The angry black woman trope has been used to stereotype the oppression black women face on the daily and invalidate their anger. It makes their anger seem ridiculous and over dramatic; what it really does is make their voices unheard. Who wants to listen to someone who sounds illogical? Here are some reasons why black women are so angry:
- We are watching our men die or go to jail.
- We are not socially valued.
- We always have to choose between race or gender.
- Natural hair has become a social stigma.
1. How many black mothers have we seen mourn for their sons on TV? How many wives have we seen having to raise their family alone because their husbands and boyfriends are being taken away? Some of these women get some prime TV time, but we still cannot say enough. Some of these women don’t get any attention and have to mourn alone. None of these women are getting justice.
2. Black women are on one of the lowest rungs in the social totem pole. The darker a woman is, the lower her social standing is. Even among the black community, she is still mistreated, even though she is uplifting her fellow men. Dark women are not seen as beautiful as others, and are always pitted (and losing) against light skinned women. The whole concept of colorism is meant to destroy the esteem and confidence of the black women, most especially targeting the darker ones.
3. Women’s rights were not meant to include black women. During the '60s, black women had to choose which side to fight for because no one was fighting for both. Most chose civil rights, but black women are now fighting for their gender equality with not as much support. The most used statistic is that women make $0.79 to men’s $1, but in fact black women make as low as $0.64 to the dollar. In the work force, we are not as valued, and in the law we are overlooked too. There have been so many black women who have been killed by police brutality, but no one is crying for them. Yes, Sandra Bland (Rest in Power!) has a whole army of people fighting for her justice, but she is one of the only women who got so much coverage. There’s a whole crowd of women who died, but they have no one fighting for them. Of course, there are a huge number of men who have died and are ignored, but overall the attention for police brutality goes to the male victims.
4. There have been countless articles about women getting kicked out of school and not being hired for wearing their hair naturally. We are advised to relax (which means chemically and permanently straightening) our hair or wear a weave. How does that sound: change your hair that was determined biologically by genetics? It is ridiculous to force young girls to do this, denying them an education and also crippling their self-esteem. It is demeaning to grown women to ignore their skills, intelligence, hard work and potential because we have different hair that is not straight. One might as well be told to start bleaching their skin so we can be less black — oh wait, we already do that. To any black girl with incredibly kinky hair that’s reading this, rock it and own it, no matter the length, no matter the volume. You look beautiful with it.
Black women are some of the strongest people out there because the world is bent on taking us down. We oppressed on almost all the social, economic and legal levels out there, but black women continue to persevere, just without a smile. If someone tells you you’re “just” an angry black woman, go ahead, unleash that anger and state why. You are more than entitled and deserving of that.
