Shanina Carmichael reflects on her experiences as a woman, mother and wife during the COVID-19 pandemic, and how the love from her village of Mississippi women continues to guide and uplift her despite the many challenges her family endured. "Losing access to schools, childcare providers and friend groups was more frightening to me than the disease itself," Carmichael writes.

Shanina Carmichael encourages us all to take time to honestly assess our stress levels during this holiday season, acquire a unique self-care plan and adjust our gears effectively to reduce resistance as needed.

Being sick took a financial toll on me due to the amount of time I was out from work during quarantine. However, the time away from the daily rat race also gave me the opportunity to think and reflect on my goals in life, which got me back on track with the future I envisioned for myself and my family. I found renewed motivation for all of my endeavors, and now new opportunities await.

Donna Ladd writes that young adults reading a book that explains the origins of the Klan in Pulaski, Tenn., and how it became a white-terrorist “Invisible Empire” under Nathan Bedford Forrest is unacceptable in white suburbs in Kansas, we learn. They don’t think teenagers can handle the truth about white terrorist and vigilante groups burning schools and killing and beating teachers here in Mississippi and beyond to stop Black advancement.

In this Jackson Advocate-Mississippi Free Press collaboration, the BWC Project team has spent a year planning, reporting, hosting solution circles of Black women and doing deep historic research on, so far, three counties. Our big, hairy goal is to show why COVID-19 initially affected Black women in our state harder than any other group including even Black men.

Through the partnership of the Mississippi Free Press and the Jackson Advocate, the (In)Equity and Resilience project is gathering and listening to Black women virtually from across Mississippi, creating a safe space for them to voice their stories of vulnerability, fear, injustice, pain and joy. We are also digging out the deep, historic causes of inequities they and their families face.

I believe that I am on this earth to do all the work I can to help people. No matter how flawed I am and no matter how many times I mess up, I know that I can make a difference for those around me. This pandemic helped me to realize more of who I am as a person mentally, spiritually and physically. I can’t continue to live life being a timid little girl who doesn’t know how to speak up for herself.

As COVID cases in Mississippi spiked in April 2020, the negative impact on what was supposed to be one of the happiest years of my life appeared right before my eyes. First, my graduation ceremony was cancelled, and students had to move off campus immediately. This meant goodbye to any senior-year traditions, rushed farewells to my professors, friends and classmates, no more late-night runs to the store with my college friends and definitely a “see you next time” to my twin bed in my dorm. Shortly thereafter, I noticed a change in how my OB-GYN scheduled appointments.

In February 2021, I received a divination—I was told that I need to open myself to friendship and community and that, specifically, I should seek the friendship of other Black women. A close friend reminded me of this by reassuring me it would be easy for me to make new friends in Memphis, Tenn., where my wife and I decided to plant roots. 

Whatever self-care looks like for you, take the time to restore yourself mentally and love yourself in ways that you need to be loved. Breathe, focus and provide yourself with the same grace and care that you give to others because YOU deserve it. 

Where I once felt like a big-eyed, light-footed nurse, I now navigate through signs, symptoms and exacerbations with a pleading disdain for those in my community to change their ways. Sadly, the damage is so deep that to protect my empathetic energies, I may just need to change my position on the health-care spectrum.

The “(In)Equity and Resilience: Black Women, Systemic Barriers and COVID-19 Project" is a collaborative effort joining together the Mississippi Free Press and The Jackson Advocate. We plan to tell real people’s stories and use data mapping, live video testimonials, muckraking journalism, intense narrative reporting and inclusive solutions circles to hold the powerful, the rich and the predominantly white accountable.