Over the weekend I’m going to take off the blogger hat and put on the bulldog reporter cap for Madame Noire. As most of you may know, March is National Herstory Month. I can’t think of a better time to talk about womanism, black women’s empowerment, and why I and other bloggers do what we do. I am, regardless of what ANYONE says, a member of the BWE movement. So are you. We are all worthy, because we see a problem and want to do better. Don’t ever let someone dictate to you whether you are good enough. You showed up. That’s a great start.

So I’m writing a big feature for Madame Noire tentatively titled “What is BWE, and Why You Should Care.” I can’t tell you how many hours it took to try and find the elusive Bell Hooks, but I did find another gem…Morgane Richardson, founder of Refuse the Silence, who speaks out about what it’s like to go to a largely white, elite college as a person of color, and was recently featured in More magazine. We chatted tonight about womanism, black women’s empowerment, and explained it like I was six years old–which I appreciated. She’s waaaaay smarter than me on this stuff.

I wanted to share our conversation with you, and afterward, I’d love to hear what BWE means to you, and how it’s shaped your life. Me? I was living BWE before I even knew what it was, but it was definitely nice to find so many like-minded women.

Morgane richardson by Christelyn

You know what she said that I liked best? How BWE makes the message accessible to everyone, in plain, non academic language. BWE is open for all to receive if they choose.

So as I work furiously on this feature, feel free to chime in on how womanism/BWE has changed or adjusted your thinking. Since this blog is sort of an entre into a transition to (hopefully) more serious conversation and introspection, it would be helpful for the tenderfoots to know how this affects them.