An article on blavity.com discusses the current visibility of black women in mainstream media, and the continued resilience black women have despite the odds against them:
“As I sit on my computer scanning blogs and news outlets, doing my best to avoid the list of menial household chores that await me, my count of articles about black women doing or achieving some out-of-this-world, magical shit, hits three. That’s three stories in less than 10 minutes about black women doing unicorn-esque, phenomenal, newsworthy things. But not major-network-newsworthy because of course, they are still women AND black; let’s not get crazy here (that’s to be read with the heaviest heaping of sarcasm you can muster).
And I can’t help but think, as I often do, WTF?! As accomplished and talented and educated and trendsetting black women are, we are constantly disrespected, marginalized and ignored. Even at the highest levels we are scrutinized and attacked over our physical appearance (former FLOTUS Michelle Obama), we are continuously interrupted and silenced (Senator Kamala Harris), we are mocked and made fodder for parody (Representative Maxine Waters) and our very character and capacity for truthfulness is challenged relentlessly (Representative Frederica Wilson). I suppose not much has changed since brotha Malcolm declared that, “The most disrespected woman in America, is the black woman. The most un-protected person in America is the black woman. The most neglected person in America, is the black woman.””
(Source: Blavity.com)
Originally published: 12/8/2017