Our Women Are the Key
I support women in general and Black women in specific. This post, in no way, attempts to discredit or divide any women. I am merely talking in specific to our women of color who get misrepresented, on what seems to be, a daily basis. Read thoroughly from a perspective of seeking understanding, rather than one of contention.
When it comes to Black culture, in general, Black women, in specific, myself and any platform that I utilize will always serve as a place of representation and upliftment. For centuries, Black has been deemed as the bottom of the barrel but now that Black is becoming profitable in the eyes of society, it seems everyone wants to ride the wave. And in recent months (and the past couple years) this is especially true when it comes to the beauty and aesthetic of Black women. It has become cliche to reference the old Paul Mooney quote but because of it's truth, it's hard to deny, “Everyone wants to be a NIGGA but nobody wants to be a NIGGA”. It seems every week, another article comes out about Black women and the culturing surrounding them being stolen, re-packaged and delivered to the world as new, and as a result, the internet has been going crazy. Black women’s cries for recognition through all of their immense importance on culture and requests for support from Black men is continuously being ignored. And in a time where women have been feeling emasculated for so long and it is still being perpetuated by the vast representation of misogyny that is displaced in media, from Donald Trump’s presidency to Hip Hop artists and their lyrics, creating comfortable spaces for women (and ppl in general but especially women) is more than important, it's a necessity. Our women are the key to our future and without them, it all falls apart.
More now than ever, the omnipresence of Black women in moments of controversy, has led to a lot of people being aired out for the world to witness, specifically white women. Julz of YesJulz, the Kardashians & Jenners, Miley & Katy Perry have all served as examples of just how fed up our women are. Not only at the disrespect from society but more importantly, the disrespect from Black men. If you look closely, the thing that all of these culture appropriating women have in common is the way they all made their way into our lives, slipping into the crevices of our community and that common denominator has been Black men. We allow access to our culture and it bites us back in the end For example, without Black men uplifting Julz to the point of acclaim that she has reached, she would not be able to use her platform to showcase how much more Black men love her in comparison to “jealous” Black women and still exist in our community. The same story repeats itself with each of them, maybe not as explicitly as Julz expressed it, but in the demeanor in which they carry themselves. Somehow, we continue to find a way to give Black passes to those undeserving and without fail, they abandon the culture when they're done, as if swapping out clothes in the morning after a long night at the club. Yet, people still come to their defense with weak excuses.
The problem lies in the lack of understanding & the lack of the desire to seek understanding from those outside of the community. Without an understanding of where our complaints come from between each other & how we can correct these issues, we will always find ourselves in race related controversy. And even within our own community. Too many stories have come out about Black men publicly disowning Black women or disrespecting them in other ways and as the men in our community, it is our job to protect our women. Black women, throughout history, have given their undying support to the men of our community and to no avail, we have done nothing short of dismiss their request for reciprocity. When times have been the hardest, through the killing and emasculation of the Black man as a figure of power in the Black community, Black women have always stood as the support system, yet we continue to fall short. We, to this point, have lacked the wherewithal to take a stand for them as they have for us. We have yet to hold our brothers accountable for their blatant disregard of our partners in this struggle, leaving Black women as the most disrespected group in our country. And this should not be alright with us.
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