6 ways to stop being an angry black woman
Recently on The Nightly Show with Larry Wilmore, a new late-night talk show on Comedy Central that took The Colbert Show’s time slot, Larry, a black man in his 50s hosted a show called “Black Women in America” where he had 4 academic/celebrity black women in their 30s and 40s on to discuss what being a black woman in America today is like. In his opening lines he says: “Are American offices inhospitable to black women? A white guy who just told his coworker her afro looks unprofessional says no.” The conversation runs the gamut of professionalism, relationships, sex, media representation, politics, historical trauma, wage inequalities and their racial differences (especially in light of Patricia Arquette’s recent Oscar speech) but one thing these bright women keep coming back to is: the stereotype of the angry black woman. It seems just the mere existence of these black women in their various careers intimidates and “scares” their white colleagues or students. One of the guests, Jacque Reid of the BET Nightly News in the past, said a white coworker said she was scared of Jacque for absolutely no warranted reason--as there had been no altercation or negativity between them--just simply being in the room with a black woman, who shares many of the desired traits in the media: opinionated, quick-witted, smart, scared this woman.
That brought to mind a Huffington Post article from last summer written by Kadia Blagrove, a black woman and cultural writer from the Bronx, called “6 Ways to Stop Being an Angry Black Woman,” where she counts down the ways: 6. Always smile, 5. Shut up!, 4. Be passive, 3. Have no reaction...to anything!, 2. Always be aware you are black, 1. Them first, you last. It seems no matter what you do, if you are a black woman who also has self-respect and assertiveness, you will be seen as a threat. An angry threat. This also reminded me of a blog I recently discovered, “The Angry Black Woman,” which is written by three black women, one of which is the Angry Black Women, she writes: “It’s true that the Angry Black Woman is a negative stereotype. Black men don’t like us, white people fear us, and non-angry black women wish we would stop being so loud. Anger isn’t going to solve all of the world’s problems, true. Anger is sometimes an unhealthy emotion. Sometimes it’s not. We sometimes need to get angry to propel us toward positive change or to stop injustice and oppression. We can’t stop being angry until the fight is over. And the fight is far from over, kids.” This blogger, the Angry Black Woman embraces this stereotype because for crying out loud, look around you. See how black women and girls are treated. There’s a vast ocean of issues to be angry about. This feminist Angry Black Woman does great work covering issues that pertain to racial and sexual oppression.
That brought to mind a Huffington Post article from last summer written by Kadia Blagrove, a black woman and cultural writer from the Bronx, called “6 Ways to Stop Being an Angry Black Woman,” where she counts down the ways: 6. Always smile, 5. Shut up!, 4. Be passive, 3. Have no reaction...to anything!, 2. Always be aware you are black, 1. Them first, you last. It seems no matter what you do, if you are a black woman who also has self-respect and assertiveness, you will be seen as a threat. An angry threat. This also reminded me of a blog I recently discovered, “The Angry Black Woman,” which is written by three black women, one of which is the Angry Black Women, she writes: “It’s true that the Angry Black Woman is a negative stereotype. Black men don’t like us, white people fear us, and non-angry black women wish we would stop being so loud. Anger isn’t going to solve all of the world’s problems, true. Anger is sometimes an unhealthy emotion. Sometimes it’s not. We sometimes need to get angry to propel us toward positive change or to stop injustice and oppression. We can’t stop being angry until the fight is over. And the fight is far from over, kids.” This blogger, the Angry Black Woman embraces this stereotype because for crying out loud, look around you. See how black women and girls are treated. There’s a vast ocean of issues to be angry about. This feminist Angry Black Woman does great work covering issues that pertain to racial and sexual oppression.