To Black Women, With Love

Being black and being a woman is the best thing ever to me and my other black women friends, but being black and being a woman does not always feel as good as it looks. Black women endure the most and are still expected to perform. Black women cry out for help, but their cries fall on deaf ears. Black women are always strong for everyone else with no one there to be strong for them when they need it most. 

We are criticized for our lack and shunned for our excellence. We are told our beauty is never the standard, but imitated and discredited. We are screaming for a break, but still being told to work harder. We are carrying the weight of the world on our backs most times, but still asked to help carry the load. We are lovers to the one hundredth power, but living loveless lives. We are told to smile on our worst days and never asked simply if we are okay. We are poised, polished, often times distinguished, and innovative, but told we still are not enough. 

She is the example of strength and power. She is what the world wishes they could understand. She has skin as light as the sun but also as black as the night. She has a smile that could stop one hundred men and a walk that commands the focus of all eyes. She has grace dripping from her pores and the light of life within her stare. She is unprotected, neglected, disrespected and still better than most on even her worst of days. 

Her hair stands tall reaching towards the heavens. Her hips spreading like love. Her heart beating for the black man… the black family. Her mind is focused on how to make it easy. Her worry is written in the deepest part of the psyche. Her face never reads otherwise. Her intellect is unmatched. Her tenacity is unparalleled. Her elegance always on display. Her is me and I am she. 

I am far more than what they say I am. I can take the two and turn it into the two hundred. I can protect, but still need protecting. I am solid as a rock, but still as delicate as a flower. I am confident in my output, but still harbor insecurities. I am not okay but because of who I am I know that I will be. I want and deserve to be loved in a way that does not require suffering. I am a black woman. I am capable of demanding the attention of a room, but still hidden in the most secret parts of my mind. I am a black woman who is more than what they say I am and enough for whoever says I’m not. 

You are worthy. You are bomb. You are mighty. You are the epitome of love, strength, and pushing through. You are the foundation in which most build on. You are what keeps the world up. You are never not enough. You are more than what you need to be by the “norm,” but just the right amount for what is written for you. You are so much more than an image. You are beauty. You are grace. Black woman you are power. Who you are is who they are trying to be. 

In all ways

&

In all things

Let Go & Let Love

-Tee