TUNES // Dawn Richard – Return Of A Queen

To the Black women of Alabama:

Thank you. Thank you deeply. Thank you for persisting, despite all efforts to keep you from the polls, despite racist voter suppression laws, despite long lines and a discouraging history of disenfranchisement; thank you for electing Doug Jones to the United States Senate. This is huge. It means so much for not only the people of the Alabama but also the whole country.

To everyone who watched the polls anxiously on Tuesday night with a bottle of Bulleit on hand, hoping against all hope:

We (and Senator Jones) owe an immense debt to these women. Because of them, we finally have a viable path toward stopping the assaults against our health, safety, and dignity. It is absolutely imperative that we remember this, and fight for them as they fought for us.

[Update: The Cut published this wonderful article about the ways we can thank these women beyond just tweeting. Read it here.]

To everyone else: 

There’s a quote I read recently from Marcos, spokesman for the Zapatistas, the Mexican indigenous insurgent group. It is the sign-off to a letter Marcos wrote to 1994 Mexican president Ernesto Zedillo Ponce de Leon, whom the Zapatistas viewed as illegitimate and corrupt. It feels rather fitting today.

“Vale. Health to you, and a parachute for that cliff that comes with your tomorrow.”

Dawn Richard is a New Orleans artist whose exquisite blend of club pop, RnB, house beats, and the occasional jazz flourish, will leave your jaw on the floor. Her 2016 album, Redemption, was one of my favorites last year, and Return Of A Queen, from 2013’s Goldenheart, is the first song I listen to when I want to channel my feminine power. Buy her music here.