On paying black women for the work we do and the ways people accuse us of cashing in

Watch this video from Marissa Jenae, then come back to read my commentary copied from my sharing of her video on Facebook.

See this, this hurts me. Here’s someone out here doing the work and immediately she got people claiming it’s a scam. Yet you got mofo’s out here selling designer safety pins and being lauded for sitting around at #NADPLprotests soaking in the conflict?

Nah fuck that. You can’t be a conditional supporter until we talk about money. Everyone loves what you do, how you get things done, the bravery (oh I got feelings on that word and how it’s applied to black women’s work but that’s another post) it takes to do the hard work, create, sustain, lead and build movements until we talk about getting paid for the labor.

Note: I am not in the mood for devil’s advocacy or your conspiracy theories or how you don’t like X person involved in BLM and their work. Just… don’t fucking do it unless you want a one way trip off my FB.

I know the feel of people going from I love what you do! Come to our conference, help us with diversity but oh, wait you want to be paid? Fairly? And suddenly…no one got a thing to say or everyone suddenly got a lot of commentary on how you should do it for the community, or the love of the work while also side eyeing you for the audacity to speak up, to be out there, and risk so much to get it done.

Also note, I am in no way, shape or form comparing my work to BLM. But I know how it feels to be called a scammer, a liar or someone trying to cash in on the work I’m already doing for little to nothing.