PS: You've written about how Black women have a legacy of caring for children that spans all of modern time. How does that position Black women today to define motherhood on their own terms?
I simply want women to be free. And, as Black feminists have noted, no one can be free until Black women are free.
MR: I think that Black women have an opportunity to decide for themselves "how to mother." This is the first time in modern history that we have that choice. And so, to enter willingly and lovingly into motherhood is an opportunity I want more and more women to have. We are learning to create those opportunities by breaking away from the notions of motherhood based on the loss of personhood or individuality. I want women to feel "whole" as mothers and as women; I want women to experience the depth of a long career, if they choose one, along with the depth of mothering children, if they choose to have any. I simply want women to be free. And, as Black feminists have noted, no one can be free until Black women are free. If we ought to toast to anything on this Mother's Day, it should be that.
