Audre Lorde faced breast cancer the same way she faced the world—head-on, without apology. She refused to let fear or secrecy write her story. Instead, she named the hard things: the body changing, the systems failing, the quiet ways women—especially Black women—are told to swallow pain and smile through it.
Her book The Cancer Journals didn’t dress suffering up; it told the truth. She spoke openly about her mastectomy, about identity, about choosing life not just in body, but in spirit. Audre reminded us that survival isn’t passive. It’s an act. It’s a practice. It’s community. And it’s political, because whose lives are protected—and whose are ignored—has everything to do with power.
Audre lived with metastatic disease for years, and in that time she kept teaching us: advocate for yourself, ask hard questions, build a circle that holds you up, and never confuse silence with peace. She showed that scars are not the end of beauty; they’re proof that we’re still here.
Because too many are still told to keep quiet. Too many are dismissed when they say, “Something’s wrong.” Audre’s legacy tells us to listen to our bodies, demand the care we deserve, and use our voices—even when they shake.
