To V, or not to V, that is the question.

When it comes to discussing whether or not people should get the Covid-19 vaccine, I’m going to stay within the wisdom of my Black woman lane.

My lane includes having loved ones who welcomed the idea of getting the shot as soon as it became available to them and their age range or profession. Who cried tears of joy and relief as their turn came to enter into a new phase of defense against the deadly virus.

My lane also includes loved ones who welcomed the idea of remaining skeptical of anything that the government was attempting to do when it came to controlling their behavior or their bodies. Whether historical atrocities and experimentation committed against Black people or seeing politics more at play than science.

Even though I’m amongst the enthusiastically vaccinated, I’m trying to learn how to respect those who feel and act differently. Yes, I have had moments of e-vacci-gelicalism. Pleading with relatives to reconsider the errors of their ways and their lack of vaccine faith position. With fire and brimstone fervor reciting the numbers of souls lost and martyred to Covid-19. Desperately wanting them to be amongst the other receiving salvation at the altar call preached by science and medicine.

But the truth is, there are some people who won’t hear the vaccine gospel being preached. They are the people who have been waiting and preparing their entire adult lives NOT to show up for this moment. Their older members bought remote property and massive food supplies for Y2K. Their contemporaries see the realities of Covid-19 as suspicious. Fitting seamlessly within an intricate puzzle of maniacal underground power brokers. Playing out elaborate schemes to deceive and conquer the sleeping masses. Sometimes citing apocalyptic verses of scripture.

There’s no tension greater than life and death tension. No stakes higher than when over 4 million people worldwide have already died of Covid-19. Disproportionately impacting Black, Brown and Indigenous communities. When that number becomes personal with people missing and no longer in our families, neighborhoods, churches and workplace.

I’m no longer waiving my hands like a street evangelist. Shaming people to a “Come to Pfizer” moment. But when asked by the people still on the vaccination fence, I am ready to give an answer for the hope that is in me. For the peace that I currently feel. And unsurprisingly it involves other people in my lane — Black people and more specifically Black women.

The historical trauma caused by both the scientific and medical community is real. Treating our lives and our bodies as disposable. From the Tuskegee Syphilis Experiment, involuntary sterilization, brutal anesthesia free gynecological procedures, to the present day of routinely minimizing our medical concerns. The incredulous response from the Black community is understandable.

Then I’m reminded. From Harriet Tubman, Black Wall Street, NASA mathematician, Katherine Johnson to the inventor of GPS technology, Dr. Glady West, Black people have been rescuing themselves from systemic racism while simultaneously liberating their genius for the benefit of all mankind.

So, it makes sense that during a global and racial pandemic, Black women are at the forefront. Centered in the catalytic Black Lives Matter movement are BLM organization founders Alicia Garza, Patrisse Cullors, and Opal Tometi. Bravely following in the footsteps of Ida B. Wells, 17 year old Darnella Frazier documented the 8 minutes and 46 second lynching of George Floyd. Literally changing the world.

Recently when Pulitzer Prize winner Nikole Hannah-Jones decided not to fight for her humanity status at the University of North Carolina, her dignity and journalistic genius never lost its tenure. Dr. Chanequa Walker Barnes, another erudite woman with impeccable achievements, relayed the trauma she endured from having her scholarship questioned in higher educational settings. There’s a cost to Black Girl Magic. Yet, Black women know much about constantly fighting off microaggressions and passive aggressive pot shots. Daily deflecting and dodging gaslighting jabs padded with doubt sowing repetitive punches. So, we fight back with intellectual rigor, scientific curiosity and creative abandon. With resilience grander than an Easter Sunday hat at a Baptist church!

So, I’m not surprised to see 34-year-old trailblazing scientist Dr. Kizzmekia Corbett, a Black woman, leading in the scientific discovery of the Covid-19 vaccine. She is not a household name like Dr. Fauci. However, her undisputed genius has literally saved millions of lives. She follows in the tradition of Black people rescuing themselves while simultaneously benefiting the rest of all humanity.

So, the peace that I have comes from my faith ultimately. But it’s reassured by my belief in the historical genius of Black women and men. Who entered into the arena of Covid-19 and literally gave it their best shot!

Photo: Timothy Nwachukwu/NYT/Redux/eyevine