to defile us. And shame on us for taking the ways of those who demean and destroy our minds, bodies, spirits, and self-esteem and turning that deviant behavior on other Black women.
That is not okay!
We have to change because ain’t nobody else going to change especially if they don’t have to. We have to use what we have to get what we want.
The best way we, Black women, can change how people treat us is for us to change what we accept and allow.
Black women, we not only deserve the rest, we deserve the best this world has to offer.
Let’s not settle for less.
