Happy New Year 2022! Am back with a bang (well, kind of), so we are just going to skip all the formalities & get right back to it. This blog title is inspired by the title of a performance play that I recently had the honor of watching last weekend. 'M.Bassy' organizes really interesting exhibitions & this is the first one that I attended this year. A performance by the talented Bermudian born artist 'Sea Novaa' who not only plays music, but is also an artist & also wrote the play that was performed at the ´exhibition.
Imagine a candle-lit table with a black woman sitting at its head. Then comes a white servant (a man) bringing her some food, first an appetizer & a bottle of wine which he pours for her in a glass. We are all standing around her watching her eat & really enjoy her food. Then he comes back with the main course which she also eats before requesting for her entertainment. All along, everyone (me included) is waiting for her to break into some sort of performance, a song, dance or even poem because this is what is always expected, a black woman entertaining her mostly white audience. But no, in comes in a young man carrying a Cello who goes ahead to perform a beautiful piece while the black woman goes on sitting & enjoying the performance while sipping her wine. When the performance ends, we all break into applauce as 'Sea Novaa' informs us what the title of the play is & it suddenly all makes sense now. I thought to myself, when was the last time I ever saw a black woman doing nothing (productive)? Even I sometimes, if not all the time feel guilty when I find myself doing nothing, even doing something simple as chilling on the sofa scrolling through my phone. Somehow society has made us believe that as black women, we are always supposed to be doing something, if not for ourselves then for other people's benefits. And doing 'nothing' is viewed as being lazy or irresponsible.
I don't know about you, but am claiming back my 'doing nothing time' & I am planning to enjoy every single bit of it guilt-free because I deserve it, not everytime jumping through hoops because society expects me to. Also, February is Black History Month, so please celebrate black people & especially black women, because we deserve it.
