It's that time again!!! #FBF of #AMERICANHISTORYMONTH. This photo gallery is brought to you by my mother and called... #WOMENSMARCH!! It took me along time to write this... pardon me if I say something stupid.
Feminine is a funny Word. I cannot define the phenomenon of feminine, for it is neither my place nor my aim... but I like it. For many reasons in many ways, always. In some societies it is softness. The wilting flower. The tender petals. In some cultures it is rubenesque. In some thin. Sometimes Athena, sometimes Oshun....
blah blah blah. But...
Quick Tale: When I was growing up, I had a diverse array of friends of all light frequencies. And I never thought much of it. Once I had a conversation with my mother about how she sometimes felt uneasy around groups of white men and women. I found this weird, as my mom's friends were also Bennetton-ad-esque. She pointed out to me that her difficulty with White people was from growing up. From them trying to prevent her from going to school (my mom was born the year of Brown vs. the Board of Education) or saying crazy things to her or my uncles (much younger than her.)
She survived. Many did.
Quick Tale 2: MY father once told me about a time when a white woman who lived across the alley came into Our families back yard and hit my developmentally challenge Aunt Joyce because she simply thought she could. YES, THIS WHITE LADY WALKED INTO OUR YARD AND HIT MY AUNT JOYCE FOR NO REASON AND THEN DIDN'T EXPECT AN ASS WHOOPIN!! Now, granted: my Granny went and whooped that ass and the cops (called by the white women) were like "shit, you deserved it, boo".
She deserved that ass whoppin.
Quick Tale, the Third: The military has been a bizarre hegemonic force even within it's own ranks... and often negatively. My grandmother, however, has served as an Air Force nurse her young career and a VA nurse, serving all over the world and providing services to this countries veterans. Born 13 years BEFORE the military desegregated. She has lived in the projects (built for mixed income vet families of WWII) and moved on when far later than the people I referenced in my mother's quick tale moved out.
She's a beast.
I have heard the phrase, #yesallwomen said many times over the last several years. I was warmed when the women's march happened... but I cannot lie. I stung a bit...
This country has pretended. Dare I say, it is pretending. It pretends that "femininity" has a spokesperson. It pretends that when white women were fighting for voting rights they were then saying #yesallwomen. It ignores that there were women fighting for rights to be in the clan, taking down patriarchy. It pretends that good men raise good men and bad me raise bad men. It pretends that oppression is gendered. But there are many of us out here that have been raise to be good men (somewhat) of integrity with the aid of strong, feminine women of color. Feminine enough to demand our respect. Feminine enough to cry with us, for us, and, yes, sometimes about us. There is a femininity, a true vulnerability to be mined by this country that will lead it forward. It is the femininity that raised me. In both of my mothers. It it's the vulnerability of the women I love. It is the strength of my sisters... all of em.
THE FEMININITY OF BLACK WOMEN HAS BEEN AS USEFUL as any fossil fuel has and is seemingly as abundant as solar power.
#yesmanywomen, often ignore this as something less feminine... as less human than the damsel approach--less significant than a masculine females bravura or self-centeredness. Protest my language all you want. But black femininity in all it's forms has alway been there... 
Because #yesthesewomen do not break. because they do not ALWAYS cry. Because they are patient. Because for some reason they are expected to be. Because they know what it is liked to be ignored by women talking for women. Black femininity has ALWAYS been there for humanity even when humanity has pushed it aside... But there is always black femininity with it wit, it's perception and just the right amount softness or hardness to balance out a fucking room.
Black femininity--the aptly hashtagged #BLACKGIRLMAGIC has been saving our asses the whole time and for that it is, they are our HISTORY.
And you know what... that's not fucking fair. It's fucking exhausting to march into the wind. I don't know how they do it, but Black girls manage to stay fly even on those windy days. Show some respect. They manage to fight for all... EVEN WHEN A MOTHAFUCKER DIDN'T WANT THEM TO!#yesallpeople and STILL be the best folk to talk to. SHIT!
I hope these pictures will clarify the some of the reasons for why, while some of you are just waking up, many are just fucking tired at times.
Perhaps it's time we #yesallpeople took a step back and helped get these women a tailwind a little more... because if we don't, they will be forced to do it without us. Because they should shine in front. Because they're just fuckin dope. Here is to the history of #blackgirlmagic and to the funniest, flyest, feistiest, finest women around.
I SEE YOU!!
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