Well…we have entered the chute a little early for the big day that Saturday, June 14th promises to be. People are on edge, of course, what with National Guardsmen and Marines, and who knows what all standing at the ready for who knows what. I have both seen and said that it will be a summer of discontent and of revolution, but someone (leaking and orange) seems to have jumped the gun, as summer’s not for another 10 days or so. That’s fine. Let the curtain rise.

The cards today give us Tarot’s Knight of Pentacles, and in the Black Tarot, by Nyasha Williams this knight becomes the Daughter of Coins. She is the slowest of the Tarot Knights, and to make the case that thoughtful deliberation is her chosen motto, she has alit from her white mare and walks slowly beside her. She will not be rushed or goaded or chided into moving any faster than she desires. She is a fan of Rudyard Kipling’s poem “IF,” especially the words:

“If you can keep your head when all about you are losing theirs, and blaming it on you…”

Because blame, it seems, has indeed become quite the commodity, when it comes to what some white women activists have to say to Black women. Other Black creators have experienced this quite a lot. I saw it in my YouTube comments. A tiny bit,I grant you, but enough for me to want to write about it here, although I have deleted it there.

I have exhorted, encouraged, enjoined, and advocated for Black people to stay at home during these protests. There are myriad other ways we can help the cause (I gave to a fund for porta-potties because, when you gotta go, you gotta go, and in a crowd, that can be hard). I have called my elected officials, and written letters and reposted helpful information. I have been prayerful and encouraging in my speech and in my actions.

And yet, some white viewers have called me and others advocating for Black people to stay out of the streets “selfish,” and that “all colors need to be visible and represented at these protests.” The Daughter of Coins says, “No, thank you.”

Of course this cause is our cause too. As is the cause of the Palestinian people experiencing genocide via bombing and starvation at the hands of Israel. Lest we forget.

The Daughter of Coins is nothing if not strategic, careful, a player of the long-game. Black people staying at home is equally about self-preservation and the awareness that any time we are “outside,” the powers that be will make our presence the issue, the agitators, the animals, the ones who must be put down, quelled, silenced. We know how this story goes, and so we are sitting this chapter out.

For Black women, (I’ll say it again) the 92 percent who TOLD Y’ALL, we are in what we are calling our “soft era”. We are drinking our water and sipping our tea in between writing and calling and donating. We are resting. We are minding our business, and our business is staying out of these streets.

Lenormand is nudging me now.

This “soft era” living is new (Child) to many of us, especially those of us used to answering every call, sounding every alarm, being on every frontline. We didn’t know we had the choice to do otherwise. We do. But make no mistake:

Our “soft era” has us being what my Bible-quoting mother would have called “wise as a serpent and gentle as a dove” (Fox.)We are no less dangerous because we appear to be at rest. We are moving forward (Ship) during this revolutionary period according to our own rules. No amount of name-calling, guilt-tripping, or arm-twisting will sway us from writing our own scripts.

Adinkra gives us Kintinkantan, the symbol for puffed-up arrogance. It is not we who are arrogant. Perhaps that label should be reserved for those who think they know better than we, how we should apportion our time, whether we may conserve our energy, when and where and how we show up. We always show up, is the point. This time, we are garbed in robes of our choosing, moving at a pace that suits us, resting as we need to rest, and not because any modern day overseer says we can. Because modern day overseers say we can never rest. It is always more, and then more that is demanded of us. We are here. We are helping. And finally, for once, we are adding ourselves to the list of the deserving.

May the protests be peaceful and may no one be hurt or harmed, except for the feelings of the orange and leaking one.

May each of us serve the revolutionary role to which we feel called.

May we respect each others choices in this.

May the bathrooms be sufficient and the weather be temperate

May rain and thunder be the most prominent guests at the D.C. birthday parade.

May this weekend hasten the end of what has been, and herald a new, more perfect Union’s birth and beginning.

Amen and Ase,

Erika

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