Black History Month. This is always a month that brings much recognition to the black community. This month may be ending, but that doesn't mean that the fight is too. I am a Black woman in America. It is hard to be me. I have been challenged in ways that you may not imagine. The struggle is real and it does not let up. Fighting (figurative, not literally) is the only thing that Black people know how to do because we have been oppressed for years.
Let me explain some things that may be uncomfortable to read, but let's be real, it needs to be discussed.
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Black men and women are at the forefronts of prejudice and discrimination. I am not overlooking any other race, but I am focusing on this one. Growing up in America as a black female was difficult. We are taught that you have to work ten times harder for everything that you want in life. Not only because we are Black, but we are females as well.
Proving that you are worthy enough for things is demeaning and real. I have proved that I can be one of the best employees that an employer can have, not only because I want to be successful, but because I am expected to fail. It sucks to say the things that I am saying, but it is factual and the truth.
Every day is a fight for a Black person in America.
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Another reason we have to fight is because we do not receive any form of privilege. There is a term "white privilege". This term is huge in the black community because it exists. I am experiencing it sometimes on campus. I could be walking through a group of people that may be Caucasian and they do not say excuse me. White privilege is walking into a job interview wearing a jeans and a ripped shirt and a black man walk in wearing the same thing, who is going to get the job?
Having someone tell you that you need to straighten your hair because it is kinky or curly is discrimination and wrong. Black people cannot help our skin color, tones, and grades of hair. We have to fight to be seen in the right way and to earn the same opportunities as a white woman or man.
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Black people do not want to be mean, bitter or unkind to any other race. All we have ever wanted was equal opportunities and life.
We do not want violence. We have enough violence within our own community against each other and against police officers. Our ancestors have fought for us to be where we are today and we appreciate it. There is much room for improvement and a lot more ground to be made up, but having the conversations to educate each other is how we will continue to fight societal norms.
We will always have that mindset to fight for everything as long as discrimination is prominent within America. To us, we are fighting for the good. We are fighting for equality. This is no aim at any race, it is a message to let other races know that the only way that we all can succeed as the human race is to become one. Equality is the only goal for the black community and that should be the only goal for society.
