Carrying Your Burden in the Heat of the Day

The temperature outside fluctuates in Michigan. Some days it rains, and some days it’s hot. Like, hello summer, and welcome to our quarantine experience. In the last few days, it’s reached 80 degrees. On slave plantations in the south, brave black men and women would utter on those scorching hot days, “Carry your burden in the heat of the day.” Black women later used the term to reflect the burden we carry, considering our race and gender.

Well, it’s not 1619, 1750, 1885, or 1968. It’s the start of the roaring 20’s, and black folks are carrying multiple burdens in the heat of the day.

COVID-19 has amplified social inequities that some of us knew were already there. Nevertheless, we are quietly living in spaces that now reflect the Great Depression-era realities: like staggering unemployment and food scarcity. In addition, and I’ll say this plainly with as much typing vengeance as possible, we have a racist, incompetent, ego-maniac residing on 1600 Pennsylvania Avenue who shreds the constitution almost daily. While this occurs, Ahmaud Arbrey is murdered (lynched), Breonna Taylor is murdered (lynched), and George Floyd is murdered (lynched). They join the cadres of black martyrs (say their names Michael Brown, Laquan McDonald, Sandra Bland, Tamir Rice, Trayvon Martin) who spur our passion and internal plea for salvation and thank goodness for those who were pissed off enough to set fire.

Black people collectively are tired. We’ve been tired. I don’t think our white counterparts understand that we experience a communal trauma when shit like this happens. Yet, we show up in predominately white spaces, and well, “we wear the mask that grins and lies, it hides our cheeks and shades our eyes, with torn and bleeding hearts we smile, why should the world be over-wise (Paul Laurence Dunbar, 1913)?” While white people are merely living (or weaponizing their privilege when it suits them – Hey, Amy Cooper).

I didn’t put pen to paper to write what many of you already know. I wanted to say, “Carry your burden in the heat of the day.” Although tired, pissed off, confused, heavy, and seeking justice, what we cannot continue to let happen is this cycle. Black bodies are treated as target practice in the American political social structure (otherwise called white supremacy), we raise social media hell, and then we phase back into attempting to live. This time might I suggest a few things;

Embrace Mental Wellness – Y’all see a licensed therapist. Embrace the fact that if your body feels ill, you go to the doctor or at least take your grandmama’s home remedy, perhaps even a Lil’ Vernors and a few crackers. The same should be considered for our mental well-being. We are not well mentally when we’ve collectively seen men and women who look like us shot dead. That is not normal. Finding ways to produce self-care and compassion in seasons like this is necessary. Find a therapist and begin seeing them regularly. 

Vote or Die But Prepare an Agenda: Man, you can’t tell me voting doesn’t matter, and to be honest, the most valuable army of voters is black folks! However, we’ve been seeing trash candidates and not fully engaging in the process. BMe has a robust Black Agenda that was vetted and prepared by grass-roots leaders. Also, with a critical election coming up, we have to pay attention to voter fraud and be clear about how we cast our vote and who we decide to cast our vote for. 

Accountability Matters See it Through: Beware of repression, that’s when the system throws you a bone, so it quells your appetite for a moment, but usually, the bones aren’t enough to cover a small fry and coke. We were so excited when Ahmaud Arbery’s murders were arrested, but let’s not forget that George Zimmerman is still out here acting a plum fool. We have to put our foot on their necks until they stop breathing. In other words, we need to see these things through, and it takes patience, time, and money.

Unbought & Unbossed – I finished reading Shirley Chisholm’s autobiography at the end of 2019, and Chisholm did not want to be bought or bossed around by the political, social structure that was in place. She made a choice to play by her own rules. Where are these types of leaders? We need to birth them, we need to support them, and we need to start now.

It’s hot outside. It could very well be the flames burning in Minneapolis and Los Angeles. Let it burn.