The Feminist Gift Guide: For Every Feminist on Your List!
By Emily Scott
Image via TeeSpring
“I Love My Blackness. And Yours.” T-Shirt
For: The feminist who embodies Black Girl Magic
Price: $15.00
DeRay McKesson is an activist, educator, and politician in Baltimore. His work with the Black Lives Matter movement has gained him wide acclaim, and he posts updates on the movement and helpful information for organizing against police brutality to his almost 600,000 Twitter followers.
A while ago, McKesson tweeted the message, “I love my blackness. And yours.” He has been tweeting the same phrase frequently ever since. In an answer to a question on Quora, McKesson clarified what he means by it. “I wrote it as a self-affirmation and a community affirmation. So much of the social justice work is heavy – we talk about trauma and pain as a part of the work. And one day I just needed to remind myself that this work is also rooted in love – a love of culture and identity and blackness.”
And it is one hell of an affirmation. McKesson’s words have become a message of hope and positivity in a time of horrifying injustice. And that is something we could all use, especially your feminist friends of color. And the proceeds from the shirt’s sales go to support Campaign Zero, partially founded by McKesson. Campaign Zero seeks to end violence by the police against marginalized groups by enacting policies like ending for-profit policing and investigating and prosecuting independently.
If you seek to provide your feminist friend of color with support, solidarity, and sisterhood this holiday season, consider this message of love and positivity. It’ll be 100% worth it.
She’ll Love It If: She’s worn her Black Lives Matter shirt so much that it’s starting to wear out; she follows DeRay McKesson on Twitter (bonus if she lives in Baltimore and voted for him in the mayoral primary this year); her life of activism is hard and a message of love will support her