pann d. monium

when everything shut down in March people were peddling memes about not having to be productive while people were losing their jobs and incomes.

and even before then, social media was awash with accounts pushing self-care content without class considerations, without figuring the cost capitalism demands of us just to live.

we can’t rest unless we can afford to pay someone to take care of our children or unless we know there’ll be money for rent or there’s food on the table or or or

and it’s the Black/brown working/labor class that’s paying for that rest.

we know the terms of this social contract demand the death of Black people. if your politics don’t subvert those terms, then it doesn’t really do much for our work.

what needs to happen so that Black working class people can get some relief? some healing? some wealth? how do we reorder the world to facilitate our collective rest?

we already know how the world reads Black women who choose themselves over laboring for a community that does not labor for us in kind.

it’s not enough for me that a few people can get some freedom. i want to see critical freedom for the masses, starting with the people living in the bodies we like to labor the most.

self care requires community to remain sustainable. someone needs to take care of you when you can’t take care of yourself. you need your people and you need to be able to show up for your people.