What we not fuxing with today is a recognition of the distinct issues related to the Immigrant Uppity Black Woman's capacity to actively uncheck the boxes she has been trained to check based solely on her experience as an immigrant. We look at the Uppity Black Woman's story through the lens of the characters of a new Broadway Play, Jaja's African Hair Braiding, written by Ghanian playwright Jocelyn Bioh. The play centers on a day at a hair braiding salon in Harlem, covered by the shadow of the shop owner, Jaja, preparing for her wedding day. On the surface, the play looks like it examines the seemingly universal characters that orbit an African hair braiding salon, the braiders from various West African countries and the myriad Black Women (and Black Men) whose energies daily touch the salon. The underlying story though is really one of immigration, and the precarious nature of the Immigrant Uppity Black Woman's journey to becoming an Immigrant Uppity Black Woman. What does this precariousness, this uncertainty, do to the Immigrant Uppity Black Woman's psyche. This forces me to query, how does one relay to the Immigrant Uppity Black Woman, the messaging of "living out loud" and embracing the uncertainty of releasing control when it is certainty that was always craved.
REFERENCES IN TODAY'S EPISODE
Jaja'a African Hair Braiding, by Jocelyn Bioh directed by Whitney White ON BROADWAY AT THE SAMUEL J. FRIEDMAN THEATRE
CHIMAMANDA NGOZI ADICHIE, Americanah
If you are an Uppity Black Woman, ready to say: I.Can't.Fux.With.You! Visit us at omuwaluxe.com to learn more about The Black Woman Liberation Formula. Sis, it is time to unpretzel and get yourself liberated.
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