Black women deserve rest
Hi friends,
Today I want to tell you about a good friend of mine, rose june. They are a scholar, a poet, a musician, and a fierce advocate of the belief that, as they put it, "Survival mode is not our inheritance." I have a coffee mug from them that reminds me of that every day.
After an extremely difficult year, rose june was job-hunting to bridge the gap of their Sept-May job. As many of you know, job-hunting these days is soul-breaking work. And as their soul was breaking, rose june began dreaming of asking for what they would actually need to survive and thrive. So this fundraiser was born.
Hello gentle people,
For those of you who don’t know me, my name is Rose June. I am a poet, writer, teacher, and digital creator. I am also a contemplative. This means I am living a life of awareness, attuned to the desire to be fully Black and alive. I am also someone who just survived a really hard year. This past year was one of the most difficult of my life mentally and emotionally. I navigated a mental health crisis serious enough that a second hospitalization was on the table. Luckily I was able to avoid it, but not without a cost. The kind of cost that you spend months, slowly, paying back to yourself....
Womanist theologian Katie Geneva Cannon named something I have spent years dwelling in: “Do the work your soul must have.” There is a work my soul must have. It is the deep, unhurried work of becoming. This summer, I want to do that work. And I need your help to protect it.
rose june’s story resonates for me as a neurodivergent disabled woman who is struggling to find work that matches my skills, calling, and needs. I love the phrase from Katie Geneva Cannon, “work my soul must have.” It reminds me of Buechner’s definition of vocation as “the place where your deep joy meets the world’s deep need.”
And I love that they keep reaffirming that Black women deserve rest. I truly feel that the care we extend to Black women will multiply tenfold — not only through their healing, but through an intentional reversal of the white supremacy and misogyny our world has immersed us in and a reclamation of our souls that will be healing to us all.
Thursday is rose june's last day of work, and I would love if they could start their summer fully supported. Would you consider donating? Even $5 or $10 donations mean so much, and help build momentum as we're getting near the end. We can do this!!
And of course shares help so much, too! You can click the "share" button below, and here's the url if you want to copy and paste on the socials: https://www.gofundme.com/f/help-rose-june-land-gently-this-summer
And I'm curious: If you could do "the work your soul must have," what would it be? Even if it seems impossible, could you start at least dreaming of what that would look like? Ignore, for a moment, the limitations of capitalism, the constant bills nipping at your heels. In your dreams you are free to imagine the world you want to create, for yourself and for all of us.
With love and, despite everything, hope,
Jessica
