00:00I think it's a lot of manufactured fear, right?
00:04They see us in groups and they're afraid of us and I think people should be accountable
00:10for that.
00:11Black Girl Beach Day's mission is to create a safe space for women of color promoting
00:16inclusivity, solidarity, and sisterhood.
00:19Black Girl Beach Day started last year.
00:21My friend Snap had an idea and she called me like, yo, we should get all of our friends
00:25and go to the beach for a beach day.
00:27There was double dutching, there was playing football, volleyball, nobody was worried about
00:33getting their hair wet.
00:34Actually, maybe some people were worried about getting their hair wet, but for the most part
00:37we were just in the water, just having a really good time and I just think that it's very powerful.
00:41Black Girl Beach Day was so dope.
00:43I'm grateful and I'm happy that everyone enjoyed it, but to show up and within five minutes
00:47to be smacked in the face with harassment and police and feeling like I don't belong, it
00:53was really hurtful.
00:54I felt instant anxiety because I know how quickly things with the police can go left
00:59and I felt, you know, in a sense responsible.
01:01When I asked for permission, right, it just felt like I had to minimize myself, right, and
01:08I had to play their game because I know that when you don't ask permission, right, then that's
01:14the first thing that's going to be said.
01:15Just being and taking up space as black people, you don't get to just come to the beach and
01:20have a swim or tan.
01:22It's you coming to the beach and being patrolled and being circled and being questioned.
01:27They said it's fine.
01:28They said anyone can sit on my feet.
01:29They said if I'm going to bring my speakers, they said if I'm going to be able to break
01:32music and everybody with my friends, is that okay?
01:34And they said it was okay.
01:35Why is it that anything that's more than five of us in a group scares you, right?
01:41We just really wanted to have a day where we can just, you know, enjoy, relax, be carefree,
01:46kind of, like, let our hair down.
01:47Being while black now is taking on a whole new meaning.
01:52Like, you do everything right, you can do everything by the book, and even when you do
01:55that, they still want you to do more.
01:57You know, it's just unfortunate that we can't look to police officers, right, to protect us.
02:03We have to protect ourselves from them, and that is a problem.
02:06In 2018, it's hard to be free because our freedom and our happiness is a threat to the
02:13privilege of others.
02:14You know, when we're taking up space and we're crossing that margin, it becomes, you
02:18know, something that raises a brow.
02:20Now it's like, what are you doing in my area, what are you doing enjoying the things that
02:24I like to enjoy?
02:25In putting the video out, in the beginning, I was kind of hesitant, right, because Black
02:29Girl Beach Day was such a beautiful day despite everything.
02:32Even how we dealt with the harassment, right, was beautiful in itself because no one was
02:36getting, you know, how they like to say we're loud and we're rowdy and we like to argue.
02:41No one was getting, you know, out of hand.
02:43What I'm not going to do and what we're not going to do is run and hide because we should
02:47just go to where we're tolerated.
02:49Mm-mm.
02:50And we're not going anywhere.
02:51We haven't been going anywhere and we're not going anywhere anytime soon.
02:54Sometimes it feels like we're holding the world on our shoulders.
02:56So just to be able to put your feet in the sand to do yoga, you know, that is a part of
03:01resisting, right?
03:03Just to have fun and enjoy your life and not let anyone or anybody encroach into your personal
03:08space of just being who you are and specifically just being Black.
03:11And my hope is just to bring it to every city that will have us.
03:15Yeah.
03:16Thanks for enjoying your life.
03:22Before we go, I'll be able to watch.
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