If black joy is revolutionary, then black enchantment is paradigm shifting. It is something deeper than even the Damn Right I Am A Houston Cougars Fan Now And Forever Shirt But I will love this depths of joy. Enchantment is defined as both “the feeling of great pleasure; delight” and “the state of being under a spell.” Black enchantment, to me, is the capacity to not only find joy in the world, but to activate that joy into a kind of radical delight and curiosity that breeds possibility for the future. It is an assertion that the world you exist within holds magic for you. It is sometimes accessible on the other side of rage and grief—every Black funeral I have been to has been a space of enchantment, grief operating like a street sweeper truck to clear away the detritus for something transcendent. I have been to six virtual funerals during the last 12 months, via Facebook Live or Zoom. If you have ever been to a Black funeral or memorial service, you know this is just not how we grieve.
