After Their Ascension, The Sisters Started Taking Over
The Sisters took their new power and status with grace and humility. They didn’t oppress, gloat or otherwise belittle anyone. They did what they had always done; they fixed the damned problem and moved on.
So, it stood to reason that one of them, a comely woman named General LaTonya Wilkins came back to the U.S. and ran for public office. She was elected mayor of New York, Senator, and then President.
Soon after the Wilkins administration came to power, the U.S. declared what we’d all been thinking: that the strength of our Black women was a national treasure, a precious resource that had to be protected and used for the good of the people.
Wilkins passed the National Sister Act, which officially acknowledged that Black women had a special gift that had to be preserved and employed for the good of America. In its preamble, Wilkins wrote:
To preserve the greatness of any society, we must have freedom and the strength to protect it. if that strength is embodied by a certain group of citizens, then we must protect that group because by doing so, we are protecting freedom itself.
It was a controversial law that was attacked by lawyers and religious organizations. In the end, the law was passed because it was righteous, based on a plain and undeniable truth and six of the nine Supreme Court Justices were Black women
Immediately, sisters became the first choice in all things American. The beauty standard changed and millions of women poured into tanning salons trying to become “more beautiful.” The hairstyles and body image of the sisters became the fashion and Playtex made a fortune selling butt pads.
White men turned away from other women by the millions, trying to attain the new symbol of power, a Sister. And the intra-racial male/female conflicts which had been the plague of the Black race were now belonged to other races.
Black men who already had black women in their lives realized a new sense of worth about these creatures they had taken for granted. It was like finding out that the old, rusty penny in your sock drawer was a treasure worth a fortune.
Even the language changed. “Sister” became a word which described various positive notions. “Very Sister of you,” indicates that you had done something nice for someone. That’s so Sister,” denotes a clever, smart action. “A Sister move,” was anything that’s a powerplay, and “Get some sister in you,” which means to become better at navigating your existence, becoming a better person.
The face of Black women also became a symbol of strength and positive imagery. The smiling visages of Black women now stand for the resurgence of the American way. She looks down from billboards and the sides of tall buildings. She watches over us on TV and provides inspiration in films. The Sister is an all-powerful hero, who is comfort to the domestic masses and strikes fear in the hearts of our enemies.
It seemed only natural to me that Black women would rise to power in this country. They were dragged here to work as slaves. They were raped and torn from their families and watched their men beaten into submission and killed. Later they were rejected as second-class citizens by the majority and even some within their own race.
Even in the age of liberalism and enlightenment, Sisters watched helplessly as women of other races were lifted above them as preferable and the images of Black women were reduced to fat, silly caricatures. While others were given their due, the double curse of Black women lead a pathway straight to the bottom rung of the ladder.
For years, the oppression of the Sisters was turning the coal into a diamond. Black women developed an unshakeable core of strength and power that was passed down from generation to generation, mother to child, sister to sister, friend to friend. This power evolved into an indefinable quality that everyone could see, but none could touch or emulate.
The Standard Changes
Black women were revered by other women who wanted their power, but not their burden. They were secretly loved by white men who lusted after their sexually, but were afraid of the package it came in, and they were forgotten by their brothers, who saw the jewel, but were afraid of the work it took to get it.
I watched women suffer through all the indignities I’ve mentioned. I watched them be abandoned by their men and looked over by life. I’ve seen the subtle pain in their eyes as they watch other women be adored and watch themselves vilified and made fun of.
I’ve also been witness to the joy of their living, the happiness they’ve brought into the days of others. I’ve seen them take tragedy and mold it into triumph, take death and spin it into wisdom and catch hell and turn it into sunshine. And I have marveled at how they perform these miracles and never seem anything more than your sweet big mama, your blessed mother, loving sister, favorite teacher and the girl next door with the pretty smile.
So now that the Sisters are the leaders of the free world, I am happy. There are still some people who grouse, but they are just jealous or unenlightened. But America is back and for the foreseeable future the Sisters will be in control.
Copyright 2011
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