11 Thoughts That Come to Mind When People Act Like Black Women are America’s Help
Black women and Black gays were caught having fun again.
We had just watched something beautiful. Something extraordinary. Something that was uplifting the entire Black diaspora but especially Black Women around the globe. They showed a few clips on the making of “our song”: “Brown Skin Girl”.
Beyonce’s documentary: The Making of the Gift (the soundtrack to The Lion King
We saw Blue Ivy continue to be a beautiful, nurtured, Black Girl who blooms. Once again hushing all the voices with platforms large and small for daring to be born come out of THAT womb looking like a Black girl. The ignorant people were disappointed and they said it everywhere; YouTube, social media, on radio, and among friends and strangers alike.
We finally got to see more of Beyonce and JayZ’s twins. “Ooohs” and “ahhs” flooded timelines everywhere.
We saw Beyonce journey to Africa. As someone on social media noted; “If you want to incorporate a different culture into your work, you do like Beyonce. You go to those people.”
We actually saw more of how much the heart and soul of Africa went into this project than we saw Beyonce and her family. That was cool!
Many viewers in America were introduced to African artists we had never heard of. We watched as various people created and incorporated traditional African music and dance into The Lion King: The Gift soundtrack.
All around it was pretty exciting, informative, and entertaining.
#MakingtheGift trended on Twitter through to the next day.
So, yes, it was Beyonce. If Beyonce is there you can guarantee that many Black women will be there too. But also, unless it’s Thursday night and a produced by Shonda Rhymes show is on, Black women aren’t prominently featured on network television.
Black women were seen.
Black women were heard.
How sad is that, that in 2019 that’s still a big deal.
RECORD SCRATCH
Then, they caught us. Having too much fun.
.A famous, talented, popular, well-known actress and singer
(who also has many Black/Brown fans; including me) took that time to post something along the lines of:
“Wouldn’t it be great if Beyonce mobilized her 133 million Instagram followers to defeat Trump? That’s double the number of people who voted for him! Thanks for getting to work on that #BeyHive”
Yes, folks from many communities of color expressed outrage.
The outrage isn’t necessarily about “this” actress in particular.
Folks, are outraged at the expectation that Black women can’t just love life without people expecting us to pick up a mop and pail and clean up messes we didn’t make.
It’s as if some people really believe:
Wherever two or more Black women are gathered for fun and celebration, put their Black &**$% to work.
Why else don’t they tweet these types of “great ideas” when Taylor Swift or Katy Perry fans are gathered?
Or, during a women’s march?
Or, during Kim K. and her family’s shows?
During the Super Bowl?
Or, during the Oscars?
Frustration sets in strong when you realize that there are women who are considered too Black or Brown to cover in mainstream-media should they ever go missing.
There are only a few non-Black or Brown voices who speak up when Black women need more voices.
And, there are maybe two or three white women with large platforms who consistently speak up for Black women.
People only speak up for Black women when it benefits them. When they might get something out of it.
Who speaks for Black women if we don’t.
There is a saying among Black women: The only one who got us is us.
Sounds awful right? We don’t like how true it is either.
Finally, Black women work extremely hard. Extremely hard. Yet, too often our labor brings liberty and freedom to everyone else but us.
See: Women’s Voting Rights in America.
11 Random Thoughts That Come to Mind Every Time, Because, Yes, It Happens ALL OF THE TIME:
<Stop banking on the labor of Black women to come through for you.
- Y’all could at least bring a covered dish before you come over to Black Women asking for things.
- Black women are not your walking Negroe spiritual.
- There’s never a shortage of folks wanting to police how much fun Black women get to have.
- Some people only speak the name of a Black woman when they need something done.
- Folks see a Black woman trending/getting positive media attention, and what comes to mind is: “Hmmm…speaking of Black women, let’s see what work I can have Black women do for me.” That’s infuriating x annoying!
- Rather than expecting celebrities to do social justice and activism, you can support the activists and advocates on the ground doing the work *every day*.
Work is being done. Join. Volunteer. Or Financially Support.
< It’s an age-old algebraic life formula: If, #BlackWomen are having fun
Then, People will come from anywhere and everywhere to police it.
- The laziest and oldest activism strategy in the world has to be-”let’s find a way to get Black women to do it.”
- Too many people vote against their own best interests then can’t wait to plan a march against the horrible political leader they and at least everybody they know voted for — after Black women warned them.
- It seems we have to broadcast this everywhere in America daily. Black women are not your children, family, neighbors who need to be reminded:
1. To vote
2. To think about others when they vote.
3. To think about their own best interests at the poll.
Until next time, because unfortunately;
there is always a “next time”.
