March is Women's History Month, and I wanted to take time out to acknowledge that right now, in this moment in time: WOMEN/LADIES/SISTERS/BAES, YOU ARE ENOUGH. I felt the need to write this little reminder, because on more than one occasion during Black History Month, I either read, overheard, or was directly told that members of my culture weren't "black enough", and I was left with a feeling of disbelief, sadness, anger, exasperation, (really, there are so many words), but mostly disappointment. In 2020, Black people still have to explain how, where, and when they intersect with our culture. It's an absolute mess!
Now, we're in Women's History Month, and here we are having to explain why a woman can in fact run a country. And yes, a woman of color can, too! She can govern. She can multi-task. Yes, she can run a business and a household at the same time. Yes, it is true that she can do more than be in a support role! Yes, she can. She is enough!
Or, ladies, my sisters, have you been told that you're too much? Oh, how this end of the spectrum always makes me shake my head! Are you too loud, too dark, too light, too nerdy, too pretty, too short, too tall, too thick, too slim? Do you speak too well or with too much slang? Are you too aggressive, too strong, or too passive, too shy? Chile, please. Or as we Gullah sometimes say, "Gal, stop!"
Ma'am, let me tell you today that you are enough. My older daughter told me about Claudette Colvin, the young civil rights activist who refused to give up her seat on an Alabama bus a few months before Rosa Parks, and how it was implied that she was too dark to be the face of the movement. There were other factors as to why they did not use her but her complexion should not have been one of them. Imagine being a spark God lit for the Civil Rights Movement in the same bus system and same city as Mrs. Parks, and man saying, "Nah, we'll wait."
Well, I'm not going to wait for anyone to tell me I'm too little or too much for anything. I am enough. Ladies, you are enough. My daughters are enough. My mother, grandmother, and great-grandmother were enough. My aunts are enough. You, your mothers, your aunties, your sisters, your daughters, your cousins, your girlfriends are all enough!
My prayer for all women today, especially my Black sisters, who have been told that your place is last place: May the people who embrace you have arms and strength enough to hold your curvy bodies or thin ones. May they have the eyes to hold and admire your whole countenance: the width of your noses and smiles, the depth of your dimples, the rhythm of your walk when you enter and leave a room. Whether your frame is sleek or supple, whether your laughter is loud or low and sexy, whether you like Marvel or DC, a stroll in the park or to run a marathon, football or ice skating, hard rock or jazz, libraries and coffee houses, or white wine and brown liquor, promise me that you will make the decision to be enough. Don't let someone else define your worth. Make history on your own terms, in your own way. Sisters, you mean so much to the world!
Kenyana Briscoe