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A review by axmed
The Sisters Are Alright: Changing the Broken Narrative of Black Women in America by Tamara Winfrey Harris
fast-paced
5.0
“I used to work doing harm reduction, giving people syringes and providing condoms and lubricant and stuff like
that,” Halimah says. “We had good condoms—Magnums and Trojans … And I was like, ‘I will bring some to my
neighborhood.’ Every night when I came home from work, I would just leave some on the mailboxes. I come out in
the morning and everything is gone. I didn’t even know until recently that, for over a year, I was known as the
condom lady. People were like, ‘Yeah, we know you—the lady that used to leave all of the condoms on the mailbox
for people. Thank you for that!”
“I fight against it every day … all of the respectability politics. I’m Black. I’m still in the hood. I still swipe the EBT card. I guess I would be considered all of those stereotypes,” she says.
“Most of my life I’ve been told I don’t belong in certain spaces—that I will never get to certain spaces acting in the way I do, looking the way I do and behaving the way that I do. I need to have all of these degrees and accolades in order to be accepted in certain spaces. People take one look at me and dismiss me.”
But women like Halimah are often the backbones of their neighborhoods.They have the relationships, the drive,
the knowledge, and the heart to offer real help to people who need it.
that,” Halimah says. “We had good condoms—Magnums and Trojans … And I was like, ‘I will bring some to my
neighborhood.’ Every night when I came home from work, I would just leave some on the mailboxes. I come out in
the morning and everything is gone. I didn’t even know until recently that, for over a year, I was known as the
condom lady. People were like, ‘Yeah, we know you—the lady that used to leave all of the condoms on the mailbox
for people. Thank you for that!”
“I fight against it every day … all of the respectability politics. I’m Black. I’m still in the hood. I still swipe the EBT card. I guess I would be considered all of those stereotypes,” she says.
“Most of my life I’ve been told I don’t belong in certain spaces—that I will never get to certain spaces acting in the way I do, looking the way I do and behaving the way that I do. I need to have all of these degrees and accolades in order to be accepted in certain spaces. People take one look at me and dismiss me.”
But women like Halimah are often the backbones of their neighborhoods.They have the relationships, the drive,
the knowledge, and the heart to offer real help to people who need it.