Never say “no one” shows up for Black women, because Black women show up for Black women and we are not “no one”. We’re the only ones.

This is the kind of language that will shift your center. Implied in the statement that “no one” shows up for us is desire for someone to show up. And I have no evidence that any other group of people besides Black women will show up for Black women.

I have every evidence that others will steal from us, abuse and overwork us, throw us away when we stop being useful, and kill us before caring for us as the fragile, exhausted beings we are. All while hailing us as queens and symbols of strength.

Showing up is the beginning and the end of the work. Everything else is just a rhetorical exercise.

Every day, I’m given new evidences for the rage I carry in my chest. Only the Black women, the Black queerfolk, and the Black spirits are doing the labor of easing each other’s burdens.

Everyone else na audio. You never see them.