Every morning, I try my best to get out of bed. After I drop to the floor, I run to the bathroom to take a peek at the fine lines that are mysteriously going to show up one day.
Instead, the first thing I see is a reflection of my brown skin. I am a black woman. Notice I said black before I said woman. I was black before the doctors declared me a baby girl in my mother’s womb.
Statistically speaking, the outcome of my life, mainly my failures, was already predicted. Before I realized what it meant to be a black woman, my mother took it upon herself to warn me of the future hardships I would endure, both outside and within my race.
Not only did she advise me, but she also reminded me of something that I carry with me each day. She said that in this uncontrollable and unstable world I have complete control over only one thing- myself.
Sexually speaking she reminded me that a man can and will do what a woman allows him to. Remembering her words makes me question things like why teenage girls would sleep with an adult man and see nothing wrong with that.
It makes me question why college-educated females fall victim to abusive relationships, both physically and mentally. It makes me wonder why in this month’s issue of Essence magazine it was reported that over 90 percent of reported HIV cases in Quincy, Fla.- a place too close for comfort- are African American, most of which being African American women.
Entirely too often women fail to recognize what it truly means to be a woman. We have the upper hand and yet too many of us are willing to play a subordinate role succumbing to destructive lusts and submissiveness.
Granted, everyone makes mistakes. However, mistakes become stupidity when made over and over.
In the end, women become victims and not victors. March is about more than history. It is about molding a better future. This month is about pride, value, esteem and self-worth. This month is a month to celebrate black women and our past, present, and future.
Therefore, I encourage all the women to take a good look at themselves and their bodies. Realize who they are and with whom they are sharing themselves. The future depends on our ability to inspire, inform, and educate. Most of all, it depends on our ability to reproduce.
Ultimately, the world turns by our bearing. Now, if someone could help me wake up in the morning.
Tiffany Pitts, 22, is a senior public relations student from Jacksonville. She is ºan assistant lifestyles editor for The Famuan. She can be reached at pittstiffany@hotmail.com.