My Thoughts on For Colored Girls

(Disclaimer: I have not seen the film, just an avid fan of the choreopoem)

isn't it interesting in a cultural moment where we might think about the particular experiences of struggle and strife all we can seem to say is that Black men didn't get a fair shake? i see you my brother, i see you.

how about the next time you wanna talk to me about Shange's work you start with how it relates to a little statistic we used to talk about in the BSA that 3 out of 4 Black women (in the US) will experience some sort of sexual assault or abuse in their lives.

ain't it something that the world, not just Black men, can take something that says for whom it was made IN THE TITLE, and still give no comment to that community whatsoever.

A Black woman falls in a forest, is she in trouble? Only if someone important saw it happen.


I am so sick and tired of seeing "mainstream" and "alternative" media alike USE a work of art about BLACK WOMEN as a space to talk about Black men. Not because we can't talk about Black men but because we didn't even engage the art on it's terms.

Is Shange's work to boring, oh boo hoo Black women got it bad...BUT what's really interesting is how that makes us think about Black Men?

Well fuck you.

I'll be over here still giving a shit whether little Black girls can read, and whether they grow up in a world that tells them their worth is more than their ability to support some dude, and whether they hearts, minds, spirits, and bodies are fed by the communities they call home, and whether or not those communities do their JOB to protect those little Black girls.

i found god in myself
& i loved her/i loved her fiercely
- Ntozake Shange