Joy In Spite Of
I saw a hashtag on social media this morning declaring today, 21-April-2021, #NationalJoyDay. Now, that’s sweet and all but #BlackJoy is a little different. Black Joy is a sense of deep joy attained and felt “in spite of…”
In spite of the countless lives lost to police executions with names now turned into hashtags.
In spite of the lack of justice for the victims and families of said executions.
In spite of the conversation Black parents have with their children (especially sons) at a certain age. You know the one: the conversation about what to do when you’re pulled over by police. How we have to remain calm in order to assuage the trained yet “threatened” officers pointing a gun in our faces.
In spite of the daily work microaggressions that feel like endless papercuts upon our Black and brown skin.
In spite of the pay discrepancies.
In spite of the misogynoir.
In spite of the lack of generational wealth and difficulty accumulating it for the future generations due to inequity and pay discrepancies (see above).
In spite of the gaslighting.
In spite of the School to Prison Pipeline.
In spite of the environmental racism killing us from the inside.
In spite of our dehumanization.
In spite of so many other obstacles, goal post moving, brutalizations, etc.
So when you see a more specific hashtag like #BlackGirlJoy or #BlackBoyJoy, I assure you that finding that joy for adults was not easy. And the joy you see in Black children is something that we are fighting hard to preserve and make a constant reality.