SOMEONE FROM WORK SENT THIS TOO ME AND OMG OMG OMG IS IT HITTING WITH ME RIGHT NOW!!!!
The strong black woman passed away. Medical sources say she died of natural causes, but those who knew her know that she died from being silent when she should have been screaming, smiling when she should have been raging, from being sick and not wanting anyone to know because her pain might inconvenience them.
She died from an overdose of other people clinging to her when she didn't even have energy for herself. She died from loving men who didn't love themselves and could only offer her a 'crippled' reflection. She died from raising children alone.
She died from the lies her grandmother told her mother and her mother told her about life, men and racism.
She died from asphyxiation, coughing up blood from secrets she kept trying to burn away instead of allowing herself the kind of nervous breakdown she was entitled to, but only white girls could afford.
She died from being responsible, because she was the last rung on the ladder and there was no one under her she could dump on. The strong black woman is dead. She died from being a mother at 15 and a grandmother at 30 and an ancestor at 45.
She died from being dragged down and sat upon by uninvolved women posing as sisters and friends. She died from tolerating 'Mr. Pitiful', just to have a man around the house. She died from sacrificing herself for everybody and everything when what she really wanted to do was be a singer, a dancer, or some magnificent other. She died from lies of omission because she didn't want to bring the black man down.
She died from tributes from her counterparts who should have been matching her efforts instead of showering her with dead words and empty Promises. She died from myths that would not allow her to show weakness without being chastised by the lazy and hazy.
She died from hiding her real feelings until they became hard and bitter enough to invade her womb and breasts like angry tumors. She died from always lifting something from heavy boxes to refrigerators all by herself.
The strong black woman is dead. She died from never being enough of what men wanted, or being too much for the men she wanted.