Written by Tanya Terry
Black Lives Matter Grassroots is presenting Black Women Are Divine events for the second year during Women’s History Month this month. Black Women Are Divine events were created in order to honor of Breonna Taylor, the unarmed Black woman who was shot and killed while unarmed in her Louisville, Kentucky home by three police officers who entered under a no-knock search warrant. Taylor worked on-call Emergency Room Technician and first responder until the time of her death. At the time the officers were not charged, but through collective work of civil unrest, the officers were eventually charged and convicted in the for shooting and killing Breonna Taylor.
“Black Women are Divine is an event in which we actually support our women,” stated DeWaun E. Robinson, president, Black Lives Matter, Flint Chapter.
Robinson added: “It’s held during the month of March, which is Women’s Month. We want to support our women. This is created in response to Breonna Taylor and her being murdered in 2020. This is giving reverence to Black women. We will honor them and provide awards and have ceremonies, like we did last year with Claressa Shields, Mama Sol and Mother E. Hill DeLoney. This year, they have some phenomenal activities that they laid out, as well. Us brothers will just be their for support. We may hold the doors or serve the women, but it’s really facilitated by Black women.”
Last year, Black Lives Matter Grassroots offered the community a Spa Day, where women of all ages were able to get together to enjoy getting their nails done, getting massages and being able to speak about what affects them day to day, while uplifting one another. At the event, older women were able to share with youth and young adults their wisdom about everything from their skin and hair, to their relationships and parenting.
This year, a 2024 American war drama film about a small group of Black women on a near-impossible mission to clear a backlog of 17 million pieces of mail for US troops in Europe, written and directed by Tyler Perry, will help kick off the events! It will be shown at 6 p.m. on Friday, March 28, at the New McCree Theatre.
“This year, the Brown Skin Girl Party is going to be at the McCree Theatre,” shared Zamaria Metcals. “We’re featuring ‘The Six Triple Eight.’ It’s about maybe 16 Black women who had to get the mail out during World War II. They were given an impossible task, but they made it happen. The purpose of showing the movie is to show strength. As women, we get beat down a lot…As Black women we are beat down even more. We don’t have a lot of the tools that a lot of people have. So, our strength comes from within. We just have to build our own courage and go out and do the things that are necessary for our children, for our community. We want our kids that are coming to watch this video. We want them to see us on the big screen, to see we are strong and we can make it no matter what the circumstances are. We want them to know that there are many that came before them that paved the way.”
The next event will be a Natural Beauty Day with Creative Hair School on March 30.
“It’s a seminar that Mrs. CoCo Carothers and her daughter, Twinkle Carothers will give,” explained Metcals. “They are going to talk to us about natural hair and give us some natural hair tips. They are also going to talk to us about our skin, our makeup and things we can do to look presentable. We’re going to have healthy drinks and healthy snacks and recipes they can use. It’s all about your hair, your makeup, your mind, your body – just being natural and taking care of yourself. It will be very informative.”
Although the March 28 event does not require an RSVP and all are welcome, the March 30 Natural Beauty event does. To register, click bit.ly/BWADNATURAL
Metcals noted that March is Women’s History Month and that Taylor was shot and killed in March.
She said of the Black Women are Divine events: “It’s really just about honoring and empowering Black women -and Black young ladies.”
