Providing Positivity and Healing through Words and Music
When we say “Black Girl Magic,” we are flooded with questions like “What exactly is Black Girl Magic?” and “Isn’t the phrase counterproductive to showing Black women’s humanity?”
“Black Girl Magic” was an intra-communal term that began as a hashtag in 2013 by Cashawn Thompson and later usurped America's mainstream lexicon. It originally served as inspiration for many young girls and women in the Black community. I personally believe the phrase is a common affirmation for us to keep going. Valerie June is “Black Girl Magic” personified and we were able to share in her spectacular light while discussing her debut book of poems, Maps for the Modern World, last month in the midst of protest and unrest. Her book of poems includes her own illustrations accommodating a calmness of her healing words. Maps for the Modern World is not only a book, but an inspiring guide—a way to get through each day, to keep going.
With the release of her debut book and latest album, Valerie June has proven her creativity knows no bounds. June has created her own lane and musical style. June does it all while teaching her audience the sacredness and necessity of getting centered—using meditation and mindfulness—even in Maps For The Modern World. June’s “Black Girl Magic” is providing positivity and healing through words and music to a world hell-bent on making it sorrowful for Black girls like us.
Valerie June: “That is what it is and I feel that positivity is a form of activism. When you’re living “Black Girl Magic” and you wake up in the world and learn about what’s happening around us [Minneapolis … again] and you’re like, “Well, how do I shine Today?” and you know you have to dig deep, you know you have to go to the roots of it. And, at the roots, you know that our Ancestors have done the work, they have said and lived the dream and they stood on the frontlines so that we can be here today. And I feel like our job is positivity and our job is joy, our job is beauty, and it’s showing the world through that positivity what Blackness radiates… you want to leave the earth with a smile, with flowers ... like flowers bookclub.”
Valerie June, even through her aura, sound, and words, radiates “Black Girl Magic.” A magic not absent of troubles for what’s happening in the world around us, but recognizing that we are whole beings with the ability to cultivate joy and beauty in our everyday lives even in the midst of heaviness. And as we discussed when we met virtually in April, that incessant drive to keep this spectacular light radiating is a form of activism. That push in itself is a balm, a medicine, and activism that heals. And, that’s what you’ll feel as you read Maps for the Modern World.
Be sure to pick up Valerie June’s book and travel time and space with her while basking in the medley of words found in each poem filled with inspiring words and creativity between every page, enjoy the restorative sounds of her music as a backdrop, then join one of her live meditations.
Kimm Lett is a native of the Gulf Coast and proud mother to a college freshman. She is founder of flowers bookclub where she’s created community and safe spaces for healing conversations since 2009 while meeting with authors of books focusing on experiences of women from marginalized communities. She is a digital strategist and currently resides in Atlanta.
