CNN Article Claims That Black Women are “Tired,” Struggle to “Exercise Self-Care” After Gymnast Simone Biles Withdrew from Multiple Olympic Events

An article appearing on CNN claims that black women are exhausted because they carry the weight of the world on their shoulders and can’t exercise proper “self-care” without getting criticized.

Lisa Respers France, senior writer for CNN Entertainment, titled the piece “All the Black women in us are tired.”

“It’s hard being a Black woman,” she laments.

Quoting her own caption of a recent Instagram post, Respers states that black women “are supposed to save relationships, families, elections, communities, democracy and basically the world all while exhibiting ‘black girl magic,’ but y’all mad when we save ourselves? Welcome to a new day.”

“Black women are literally expected to be super women, from heading households to serving as emotional support for White people who want to be allies, but need our help figuring out how to get there,” Respers adds. “There is an added layer for black women athletes who have to compete against more than just their opponents.”

How exhausting indeed.

That added layer is the alleged barrage of “racism” and “sexism” they face. Respers cites the examples of tennis star Naomi Osaka, gymnast Simone Biles, and sprinter Sha’Carri Richardson in particular. Osaka and Biles withdrew from high-profile events in their respective sports for reasons of “mental health”—in Biles’ case, from multiple Olympic events just recently—while Richardson tested positive for marijuana and was thus barred from competing at the Olympics. (The US gymnastics team announced Monday morning, however, that Biles has decided to compete in the upcoming balance beam final.)

Respers concludes her lamentation by asking what the point of fame, fortune, and Olympic medals are if “unhappiness is the toll to pay to get there.”

“Call it dropping out, quitting or even breaking the rules if you want,” she says. “What I call it is winning.”

You keep telling yourself that, hun.

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