Why I知 Absolutely an Angry Black Woman
https://medium.com/%40DominiqueMatti/why-i-m-absolutely-an-angry-black-woman-2cf74c95828Because in 9th grade when I switched schools a boy told me he knew I had to be mixed with something to be so pretty. Because in 10th grade my group of friends and I were called into an office and asked if we were a gang, or if we had father figures. Because in 11th grade my AP English teacher told me that I didn’t write like a college-bound student (though I later scored perfectly on the exam). Because when I volunteered in Costa Rica that summer, I was whistled at and called Negrita. Because when I asked my host father if that was like being called n****r, he said, no, it was a compliment because black women are perceived to be very good in bed. Because I was a kid. Because I watched from the bleachers while the school resource officer didn’t let my brother into a football game after mistaking him for another black boy who was banned. Because the school resource officer maced him for insisting he was wrong. Because I was suspended for telling the school resource officer he didn’t deserve respect. Because my senior year boyfriend said nigger.
Because I was one of two black girls in the freshman class at my college. Because at meetings to talk about how to attract more black students, someone suggested that the school attracted a certain demographic (sustainable living, farming, general hippiness) and that maybe black people “just weren’t interested in things like that.” Because my college boyfriend called me a “fiery negress” as a joke when he ordered for me at a restaurant. Because the boyfriend after that cut me off for saying he was privileged. Because I can’t return to my hometown without getting pulled over.
Because when I got married people assumed I was pregnant. Because people who know I’m married call my husband my “baby daddy.” Because my pregnancy with my son was plagued with videos of black lives being taken in cold blood. Because their murderers still walk the streets. Because the nation sent me a message that my son’s life didn’t matter. Because when Tamir Rice was murdered I curled up on the bed and sobbed, cupping my belly. Because my son heard me sobbing from the inside. Because they don’t care about us. Because when I was 7 months pregnant my neighbor asked me to help him move a dresser up a flight of stairs. Because I am not seen as a woman. Because I am not allowed to be fragile. Because the nurse that checked me in at the hospital to deliver wouldn’t look my husband in the eye. Because the vast majority of people won’t look my husband in the eye. Because when the doctors put my son in my arms and I saw that he was as dark as his father, I knew life would be even harder for him. Because he will be regarded the same way I was. Because he will be forced to grow up before he is grown. Because strangers at the store think it’s okay to reach into my son’s stroller and touch him without a word to me. Because we aren’t entitled to boundaries. Because they think we are here for their enjoyment. Because people don’t think we are people.
= new reply since forum marked as read
Response to Angry Dragon (Reply #1)
This happens every time I post an article written in the first person. Every. Single. Time. 
And this post did make me think you were Black.
Goes to show we can't tell to much from the screen names. Or even what people post. 
As a confirmed feminist, I consider that a warm and valued compliment. 
Must be the 'a' at the end of the name, which is Hawaiian (kama'aina = local person, as opposed to malihini (foreigner, visitor); lit. "child of the land"
, not African.
I am very guilty of thinking a name, especially a screen name that has the letter a at the end, must belong to a woman. You're not the only man here with such a name. I get fooled every time, and you'd think I'd have learned by now. Nope.
On the other hand, I feel fairly certain that 1StrongBlackMan is exactly as advertised. 
You'll likely find him in Jerrah's box at Cowpies Stadium. 
That would be enough to piss you off. 
I'm sure I would have handled all these insults with a lot less dignity than the author. 
I ripped it down from her FB page. You should have been here when we hosted a day-long conference on race and disability a few years ago. The entire office save the two of us boycotted it and chose to work in their little cubes the whole day, because they were so butthurt that Sarah even mentioned race. They, like all too many Americans, seemed to assume that bringing up the topic equaled accusing them of being racists. 
My old company had a tail gate at a Dolphins game many moons ago and invited our customers to a Dolphin's game. A good number of them turned out and they got to meet the team. The west coast customers (those from the Naples-Bradenton Territory) and the center customers (Sebring Territory) weren't surprised that she was black and spoke perfect English but that she was Jamaican and spoke perfect English. It was like they were talking to a unicorn or something. I was really embarrassed for these people.
After that day one of the customers referred to her as the colored girl. I was beyond embarrassed after that. I keep hearing that we're past that, but I don't think so...
It didn't get any easier for her when she left to Tennessee and Ohio.
I just finished 'The Warmth Of Other Suns' by Wilkerson, about the Great Migration. So many 'soft-racists' ("I'm not racist but --" refuse to acknowledge the incredible pressures and small indignities that have shaped black lives everywhere. I've heard people I love suggest that the playing field is level now, so why don't black people do better --
I'm more than a little bit hostile to such attitudes, almost more than to outright racists, most of whom are just mentally ill. Soft Racists are the worst -- purposefully blind, papering over their tribalism with platitudes from the fifties.
Again, awesome post.
but don't hold your breath until you see it happen.
*sigh
It never goes away. There's always some jackass... even within your own family who says shit like this. You end up building a really thick shell and then get asked over and over why you're so apathetic to your 'family'. 
Welcome to DU!
African Americans and other people of color who suffer these horrific injustices.
I am not even a woman, let alone black. I merely ripped the article down from a friend's FB page.
