Browsing: our emotions

   Black women are the most educated group in America, yet we continue to judge ourselves and each other. We’ve been conditioned to believe that our roles are limited to caregivers, teachers, and nurses—valuable roles, but not the full extent of our potential. There is nothing we cannot do. Once, it was illegal for us to learn. Now, we push back against those limitations, rising higher, creating new opportunities for ourselves and our communities. No other group has accomplished what Black women have accomplished despite the obstacles.

      We were in one of those finish-everything-before-the-holidays meetings, pussyfooting about an accusation someone had made. Suddenly a colleague confessed, “My hands are clenched. My shoulders are tense.” He paused. “If I listen to my body, clearly I feel like I’m being attacked.” As he described his feelings, I recognized them in myself. Judging by their faces, so did the others.