https://www.tumblr.com/search/respect%20the%20black%20woman
“Slut”, “Her career is over”, “she wants to be them”, “second best and nothing but a side chick”, these are just a small number of comments written under Jordyn Woods’ post following the Tristan Thompson scandal. Jordyn Woods is just the most recent celebrity who has had to take on the responsibility of one of the oldest roles in history, the disrespected black woman.
Imagine being a 21-year-old whose mistake has resulted in attacks on both her personal character and physical traits; things that are completely irrelevant to the circumstance and the people commenting. Imagine being the main person in a scandal, vilified by a family who constantly plays the victim, while the older equivalent responsible male hardly even receives the same burden of criticism. Why can’t Jordyn be the victim? What is the difference between Jordyn transforming this situation into a beneficial career booster and Kim starting her “career” on a scandalous sex tape? I’d like to say it’s the pigmentation that I proudly broadcast as MELANIN.
In social media, black women are meticulously examined and scrutinized for every single choice that they make. Sometimes it spans from things as little as the color of their lipstick and new hairstyle to the person they decide to be with. They are stalked and inspected until they make a single mistake that is exploited as long as the internet sees fit. In 2015, Giuliana Rancic, a host of the Fashion Police commented on actress Zendaya’s dreadlocks look. She said, “ I feel like she smells like patchouli oil … or weed.” In another instance, Asher Roths, a caucasian rapper tweeted that “he had been hanging out with nappy headed hoes”. For many black girls, their hair serves as a large aspect of their identity. Sometimes criticizing this aspect of them is taken as a deeper insult to their being. And yet, as we are criticized, the same followers online that disapprove, are the same ones who praise the Kardashians for their “trendsetting” hairstyles. Black women are losing their jobs and being excluded from opportunities as a result of wearing the same hairstyles that the Kardashians think they have invented. So, while Kylie worries about which wig to broadcast and Kim thinks about how long to make her “boxer braids” on Instagram, black women are still worried about how to make their styles look as “natural” as possible. It is not to say that non-women of color can’t respect and embrace these styles, but they need to give credit where credit is due.
Directly after the engagement of Meghan Markle and Prince Harry, a comment in spectator magazine read, “Obviously, 70 years ago, Meghan Markle would have been the kind of woman the prince would have had for a mistress, not a wife”. Everyday I am reminded that I need to prove my worth and break generational stereotypes. Although this isn’t always prompted by the infamous “she’s cute for a black girl” comment, being a black woman is a constant reminder that society views me as less than I actually am. We wear our crowns proudly but it becomes harder and harder to hoist it up with the sly comments of social media always trying to knock it down.
Malcolm X once said, “Who taught you to hate the shape of your nose and the shape of your lips?Who taught you to hate yourself from the top of your head to the soles of your feet? Who taught you to hate your own kind? The most disrespected woman in America, is the black woman.” Although this quote is taken from his speech in 1962 and Malcolm X at times also misunderstood and disrespected the empowerment of a black women in society, as social media evolves it becomes clear that it plays a large role in the “Who” segment of the question. So, I leave you with an alternative quote from an amazing African American woman who continually supports the empowerment of black women in the best way:
“I need to see my own beauty and to continue to be reminded that I am enough, that I am worthy of love without effort, that I am beautiful, that the texture of my hair and that the shape of my curves, the size of my lips, the color of my skin, and the feelings that I have are all worthy and okay.”
– Tracee Ellis Ross