All of this winning…*Beyonce’ Voice*

Greetings all,

Today’s friendship post comes just after the 1-year anniversary of the release of Beyoncé’s iconic #Lemonade. While an exhaustive review of this body of work is beyond the scope of this post, I wanted to use Beyoncé and Serena’s friendship as a metaphor for other Black women’s friendships.

Now, we do not know if Bey and Serena are besties in real life, but we can all hope and assume (I mean, the world’s greatest athlete AND Queen Bey? It just makes sense at this point).

Nevertheless, both women rocked the internet this year by announcing the impending arrivals of their baby bundles. Because #misogynoir is REAL, we have witnessed folks tear them both apart for bearing their growing bellies and being unapologetic Black women in public (i.e., #WhiteWomenRespond).

However, I think Bey and Serena (can) represent what happens when Black women win together in friendship, regardless of what winning may mean to you.

Which brings me to the question for today’s post: How do you celebrate the wins of your Black girlfriends/sista-friends?

Society is here to remind us that Black women will be taunted, bullied and outright disrespected for sharing and celebrating our successes and wins. A necessary component of #BlackGirlFriendship is being able to root your girl on (think #CiteASista), especially while patriarchy and White supremacy are trying to tear her down.

So, I say to you all today and always, congratulations on all that you have achieved! Be it getting out of bed, telling someone NO, or defending your bomb dissertations (shoutout to DRS. Collier, Lacy and Anderson!!!!), I celebrate you and hope that your #SistaCircles are celebrating you, too.

Don’t (let anyone) try to…slow you…down!

In #BlackGirlFriendship,

Raven

P.S. Please leave me comments with things you would like to see from this column! Also, feel free to tweet me your thoughts @brilliantblkgrl.

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