" We work. Lord do black girls and black women work. 4 We start work early before it is paid work. Then we start paid work and most of us never stop, are unable to ever stop. We work to keep churches financially viable, 5 black colleges in business, 6 black families functioning, 7 black politics respectable, 8 and black men alive. 9 "

― Tressie McMillan Cottom , Thick: And Other Essays