For Black Girls And Women Joy Is A Democratic Act [Op-Ed]
When organizations across the South invest in the well-being of Black girls and women, they are not handing out a luxury. They are protecting a community’s capacity to keep showing up. The post For Black Girls And Women Joy Is A Democratic Act [Op-Ed] appeared first on MadameNoire.
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On May 16, more than 5,000 people gathered in Selma and Montgomery for the All Roads Lead to the South rally, marching across the Edmund Pettus Bridge to protest a wave of Republican redistricting designed to dilute Black voting power after the Supreme Court’s decision in Louisiana v. Callais. The message from the stage was direct. The attacks on voting rights across the South are coordinated. And if Alabama can be used to test drive attacks on democracy, Alabama can also be the blueprint for resistance.
I want to add something to that argument, because the blueprint is incomplete without it. The communities being targeted cannot resist on empty. In the thirteen Southern states where I work, the Black girls and women who are first in line for voter suppression are also absorbing a compounding crisis: inadequate access to healthcare and economic stress. The common assumption is that joy is what these communities cannot afford right now; but it is precisely what democracy cannot afford to lose.
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The post For Black Girls And Women Joy Is A Democratic Act [Op-Ed] appeared first on MadameNoire.
