“Uninhabited” and “For Respect”
Uninhabited
I had sunlight and the poem "summer, somewhere" by Danez Smith on my mind and I felt the need to put color all over something...to express some sort of fantasy land. It's interesting because we think of land as just something we live on or something to own. The colonizer's perceived entitlement to land is at the root of so many issues. People think we are here to dominate and conquer land when really land is part of our spirit and our DNA and we must live in symbiosis with it. As part of the African diaspora, I have a connection to a land that I've never set foot on: one that is still occupied by imperial powers that exploit its resources and my people (bc all Africans are my people. Period.) I always wonder what it would be like for us to have our own space-- not as protection from our oppressors but rather one in which the existence of our oppressors is unfathomable. I've been dreaming of this land and aching to go somewhere else.... if only I could travel to the places in my fantasies.
For Respect
This piece is inspired by Mikki Kendall's book "Hood Feminism: Notes from the Women that a Movement Forgot".
This quote resonated deeply with me as it highlights the issue of respectability politics wherein marginalized women have to fulfill a certain image to be deemed worthy of love and protection. This usually entails subscribing to patriarchal standards of womanhood and undermining one's own bodily autonomy and expressions of self.
It is respectability politics that enables slut shaming, the criminalization and stigma around sex-work, the hypersexualization and abuse of Black women and girls, the unchecked rape culture that disproportionately affects indigenous women, and the rampant murder of Black trans women.
Ultimately it is up to everyone to resist heteronormative, patriarchal, and misogynist systems and ideals. Even when we say #BlackLivesMatter that must include all Black lives. We must treat Black women like they are the sweet precious gems that they are without making them perform for it. Every life has value even if it is not lived in the way that you prefer.
