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Sent to you by moya via Google Reader:
thehuskybro replied to your post: thehuskybro replied to your post: I understand…
Okay, who's telling you to shut up?
______________________________It was hyperbolic. However, if you need screen shots of posts I've seen on twitter and tumblr, I can do that. I don't want to, cos that takes time, but I can.
Simply put, the basic idea I hear every time something like this happens is this one: "Black women, you are beautiful. You are queens. Shake this hatred off and keep stepping. Don't worry about it."
While that is a loving and positive thought, I have to ask how many more times we're supposed to shake it off while the idea is spread and reinforced almost daily - teaching people that black women are, in fact, not queens, but delusional.
That's what the media is teaching the whole world - that we think we're royalty but really, we're worthless. I'm not going to keep being silent.
While that is a loving and positive thought? Okay, I hear you.
Please read this entire thing twice. Please.
What would you like me to say? Would you like me to say, "Oh, HuskyBro! Thank you for being in the 1% of people who will say this to black women! Thank you for being in 100% of black men who consistently downplay this kind of shit because you give us perspective on how to keep it moving!"
Let me tell you, and I'm not arguing with you or insulting you and I'm trying not to read people today, but let me tell you: As a fat black girl who isn't considered pretty, I know FIRSTHAND what it's like to suffer because someone else doesn't think you're attractive. It happens to MILLIONS of us every day. We report being sexually assaulted or raped and the officers of THE LAW (who think we are ugly) laugh it off and file our reports in the trash can. Please don't think it doesn't happen.
We report being sexually harassed at work and have our supervisors say things like, "Oh he thinks you're pretty?" as if being pretty is a prerequisite for having someone physically threaten you with sexual assault or propositioning you for sex in the back office after you've said no 50 times. Please don't think it doesn't happen.
Please don't think our daughters who are dark complected and/or chubby don't have it happen to them too - they're taught daily in schools that they are not pretty and will never look like barbie so they can't be and aren't shit. Please don't think it doesn't happen.
On twitter daily, you can see tweets about how dark girls are ugly and fat dark girls are Thee Worst compared to everyone else - and they aren't shit and won't be shit. No matter how intelligent, talented, or kind they are. Please don't think it doesn't happen.
You well know we live in a world where the way you look is paramount to anything else in 99% of circles, correct? I hope you know that. Appearance is everything in most places, so if most people equate appearance with worth, what does that do when your appearance isn't agreeable to them? More than that, what does it do when your appearance is agreeable to them in a sexual manner?
What happens to those black women who have small breasts, large rumps, and thick thighs? The media has already taught all of us we're only good to fuck - over and over again. So those women are seen as "overly sexual" or "over the top" no matter how they dress - which could EASILY be seen as "asking for it" depending on where she was if she was attacked or raped.
Please don't think it doesn't happen. Honestly.
It is a loving and positive thought - but against a sea of thoughts and a torrent of opinions leveled at us, it is barely an umbrella in a tsunami. That does not mean it does not help. It does not mean it is not important. It doesn't mean it's useless.
It means black women need more. It means we need verbal defenders. It means we need other sisters and brothers who will stand up and say THIS IS NOT RIGHT. THIS IS BULLSHIT. THIS NEEDS TO STOP.
Because a lifetime of ignoring the problem has only given it room to grow like a weed - and it's verging on destroying the only garden we all have.
WHOOO! SAY THAT SHIT, PEECH!!!
*praise dances with tambourine*
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