Beloved Queen Mother, Phylicia Rashad, comes from the cloth of my grandmother, my mother and even me in a sense. A cloth woven by the threads that loyalty is royalty and that we handle our business behind the thrown and glimmer a smile, even while the crown cracks. What gave way for the Michelle Obama’s and Kamala Harris’s was the pit bull loyalty of the Camille Cosby’s and Phylicia Rashad’s. They held a legacy of Black Excellence that this cancel culture is so excited to destroy. And even in the midst of their virtue that not many hold in these times, they stand by their very flawed Black Men; a shield of sorts, a badge of shame.
I was married to a man in the Feds for many years. I faced embarrassment, loss and tears. Defending his lifestyle of selling dope. Speaking up for him had me loosing all hope. When it was said and done the relationship died. He made it out of jail no longer on my side. Do I regret all that I stood for? No, that’s what he needed to walk out that door. My credibility was shaken, my respect was on the slide but standing by a Black Man is where I will always ride.
You see we rejoice for our Black Men, even as they cursed us before ever saying a word to you. We lift up our Black Men, even when they beat us before they ever lay a hand on you. We honor our Black Men, even when they leave us to you. And this is the resilience of why you didn’t destroy us the first time around. When slavery peaked why didn’t we burn this country down? Why in the midst of police brutality and white supremacy did we march? It is because we are the keepers of the culture. We are the ones who hold the torch.
The Black Women is the liberator to Black culture. Always attacked for standing by our men, our very flawed men, taught by the ruthless principles of the institution of slavery . It never fails, to find someone to blame. And as the Black man drowns you put the Black Women to shame. I want you to say the same thing to Queen Elizabeth about her son Henry. I want you to put down that royalty too.
Stop attacking the 2.5 million families of those incarcerated that stand by their mates, their children, their parents, their friends. Stop expecting us to always agree. Stop canceling culture for opinions. Opinions. I actually still love Dr. Seuss.