A Summer of #BlackGirlMagic
I played professional tennis after I graduated from high school. My dad was my coach. I had tears running down my face after Coco won and she hugged her father and mother. I felt like I understood the feeling, even if just a little bit.
But more importantly, I was so happy to be witnessing #blackgirlmagic.
Where did the phrase BlackGirlMagic come from?
The phrase “Black Girls are Magic” — later shortened to the hashtag #BlackGirlMagic on social media — was coined by CaShawn Thompson in 2013 as a way to celebrate and uplift Black women.
CaShawn created the concept of “Black Girls Are Magic,” inspired by her childhood and growing up with her mother, grandmother, and aunts. CaShawn began using the phrase online to uplift and praise the accomplishments, beauty and other amazing qualities of Black women. CaShawn believes in the phenomenal power and skill that all Black women and girls possess. She knows that Black women are the original influencers of culture around the world. Black girls and their magic deserve to be revered, celebrated, exalted and protected.”
When I think of Black girl magic, I think of intangibles. Our poise, our power, our persistence, and our perseverance as Black women, and the generations of Black womanhood and ancestors that suffered so much. It is about overcoming stereotypes, sexist expectation for behavior, unwarranted criticism, such as the criticism that South Carolina WBB Coach Dawn Staley addressed after the team’s loss to University of Iowa in the NCAA tournament:
SC coach Dawn Staley took time during her post-game interview to defend her team and its playing style. “We’re not bar fighters. We’re not thugs. We’re not monkeys. We’re not street fighters,” the longtime coach said in response to the media’s portrayal of the Gamecocks. “It just confirms what we already know. So watch what you say when you’re in public and you’re talking about my team in particular, because it’s wrong.” Staley called for the media not to judge her team members by the color of their skin and to get to know them like they care to get to know players of other races.
https://www.teenvogue.com/story/op-ed-angel-reese-should-not-apologize-caitlin-clark
My essay, When a Black Woman Walks Into a Room, reflects that reality and how we walk into room differently as Black women. We know that we have to “represent.” We don’t represent just ourselves when we walk into rooms or compete. We represent the ancestors; we represent future descendants; we represent our race. It is a heavy burden sometimes; but also privilege and honor, because we are aware of the sacrifices of so many who made it possible for us to be even have to opportunity to walk into a room, to compete, to share our talents.
It is the reality of the lyrics from Endangered Species from Diane Reeves that Sheryl Lee Ralph sang when she won the Emmy.
I am an endangered species
But I sing no victim’s song
I am a woman I am an artist
And I know where my voice belongs
I am a woman I exist
I shake my fist but not my hips
My skin is dark my body is strong
I sing of rebirth no victim’s song
Sheryl Lee Ralph said:
“To anyone who has ever ever had a dream and thought your dream wasn’t wouldn’t couldn’t come true I am here to tell you that this is what believing looks like,” Ralph said. “This is what striving looks like, and don’t you ever, ever give up on you.”
This has been the summer of Black girl striving:
Coco Gauff, US Open Tennis Champion, age 19
Angel Reese, NCAA Basketball Champion, age 21
ShaCarri Richardson, 2023 100 Meter World Champion, age 23
Laulauga Tausaga-Collins, the 2023 Discus World Champion, age 25
Simone Biles, US Gymnastic Champion, age 26
I want to share a little bit about these amazing women.
COCO GAUFF
Coco’s quotes after winning the US open are remarkable:
“Thank you to the people who didn’t believe in me. A month ago I won a 500 title and people said I would stop at that. Two weeks ago, I won a 1000 title and people were saying that was the biggest I was going to get. And three weeks later I’m here with this trophy. I’ve tried my best to carry myself with grace but those who thought they were putting water in my fire, you were adding gas to it and I’m really burning bright right now.”
https://www.express.co.uk/sport/tennis/1811213/Coco-Gauff-cries-US-Open-parents-Candi-Corey
It is also important to know that she triumphed over impostor syndrome:
“Then I told myself, I looked in the mirror, I was, like, no, you’re a good player, you can beat her. … Yeah, it’s still definitely a part of me but I do think I’m giving myself more credit more. And speaking things into existence is real. I’ve been trying to speak more positively of myself and actually telling myself that I’m a great player.”
Coco shared that her grandmother inspires her to speak her mind: “She’s the sole, or one of the main, reasons why I use my platform the way that I do and why I feel so comfortable speaking out,” Gauff said about her grandmother. “For those who don’t know, she was the first Black person to go to what was then called Seacrest High School. That happened, like, six months after Ruby Bridges did her integration. She had to deal with a lot of…racial injustice.”
ANGEL REESE
Angel Reese spoke her mind after leading her team to the NCAA Championships. Her accomplishments are incredible. She set an NCAA record with 34 double-doubles during the season … Began the season with 23 consecutive double-doubles, breaking Sylvia Fowles’ previous LSU record of 19 … The 23 double-doubles were also the most in SEC history to begin a season according to ESPN … Set an SEC record with 555 rebounds, eight shy of the NCAA record … Also set the SEC records with 240 made free throws and 339 free throw attempts … Her 830 points were the third most in LSU history …Recorded a double-double in all six of LSU’s NCAA Tournament game … Averaged 21.3 points and 15.2 rebounds throughout March Madness … In the National Championship game against Iowa, Reese had 15 points and 10 rebounds …https://lsusports.net/sports/wbball/roster/player/angel-reese/
Her remarks:
“All year I was critiqued about who I was,” she said in her postgame interview after the championship win. “I don’t fit the narrative. I don’t fit in the box that y’all want me to be in. I’m too hood, I’m too ghetto, y’all told me that all year. But when other people do it y’all don’t say nothing. So this was for the girls that look like me, that’s gonna speak up on what they believe in, that’s unapologetically you.”
Reese tweeted two messages shortly after the championship game, complete with a kissy emoji and a haloed smiley: “I LOVE BEING A BLACK QUEEN,” “And no I’M NOT KEEPING IT CUTE.” And she shouldn’t.
https://www.teenvogue.com/story/op-ed-angel-reese-should-not-apologize-caitlin-clark
Basketball star Angel Reese now has to take classes online at LSU due to her celebrity status on campus. pic.twitter.com/CZgR9mCsmn
— Daily Loud (@DailyLoud) August 23, 2023
In talking about her fans, she said:
“I’ll ask them, ‘Why do you love me?’ And they said, ‘Because you are who you are. You’re you.’ And that’s the biggest trait I carry. Be who you are, and never, ever back down to anyone.”
And as journalist Eden Lasse wrote:
“When the little girls in the stands are cheering her on, they’ll see a trash-talking, eyelash wearing, Twitter-typing basketball player. They’ll see someone who knows who she is, loves who she is and is never afraid of that. They might see her get a technical. They might see an elaborate celebration or a TikTok dance after she scores an and-1. They might hear a spicy postgame quote.They’ll see Angel Reese being Angel Reese. And they’ll love her for it.”
LAULAUGA TAUSAGA
Laulauga Tausaga won the 2023 world championship discus after finish last in the two previous worlds. She improved her personal best by four meters, from 65.46 to 69.49 and incredible achievement.
Her achievement is even more remarkable considering that she had won an NCAA title and entered the Tokyo Olympic Trials ranked third in the U.S., yet didn’t make the team because she fouled all three throws in qualifying.
Her remarks: “I don’t know if I have a fairy godmother or my ancestors had some say in it, but I was able to do something tonight that I didn’t think was possible. … I was confident if I was on my A-game I could sneak through into a medal place and not be 12th like I was in the last two world championships. It’s unbelievable to go from 12th to first. I just said to myself, ‘You need to let it out and if it fouls, then so be it’. But it sailed out to that big throw and here I am. I have a gold medal, I can’t believe it, it’s so unreal. When I saw my distance I just couldn’t get to my coach fast enough to give him the strongest hug of my life.”
SHA’CARRI RICHARDSON
Many may be familiar with Sha’Carri Richardson’s story.
In 2021 she was among the favorites for the Tokyo Olympics, but tested positive for marijuana at the US trials after the death of her mother and was disqualified. Yet, in her World Championship debut in 2023, she won gold from lane 9 via a championship record 10.65 second to bit noted Jamaican rivals Shericka Jackson and Shelly-Ann Fraser-Pryce
Her post-race remarks: “It’s about knowing that no matter what happens, you never lose sight of yourself. You’re going to have good days, you’re going to have bad days, you are going to have better days. You’re going to have worse days. But you live to see tomorrow. Every day the sun doesn’t shine but that’s why I love tomorrow. …I always say never give up. Never allow the media, never allow outsiders, never allow anything but yourself to define who you are. I would say always fight, no matter what, fight. My coach, my family, supporters, and haters – all of their motivation has brought me to this moment. It helped me prevail. It helped me overcome.”
“I’m not worried about the world anymore. I’ve seen the world be my friend, I’ve seen the world turn on me. At the end of the day, I’ve always been with me. God has always been with me. So being on this scale now, it’s my time,” she said. “It’s always been my time, but now it’s my time to actually do it for myself, and the people that felt like me, and the people that look like me, and the people that know the truth about themselves as well. I represent those people.”
She came into 2023, and said: “I wanted to show you guys that I’m still that girl but I’m better. I’m still that girl but I’m stronger. I’m still that girl but I’m wiser.”
SIMONE BILES
Simone Biles is the most decorated gymnast in World Champion history. At 25, the record-breaking athlete has earned 32 Olympic and World Champion medals
This summer, ten years after her first title, at age 26, Simon Biles won a record eighth U.S. Championship, even after a two-year break following the Tokyo Olympics. Her quote: “I like to keep (my goals) personal, just so that I know what I’m aiming for,” Biles said. “I think it’s better that way. I’m trying to move a little bit differently this year than I have in the past. I think it’s working so far, so I’m going to keep it secretive.”
https://time.com/6308845/simone-biles-wins-us-gymnastics-championship-2023/
She has spoken out on what motivates here:
- Growing up, I didn’t see very many Black gymnasts… So whenever I did, I felt really inspired to go out there and want to be as good as them. I remember watching Gabby Douglas win the 2012 Olympics, and I was like, If she can do it, I can do it.”
- “If you aren’t committed to training, conditioning, and practice, you aren’t committed to being your best.”
- “I need to learn how to carry those expectations lightly, like a turtle carries its shell.”
Simone also courageously took a breakl for her mental health: “For so many years, I’ve suppressed all the feelings and everything, and I couldn’t do it anymore,” she says. “My body and my mind literally shut down and were like, ‘Simone, you can’t do this anymore. You have to take a break. Unfortunately, it’s at the Olympics, but we’re shutting your body off right now. Good luck.’ It was a really good wake-up call for me to at least take care of my mind and body for once because for so many years I had pushed that off. It’s really nice, but it also gave me a lesson of like, I’m more than gymnastics, which I never thought I was going to be.”
https://www.popsugar.com/fitness/simone-biles-gymnastics-mental-health-journey-48804421
These women represent #Blackgirlmagic and exemplify the poem by Lesle Honore:
Brown girl brown girl
What do you see
I see a Champion
That looks like me
Brown girl brown girl
What do you do
I fought I hoped
I spoke what was true
Brown girl brown girl
What do you know
That there are strong women
Who want me to grow
Brown girl brown girl
What do you feel
That #blackgirlmagic
Will help us all heal
Brown girl brown girl
What do you see
A world that sees my skin
before it sees me
Brown girl brown girl
Whatcha gonna do
March, fight and create
Till I make this world new
Brown girl brown girl
How are you so strong
‘Cause I got Queens in my blood
To help push me along
Lesle Honore Poetry.
