Mary

“today, i am a black woman in a body of coal
i am always burning and no one knows my name
i am a nameless fury, i am a blues scratched from
the throat of ms. nina—i am always angry
i am always a bumble hive of hello
i love like this too loudly, my neighbors
think i am an unforgiving bitter
sometimes, i think my neighbors are right
most times i think my neighbors are nosey”
― Mahogany L. Browne

“As a black woman, the decision to love yourself just as you are is a radical act. And I'm as radical as they come.”
― Bethanee Epifani J. Bryant

“I told the priest
my god is a black woman
he poured holy water on me
and scheduled me for an exorcism”
― Ijeoma Umebinyuo, Questions for Ada

“To turn black women into objectified others was to underline their difference; they may be beautiful, but they are of another kind, separate from the dominant understanding of attractiveness.”
― Anne Helen Petersen, Too Fat, Too Slutty, Too Loud: The Rise and Reign of the Unruly Woman