Dear Black women and girls: You are magic. There is magic in everything you do, from the way you can create a week’s worth of meals from a pound of spaghetti, two pounds of ground beef and three cans of tomato sauce to the way you slayed those baby hairs this morning. It’s the way you can work eight hours a day and still find a way to give quality time to your children. It’s the way you simply rise out of bed each morning with the knowledge that America can be a very dangerous and exhausting place to live as Black people. There is magic in everything we do as Black women. We dictate the culture. We coin phrases, create dances, start fashion trends and are the inspiration for many of our non-melanated cohorts who pay thousands of dollars to be surgically altered to have what we were gifted with naturally. It’s in the curl of our kinks and the roll of our eyes; it’s the way we pop our gum and got the whole internet starting sentences with “Not you...” When CaShawn Thompson coined the phrase “Black Girls Are Magic,” she wanted it to include all Black women and girls, and she wanted us to recognize all of our achievements, from the grand news-making ones to the everyday accomplishments that may not seem like much to some, but mean everything to others. CaShawn recently sat down with me to talk about Black Girls Are Magic, what it means to her, and where she would like to see it go. As always, I want to hear from you. If you have questions, comments or concerns; if you need advice, or if you have a topic you think I should discuss, please hit me up at AuntieSubmissions@TheRoot.com, and I’ll see y’all next week.