A Star-Forged Ruby

Dear Black Women: Things You Can Do Today to Prepare for What’s Coming

Start a Commonplace Book: Fill it with gardening tips, food preservation techniques, safe spaces that offer resources, uplifting quotes or scriptures, survival techniques—anything you might need or want to remember if digital access disappeared.

Consider a Vow of Abstinence: Childbirth has always been dangerous, but now it’s on another level. Protect your health and your body.

Talk to the Men in Your Life: If they’re not doing what’s needed to protect you and build community, it’s time to X them out. No room for dead weight.

Make a Plan: If things were to go wrong tomorrow, what resources do you have to protect yourself? Where’s a safe place you can go to find community? If you don’t have one yet, start looking—ASAP.

Get Real with Yourself: Look in the mirror and get honest about what you’re willing to do to protect yourself. Toughening up is non-negotiable. Nobody else is coming to save us.

Hone Your Skills: Whatever skills you have, build on them. You need to have something to offer to get what you need.

Do Your Research: Learn all you can about anything you feel might be useful to you. Whether it’s survival techniques, women’s rights movements in other countries, the impact of political unrest, or what to expect when this country inevitably falls apart—prepare yourself. Equip yourself with the truth, no matter how ugly it may be.

Trust Your Own Judgment: Strengthen your instincts and learn to use discernment. The time for letting others make decisions for you or simply going along to get along is over. Take an active role in your life and in shaping what happens to you.

Keep Your Spirits High: Don’t waste energy hate-watching Trump or his speeches—they won’t tell you anything new. Turn off the TV and make sure your own household is strong.

Remember Our Resilience: We come from people who survived much worse with a lot less. Celebrate the small wins and appreciate what you have.

Stand Together: Do not let them turn us against each other. The most powerful thing we have is community.

There are things on this list I still need to do myself, but this is the path forward as I see it. We aren’t superhuman and we can’t outrun what’s coming, but we can prepare ourselves and move accordingly.

Also get a new or update your passports.

Look at places you can buy with your community that might be in another country.

There is going to be a shift to individualism. The tribal things we know are going to be disappearing. Start now, we are all we got.