I don’t know who needs to hear this, but someone has to say it – we can’t “Black Girl Magic” our way out of reality. Yes, I know it’s Black History Month, which is meant to be a time of celebration for our people and our accomplishments, but we can’t allow celebration to blind us to our current reality. Our failure to understand and appreciate the reality of our present circumstances will stop us from moving forward.
You might be asking what I mean by our current reality. Well, let me hit you with a few sobering facts – In the United States, Black women currently have the highest eviction rate. Black women also have the highest infant mortality rate and the highest maternal morbidity rate in the country. Black women also face a high rate of heart disease. Unfortunately, our children aren’t exempt – Black girls are increasingly being targeted for sex trafficking, increased missing persons and school discipline/expulsion. The racial wealth gap is widening despite Black women being the most educated and the fasting growing group of entrepreneurs. Close to 50% of Black workers are making less than $15 per hour. Black men are the most incarcerated, despite being roughly 6% of the country’s population; Black men also face the highest rate of unemployment. Collectively, Black people face a significantly high rate of homelessness. There’s been a significant increase in suicide amongst our community, including our children. While this list isn’t exhaustive, I hope it’s helped show that we are a community in crisis.
All the symbolism, luxury goods, brunches and international girls’ trips/vacations won’t change our reality or save our community. We have to face reality. Also, just because a handful of Black celebrities appear to be doing well doesn’t equate to the overall well being of the Black community. No one is going to fix our community for us, but us. We can’t “Black Girl Magic” our way out of reality, but here’s what we can do:
Come Together in Community
Black Girl Magic won’t fix our community. Coming together to attack our problems, however, will. We, as a people, have to operate in ways that benefit the whole. We don’t have the luxury of operating as individuals. Truth be told, no one can truly afford to operate as an individual; there’s strength and power in numbers. The more we come together, love on each other, pool our resources, and support one another, the better our community will become. I’m pretty sure we’re all familiar with the saying it takes a village to raise a child. That’s also true for raising a healthy, thriving community. If you don’t know where to start, find a local Black organization in your community, that’s doing the work. Get familiar then get active.
Be Honest About Where We Are
While I believe in celebrating our wins, we can’t allow those “wins” to distract us from reality. The reality is, the vast majority of those in our community are suffering. We can’t afford to ignore the reality of the majority and focus solely on those who appear to be winning. Despite all these Black folks who appear to be winning, the reality of the matter is, Black people hold roughly 2.9% of the wealth in the United States. We can’t change what we refuse to acknowledge. The first step in addressing a problem is to acknowledge that a problem exists. We have to be honest about where we are, as a people, in order to collectively address our problems.
Create a Plan of Action
I’m a solutions person. While it’s necessary for us to be aware of a problem in order to fix it, awareness isn’t the end goal; it’s only the beginning. Now that we’re aware of the various problems facing our community, we have to create a plan of action to bring about change. If you already see someone who’s created a plan and is working that plan, see how you can help him/her. One thing we’ve got to stop doing is creating all these individual plans and working in isolation. As I mentioned before, we have to work together as a community. There’s strength in numbers. Personally, I donate to Black organizations doing the work to move us forward, I invest in Black owned startups, and I patron Black owned businesses focused on our community. I’m not saying my way is the right way, the best way or the only way. I’m just providing an example of what it looks like to create a plan of action.
Play Your Part
Believe it or not, we all have a part to play in changing our community. No one person can do everything. Playing your part might be building a business, being a philanthropist, volunteering within our organizations, or all of the above. Do you have an expertise our skill-set that would benefit our community? Say you’re a professional fundraiser – how can you use that skill-set to help one of our many non-profits raise funds?
Whatever your part is, play it and play it well. When we all play our part, as a community, we will see positive change.
Work the Plan Until We Succeed and Adjust as Needed
For us to see change in our community, we can’t rely on “magic.” We have to rely on community, discipline, consistency and sheer determination. We have to work our plan until we see positive change. Change will not come from wishful thinking. It won’t come from awareness alone either. Change will come from us doing the work. As with any plan, we’ll need to make adjustments along the way and that’s fine. As the saying goes, we need to be stubborn about our goals, but flexible in our methods. So long as we keep moving forward as a community, we can’t be stopped. But we have to be committed to doing the work because no amount of “Black Girl Magic” is going to change our realities or save our community.
What are your thoughts? What can we do to move our community forward? Drop a comment below. If you enjoyed this article, please share it.