Black Joy: The Sisterhood

If you read the work of any anti-racism writer, you’d be tempted to think that being Black is all about trauma. In highlighting the clear and present dangers of existing in Black skin in white majority spaces, we can sometimes give the impression that everything sucks. Nothing could be further from the truth. Yes, it can be HARD being minoritized, but we still have rich, full, happy lives even as we bemoan and call out the inequity.

To redress the balance, because we don’t just exist to hold trauma, sometimes it’s worth focusing on the joy in our lives. I talk about some of the experiences that bring joy in Let’s Talk About Black Joy, but today I’d like to dig deeper into a pretty meaningful part of any Black woman’s life: her sister-circle.

What is a Sister-Circle?

Everyone has their own name for their circle, but for me it’s that group of women friends and relatives we can be totally ourselves with. You’re probably thinking that every woman has her ride-or-die girlfriends, and you’re right, but because of the experience of racism, there’s an added layer to Black sisterhood (that’s my opinion, anyway - if you think differently, feel free to say), ESPECIALLY when existing in white majority spaces where people with unearned privilege are making your life difficult.

Within that circle, you can convey a lot with just a few words, like this:

But you can also kick back and relax, talking about hair, skin care, makeup, revisiting relationship stuff, reviewing the last movie you saw, or just telling bad jokes and laughing uproariously.

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