Sure, we can have an intelligent conversation about that (and yes, I did look at the articles you linked).

But you still need to know a lot more about me and how I perceive these issues based on many close connections with black women over the years. Black women with whom I've had many conversations about this very same subject.

I'll start with a key question that's going to be the same for large black women as well as large white women.

If your numbers other than your weight are good, does it really matter how much you weigh?

The numbers I'm talking about are A1C, heart rate, blood pressure, cholesterol level, lung capacity, and muscle to fat ratio. I'm sure there are a few others but that's what pops up in my ADHD brain.

If those numbers are all well within guidelines for healthy body/healthy heart, how much does it really matter what the number is on the scale?

If you can do more than merely pass a treadmill test; if you can walk/run/bike many miles without getting winded, and then dance the night away...does that number on the scale contradict all those other good numbers?

Muscle weighs more than fat, but the higher your muscle to fat ratio is, the faster your calories burn. So if you work on building muscle as well as changing the KINDS of food you eat--without counting anything, letting your sensation of fullness be the cut off point--you can maintain a larger, curvier body with measurements that put skinny white girl shapes to shame, and still maintain health.

Am I right?

I have a lot more to say on that, but we can start there.

Btw, you might want to skim through some of my articles. I am not your average white woman. For example, I have 20 years of experience of being a racial minority--e.g., living in predominently black neighborhoods in urban environments.

And not being afraid to walk on those neighborhood streets that are often crowded with a whole lot of black faces, and many times being the only white person visible for blocks.

Smiling broadly and cheerfully greeting everyone she passes. And not thinking once about crossing the street to avoid a black person.

And, btw, I've been reading critical race theory for more than a decade.

And I know I STILL have a lot to learn and am happy to do so. And will be doing so till the day I die.

Normally I wouldn't talk about those things--it sounds too much like a brag. But if we're going to have a conversation, you'd save a lot of time that would normally spend educating this "white girl."

Oh. One more thing. I've helped a lot of black women jump through the hoops involved in getting PhD's. One of them was a nurse who was writing about these very same issues. Yes, she finished--about 7 years ago.

I loved that work. My business focused on helping "non-traditional" doctoral students survive getting their dissertations done, by both coaching and editing. And also by listening. Really listening.

I think I learned more from them than they did from me. Their work addressed a wide variety of issues in black history and culture, and they taught me about what it's like to be black, female, and trying to survive in predominantly white male graduate schools.