On the flight back to Minneapolis I researched why “tribe” and “tribalism” are so problematic. I learned that the words originated with white Christian conquerors and their violence toward not only Native people, but Africans as well.
How disrespectful it is that eight members of our community were killed and we were met with ‘Happy St. Patrick’s Day’ greetings from white colleagues the next day. We saw more social media posts about celebrations than acknowledgement of our suffering and our grieving.
Heather Cox Richardson, a history professor, writes a popular daily email on Substack that provide context around political news. She wrote about these topics in the last week:
Since every month at Minnesota Women’s Press is about acknowledging the accomplishments of women, we are not doing anything unique to commemorate Women’s History Month — but we will honor the stories of a few local historical women, starting with Nellie Griswold Francis.
Now that I am 81, I am learning about many things for the first time. There were times when I could have spoken out about injustice in the past and did not. Why didn’t I?
If we could simply prove to more people that we have the ability to be happy, and that the laughter of our children brings us joy, it might shift minds.
Many report that their cultural communities value familial interdependence, such as caregiving, establishing lending circles, and sharing housing. Some indicated the difficulty of adapting to the U.S. system of economic individualism.
Messages of “Black girl magic” are not pro-Black women. They are reflections of a culture that continues to see exceptional individualism as the solution, rather than part of the larger problem.
