𝐷𝑒𝑎𝑟 𝐵𝑙𝑎𝑐𝑘 𝐺𝑖𝑟𝑙𝑠 ❤︎

𝑇𝑜 𝑏𝑒 𝐵𝑙𝑎𝑐𝑘 𝑎𝑛𝑑 𝑊𝑜𝑚𝑒𝑛 𝑎𝑛𝑑 𝐴𝑙𝑖𝑣𝑒

"To be Black and Women and Alive" a poem by Crystal Valentine and Aaliyah Jihad
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Crystal Valentine: I'm just sayin' if she ain't got a booty, I ain't tryna hit it.

Aaliyah Jihad: You know a n*gga's biggest weakness is a White girl with a fat *ss.

Crystal Valentine: These Black girls need to watch out

Both: 'cause White girls is winnin'.

Aaliyah Jihad: Nah, I like a foreign b*tch, you know, that Spanish, that Latin type?

Crystal Valentine: Nah, nah, nah, like that Asian type.

Aaliyah Jihad: Yeah, like a Oriental, mixed b*tch.

Crystal Valentine: Daddy from the Philippines, Mama from Atlantic, Mama from Africa.

Aaliyah Jihad: Mama from sugarcane and segregation, from too much pride and not enough perm.

Crystal Valentine: Mama from the gutter, from Section 8.

Both: From hoodrat Black belly.

But she don't look like her Mama, though.

I don't f*ck with Black girls.

Aaliyah Jihad: I know four brands of hydrocortisone by heart. I have a pinterest board dedicated to lemon juice recipes for lightening skin.

Crystal Valentine: "No, too dark" is the answer to a question I've given up asking.

Aaliyah Jihad: Puerto Rican.

Crystal Valentine: Italian.

Aaliyah Jihad: Beigian.

Crystal Valentine: Thai.

Aaliyah Jihad: I know they want me to be everything I'm not.

Both: I need a girl who knows her place.

I don't like that "Black power" shit! That nappy afro shit! That walk out your house like your mama ain't teach you how to look presentable sh*t!

Crystal Valentine: To be woman and Black is to be born knowing your beauty does not belong to you.

Aaliyah Jihad: Is to be the first and last person to love yourself.

Crystal Valentine: Is to know you're not desirable to your own kind.

Aaliyah Jihad: I grew up learning how to protect men who hate me.

Crystal Valentine: Learned how to be the silencer to their pistol.

Aaliyah Jihad: Learned how to be the revolution spit-shining their spines.

Behind every great man is the woman who taught him how to load the ammunition.

Crystal Valentine: Behind every great man is the woman who pulled the trigger. Behind every great man is a chorus of voices buried beneath the gunfire.

Both: I want an educated woman. I'm not talkin' book smart, I'm talkin' sheet smart. A woman who understands the actual purpose of her mouth.

Crystal Valentine: In college, a boy said he didn't date Black girls.

Aaliyah Jihad: Like his mama wasn't a Black girl.

Crystal Valentine: Like his sister wasn't a Black girl.

Like he ain't drink milk and fat off a Black nipple.

Aaliyah Jihad: Like he wasn't birthed from a Black womb.

Crystal Valentine: Like a Black woman's body ain't bend for him.

Aaliyah Jihad: Ain't spill herself to make room for him.

Crystal Valentine: Like exiting a Black woman's body ain't a blessing disguised as a shadow.

Aaliyah Jihad: Like Black ain't beautiful unless it's mixed.

Crystal Valentine: To be woman and Black is to be magic.

Aaliyah Jihad: Is to be the witch that wouldn't burn.

Crystal Valentine: Is to survive the White man with their needles and nooses.

Aaliyah Jihad: And the Black men with their hearts in their knuckles.

Both: To be Black, and woman, and alive is to be resilient! My very existence is defiance!

But they want a good woman.

Crystal Valentine: A silk-skinned woman soft enough to break.

Aaliyah Jihad: A woman whose vein is blue enough to get into the club, who knows her way around the inside of the washing machine.

Crystal Valentine: Who's the color of happily ever after.

Both: A woman who knows how to burn off her skin without screaming, without making a sound.
~

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