“This Black girl is tired over Black women being down on her luck, and tired of pulling up the entire community by the strap of her bra!” Tank and the Bangas
And other melodies for the International (Working) Women’s Day/Women's History Month Playlist!
Happy International Women’s Day Everybody! Yes, I know, that was yesterday, but I can’t grade 50 three paragraph text-analysis-responses, scan 40 multiple-choice quizzes, grade 40 projects and then update grades for 5 classes and write a post scheduled for posting the same day. That is what I was doing on International Working Women’s Day. Working. As I know most of you were. Working.
To all women, especially poor Black women reading this post, if you are on hour 11 of your 12 hour shift at the assisted living facility, or helping your mother with dementia get dressed or getting your father with dementia off the toilet or driving to the pantry to line up for the fresh cabbage, potatoes and carrots or yelling at a teenager to get up and go get the milk so their siblings can have milk on their cereal or trying to figure out if you can do without the phone or electricity until Friday, or haven’t slept because you in the emergency room waiting for your 10-year- old feverish son to be seen, I see you! So many of us see you. You are not alone.
If you are a woman writer on Substack and you struggling to write a post or a note and feel like a failure because you start writing, stop, start again, go take a nap and then end up sleeping and waking up at 4 am with the lights on, I see you too. It’s ok. It’s all ok. Post a song lyric. Post a drawing. Send a dance step. Hold up a poster with a line from a favorite poem. We cheering you on!
The post title is taken from one of my favorite groups, Tank and the Bangas. They put out some bangers that make your hips shake and your mind quake. Things that make you go hummm kind of music. The song is in a playlist at the end of this posting. Stay tuned to the end for the musical portion of this program.
In this post I’m celebrating women who are telling it like it is! And a lot of you are going in!
TabithaSpeaksPolitics I love her telling Hakeem Jeffries that he needs to stand ten toes down! “We want to hear you be loud. We want to hear you resist. We want to hear you take the skeletons that’s in their closet and bring it o the forefront!”
“We want to hear you continuously talk about the felon, how the people are destroying our democracy and our constitution!” Please go check out that post! It gave me Anita Baker, joy!
Former Ambassador Susan Rice Did you miss her discussion on MSNBC with Nicolle Wallace? They discuss that White House meeting between you know who and you know who and he who shall be named, Volodymyr Zelensky. Here’s a notable quote: “It’s not about gratitude. It was an effort to humiliate him. To scuttle the U.S. Ukraine relationship so that Trump no longer feels any obligation to provide support and to hand U.S. interest, Ukraine and potentially Europe to Putin on a silver platter.”
Imara Jones, TransLash Media CEO Founder talks to Amy Goodman of Democracy Now about the Trump administration’s war on the Transgender community.
“And the fact that there was so much time and energy devoted to it last night, I think, underscores the way that this community is targeting trans people as a part of its broader bid to undermine democracy and to usher in authoritarianism.”
And now for the Substack shout outs! Happy International (Working) Women’s Day/ Women’s History Month to the following Substackers I follow and recommend, some well known and don’t need my help, but I just wanted them to know, I see them, appreciate their work and hope you do too!
We Need A Black Woman in Charge writer Zuri Stevens has had my attention for a few months with her take on the current administration’s handling of the peoples business, and how it particularly impacts Black life in America. The community comments are lively. She is doing more listening and sharing of ideas than some of our current elected officials. If you haven’t checked out her newsletter, get over there! She’s added a podcast, which is a great addition to her writing. Check out her site for her conversation with Walter Rhein, author of the substack, I’d Rather be Writing. The opening of their conversation started with Rhein discussing leaving America for Peru and American traditional systems that keep people competitive as opposed to communal settings where everyone can benefit. Head over to listen to the rest of the conversation that included insights on the dangers of social media, breaking the echo chambers, voter suppression and the narrative of believing in an America that would do the right thing.
If you want to build community and keep an open mind, and do less doom scrolling check out the growing conversation here.
Dogwood, My Mentor writer, Beena Clark’s article What’s Going On? reads like a dystopian novel of underground work in plain sight. Don’t miss this story about the immigration fixer in a local Dunkin Donuts set up at a table and takes care of business. Get a cup of coffee and pull up your chair. There’s also an apparel in this article to support the Hobart Festival of Women Writers annual festival this year happening on June 6th-June 8th.
Congrats to Oldster Magazine publisher Sari Botton on her 100K plus subscribers. I love reading these posts about so many different kinds of people sharing stories about age at any stage. The community chat is always lively and the podcast episodes are great too. In addition to Oldster Magazine, Button also publishes The Memoir Land Author Questionnaire. This past month she featured writers Bernice L. McFadden and Bridgett M. Davis. I’ll be able to catch Davis when she appears at the Central Library in Brooklyn this spring, my old haunt and previous city job. Can’t wait.
Shout out to Janie a new to me Substacker whose begun putting out videos about her thoughts of what’s going on right now in the United States from her red state. I loved the story telling wrapped in the daily task aspects of her video a few days ago. Here’s a notable quotable from her video: “Can you think of anything more stupid than pissing off a huge group of CIA, FBI, veterans that have been effective in counter intelligence moves? I mean just think about that. And there’s thousands of them now!”
And now for the dance party. Here’s to music that keeps your spirit lifted. Even more than keeping your booty in shape, these lyrics speak to all aspects of women’s lives and if some of this is just too Black for you, well, just think about it this way- the world has been shaped by white supremacist policies for many of us for a long, long time. So, welcome to the more Blackness dance grove.
You will need your spirit lifted and your body mobile for the days coming. For the slower paced songs featured, gather your Katherine Dunham legs, your Judith Jamison arms, and your Pearl Primus rhythms. Time to get up and get down!
This Black Girl -Tank and the Bangas
Rest in Peace and Power Angie Stone. Thank you for leaving a legacy of soul that reaches right into our bone marrow. No more rain in your cloud Sister Soul! Spring has come!
No More Rain In this Cloud- Angie Stone
Q.U.E.E.N. - Janelle Monae featuring Erykah Badu
Woman - Little Simz featuring Cleo Sol
Energy- Sampa the Great featuring Nadeem Din-Gabisi
Hope you enjoyed this dance party play list sisters. Please comment and share!
What song would you add to this playlist? Let me know in the comments!
Thanks for reading.