Note: This article was not written or endorsed by Christelyn Karazin, Nicole or any other writers on the blog.

We have seen a lot of things happen these past few weeks: the anniversary of George Floyd’s death, the wave of outrage surrounding the cover art of Colin Kapernick’s upcoming book cover, the leader of BLM buying a million-dollar home,  and Sasha Johnson, the BLM activist who decided to denounce the police in favour of her own community, only to catch a stray bullet from her people, and need London’s finest to bring them to justice. The irony of the last incident is not lost on me, nor is it lost on many people on the internet. 

Ladies, we need a collective makeover. We are out here looking very dumb. In a decade, loudmouthed brash SJWs have become the face of black womanhood, and we are reaping the consequences of these actions. Black people are not getting rehired for jobs at the rate of their white counterparts. Black women faced evictions at twice the rate of white people in at least 17 states, EVEN before 2020. We are set to become even more vulnerable during and after the COVID pandemic. We need to find a way to present ourselves well, build strategic allies, save money, find steady work and learn how to navigate the COVID pandemic and life after this crisis. 

Kendall St. Charles and Christelyn Karazin have been sharing the importance of levelling up our lives. A part of that is enhancing our exterior, by choosing the right style and presentation for ourselves. Another aspect is doing the internal work, seeking therapy, sharpening our social skills and building our collective self-esteem. 

However, beyond that, we have a huge stain on our reputation: BLM. Our alliance with the Black Lives Matter movement has done us no favours. Kendall recently did a live chat on Clubhouse where she discussed the outrage regarding the Colin Kapernick cover. As usual, she pointed a mirror right back at us. Where did the image of screaming black women come from? Where did the ideas of “abolishing the police and prisons” come from? While we didn’t explicitly tell Colin to put our image on the cover of his new book, we have been front and centre of the BLM movement, with our mouths open like goldfish. (I used to laugh until I was weak when Kendall would say this during a YouTube video or Facebook live.)  Trickle-down economics has been the fairy tale that we have believed since the Civil Rights movement. Sadly, it has gotten us nowhere. 

Let’s be real here. While Black Lives Matter has given us a sense of purpose and achievement, I truly believe that there will be some sort of backlash that will affect us. We are getting eyes shot out, police records, trafficked and more. We look dusty. We spend time and effort fighting for the same people who are quick to harm us – the same ones who wouldn’t spit on us if we were on fire. If Clubhouse and some of these black women statistics mentioned above are any indications, people are getting tired of seeing us as victims.

Even those of us who chose to divest need to take a look at how we navigate our spaces. The petition is a good first step, but how else can we set ourselves apart? How can we bask in our privilege? The Great Reset is upon us. We don’t have time to continue fighting for the lowest common denominators in our society. We need to figure out a way to be savvy and prepare for the time ahead of us. As the COVID crisis appears to wind down, I think that we will need to start to prepare for what is to come. I have some ideas, but I am by no means an expert. We will definitely explore this idea in greater detail.

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