You Ok Sis?

I received this post in a closed Facebook group I belong to. A young man posted this for all the Black women to see. Most of the people who have responded to this have said, "thank you" or "this is needed" or have simply "loved" the post.

But for me, I just closed my door. I wanted to tell him that I am tired of attempting to shine. I am tried of trying to be beautiful. I am tired of being strong. I am tired of having to translate everyone to everyone else so that some people might understand each other. Who, tell me, who is doing this appreciating? Who is doing all this loving? Because it obviously skipped me.

You know what I have? Broken promises, empty dreams, poor self-image and debt.

Yesterday, www.popsugar.com posted an article titled, "Black Women are Exhausted." The author writes how with the shooting of the black church members in South Carolina that she was emotionally depleted. She states, "After years of working to design a coping mechanism against never-ending microaggressions and stereotypes in my own life, all while struggling to make sense of how the senseless deaths of those like Trayvon Martin, Eric Garner, and Aiyana Jones regularly go unpunished, I was emotionally depleted."

New research has developed that suggest the actual DNA of trauma survivors is altered and these altered gene sequences are passed down to our children and their children too. It did not start with us, however... so the altered DNA of those who were stolen from Africa, those who survived the middle passage, those who survived the brutality of slavery, those who witnessed Jim Crow and the Civil Rights movement have all had their DNA's changed and it is that DNA that flows through me. This process is called transgenerational epigenetic inheritance. (Origianal Article https://www.popsugar.com/news/How-Black-Women-Discriminated-Against-2018-45226981"

So leave me alone.

I am not okay.