Black Joy is a form of resistance. To resist the burdens of oppression and to live fully beneath the gaze of white supremacy is RESISTANCE. When I sing, I have to sing “to the heavens”. My head tilted, my lips stretched, tongue ready, I belt out songs as if my life depends on it. And sometimes it does. A song’s lyrics providing reassurance. Hope. Faith. Promises of love. Redemption. Peace. Sometimes, the melody sweeps my feet in an auntie “two-step”, or the lyrics rile up my ratchet in a demi-twerk. All full of joy. Joyful. In the midst of all that threatens Black people. To sing with abandon, is resistance.
I remember leading Morning Devotion at my Seventh-Day Adventist elementary school. My family was strict Pentecostal, so the SDA and their religious beliefs were most aligned to ours. “In the name of Jesus, In the name of Jesus, we have the victory” I woulds ing to the top of my lungs, invoking the voices of the rest of the class to join me. My young mind would dream of the victories that God’s people could lay claim to and I knew that singing his praises would allow me to to be victorious, too. I still sing all songs as if God is listening. Even if she shouldn’t be listening, lol.
