Dear Reader:

Celebrating Mother’s Day, Regardless

As we head into this weekend when we celebrate, for some, the most important person in our lives, our Mothers, I find the timing of the release of a study that reminds us that life isn’t so grand for many Black women makes its way to some publications and websites - many of which are published by African Americans and directed at African American audiences.

The study, published by a website called FinancesOnline.com cites data from the 2009 U.S. Census. Through cheesy looking info graphics it rifles off a litany of negative indicators that really aren’t new news for anyone who has been Black all of their lives. It’s not new news for those who have watched Black mothers navigate and negotiate the system either.

Survival has been a challenge for Black mothers for as long as there have been Black families. The study’s purpose is dubious to me, as it provides no helpful information, only a look through a window that many of us have had a clear view of throughout our lives.

To read in the report that “black mothers lag behind mothers of other racial groups in four key areas: marriage and divorce, education, number of children and household expenditures...” is maddening to me.

What’s new about that?

I think back to my grandmother, who owned her own beauty shop, as it was called then, and despite being an entrepreneur, a word I’m sure she would have thought was a cuss word, she struggled. She had five children; she was widowed and remarried; I believe she only had an eighth grade education and I’m sure that even though she was a business owner and her husband earned a good living, there were times when finances were tight.

But she, like so many other Black women, never complained. I really can’t remember my grandmother ever fretting over her life. She just went about doing what needed to be done for her family. That’s what mothers do. That’s why they are so remarkable.

The unfortunate reality is that life has always been tough for Black women. Black women though, have always been tough. Always. They have always fought against the odds, but they’ve made it through.

The study questions whether Black mothers have reason to celebrate Mother’s Day. It’s an absurd question to ask. Black mothers have as good a reason to celebrate as all others. They have their children and grandchildren and all of the things that make life grand.

They have the joy of being a mother that only a mother can know.

I can’t figure out the purpose of studies and reports like these. I know they don’t educate or enlighten. I have concluded that they only serve to politicize and add to the polarization of our society. Mother’s Day is no time for these deep divisions to be furthered, nor should the burdens of our society continue to be placed on the backs of Black women. They’ve carried the load far too long.

Happy Mother’s Day, moms!

 

Eric Von

Publisher/Editor

Brain Brawn & Body