<TriceEdneyWire> — With all the insane things going on since Trump has been back in office, Tyler Perry came up with a film that will make you proud. It certainly makes every Black woman proud. The movie is called Six Triple Eight, starring Kerry Washington. I saw it on Netflix a few days ago. I don’t want to tell you the details of the movie. I will only say, you must see it.
The movie will make you cry, so I would suggest you have your Kleenex nearby. You’ll need them. But in the end, surely you will applaud every Black woman who accomplishes such great things even while being disrespected.
Malcolm X stood up for the Black woman when few others did. He once said: “The most disrespected person in America is the Black woman. The most unprotected woman in America is the Black woman. The most neglected person in America is the Black woman.” As our sister, Maya Angelou said: “Still We Rise!” We’ve just concluded Women’s History Month. I pray we’ll not end discussing the history we’ve just heard about our sisters. I am so proud of the great things Black women and Black men accomplish under brutal circumstances.
We now have a president and his team who continue to try to humiliate and discourage us by cutting out Black history programs, taking down photographs and memorials of many of our heroes like Jackie Robinson, and alluding to the fact that they have their eyes on removing things from the African American Museum in Washington, D.C. These ugly characters are like our president who has very few good accomplishments himself. He’s the man who thinks he’s a king, but he will never take away our dignity. So, if they take one memorial down, let’s put up two more!
I am proud to have worked with Dr. C. DeLores Tucker; Dr. Michelle Battle; sculptress, Artis Lane; the late Rep. Sheila Jackson-Lee to get a memorial to Sojourner Truth placed in the U.S. Capitol in 2009—making Truth the first Black woman to be honored there. I urge you to find places in your community where you can place memorials to Black people who’ve done great things in your area. You don’t have to look very far to find Black people to honor, because our people do the ‘near impossible’ daily to make our lives better.
As others continue to operate with evil intent in an effort to destroy our cherished history, let’s help each other to make even more positive history. I’m so proud to think of people like Fannie Lou Hamer; Frederick Douglass; Malcolm X; Rosa Parks; Sojourner Truth; Ella Baker; Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr.; Dr. Mary McLeod Bethune; Medgar and Charles Evers; Tyler Perry; Dr. Dorothy Height; Shirley Chisholm; Barbara Jordan; young ‘sheroes’ and heroes like U.S. Rep. Jasmine Crockett; U.S. Rep. Summer Lee; U.S. Rep. Ayanna Pressley and an endless number of others who risk their positions for us daily. Don’t forget Representatives AOC and Ilhan Omar, too.
Remember to honor those in our neighborhoods who do miraculous things every day to ‘make a way out of seemingly no way.’
Don’t let the dictator or his Atty. Gen. Pam Bondi, worry you while threatening you. If they close our schools or discontinue our history, let’s do the work ourselves. Let’s tell our history in our churches, in our organizations and homes. Sing our national anthem and kneel if you wish whenever you wish!
Let’s honor our heroes and ‘sheroes.’ Above all, let’s stop working against each other. Let’s pray for each other; spend our money with each other; share what we have with each other; encourage each other when we’re feeling a bit discouraged about what they’re doing to us!
Together, let’s help each other cross the finish line each day. That’s what Black women in Six Triple Eight did to succeed!
(Dr. E. Faye Williams is president of the Dick Gregory Society).
