Who Values The Black Woman?
Photo by Lucas
This essay feature is written by Ajeé Buggam and is the first from Ars Poetica’s Writing Series for BIPOC voices, curated by Shakilya Lawrence.
The underappreciation and mistreatment of black women are profoundly embedded within America’s social hierarchy and reinforced through systemic racism. Since this nation’s beginnings, there have been laws and practices to enable black women chattel, exclude black women from judicial protection, and simultaneously perpetuate brutality and sexual violence against Black women. They have always been placed last within America’s society, forced to navigate a world where they had to fight a war on two fronts against racism and gender issues like male privilege.
Unfortunately, Black women’s unique placement within the hierarchy has left her ultimately neglected by society, requiring her to combat those inequalities on her own. Within her race, Black women are not protected and advocated for enough by the same Black men they’ve fought injustices for throughout history. Her image is stolen and imitated by white celebrities and influencers, while those same features are devalued and ridiculed on a Black woman’s body. Until recently, stories of police brutality done against Black women rarely made viral news. In entertainment, hip hop culture chooses when to “honor” her, but still uses dangerous language that influences disrespectful behaviors and further mistreatment of Black women. Even within our judicial system, Black women struggle to get the appropriate justice for crimes done against them — as seen with the cases of Breonna Taylor and Oluwatoyin Salau — and are disproportionately misrepresented within the mass incarceration system.
As Civil Rights activist Malcolm X stated,
“The most disrespected person in America is the Black woman. The most unprotected person in America is the Black woman. The most neglected person in America is the Black woman.”
As we can see, his quote is still relevant almost 60 years later.
The concept of innocence has been framed and upheld by the idea of white supremacy for generations and being Black often criminalized the person before they were even proven guilty. This is especially the case for Black women who are often mislabeled and treated differently from white women in similar cases. According to a report written by Georgetown Law Center, “adults view Black girls as less innocent and more adult-like than their white peers.” As a result, our judicial system has been less likely to view them as victims of assault based on these stereotypes and tropes. They are often portrayed as more mature, in less need of protection, and more inclined to be naturally promiscuous. Since Black girls and women have historically been considered “un-rapeable”, they are less likely to be believed in cases of sexual assault which furthers dehumanizes and targets them for abuse. Black Lives Matter activist, Oluwatoyin Salau, is an example of this failure of our justice system. This treatment is in contrast with the enforcement of more severe sentences for the sexual assault of white women all while neglecting to criminalize the sexual assault of Black women. Structural racism also creates other massive disadvantages for Black women as they are three times more likely than white women to get incarcerated. They also experience physical abuse at a higher rate than other races, being 35 percent more likely to experience domestic violence than white women and about 2.5 percent more likely than the ratio for other races.
Aside from the history of abuse and criminalization, Black women also have had to face exploitation. In the 21st first century, there has been an issue of white celebrities and influencers “blackfishing” — the act of modifying their appearance to appear black through artificial tanning or wearing excessively darker shades of makeup. These women have no problem appropriating the appearance of a Black woman but they aren’t able to share and understand the Black woman’s struggle or experience. The author of Black for a Day: Fantasies of Race and Empathy, Alisha Gaines mentions,
“On social media, they’re curating a performance of themselves that’s reliant on appropriating parts of black culture.”
Blackness is more than an “aesthetic” or “trend”. It is a rich and diverse culture with a long history that has unfortunately been robbed and used to heavily influence mainstream culture. However, the reality is many of society’s trends would not exist without Black culture’s influence as they are one of the main inspirations for creativity.
Blackfishing is only part of the problem of the appropriation of Black women. The trend of altering the body by white and non-black women to mimic the facial and bodily features of Black women is another pressing issue. The Kardashian family has shown years of this racial impersonation. Their signature look is constructed by robbing Black women’s natural features of darker skin, bigger lips, and visible hips and curves. This impersonation is only made worse as they also copy the style of Black women through directly taking Black fashion ideas and wearing traditional Black hairstyles like box braids, laid edges, and cornrows. The popularity of the Kardashians speaks volumes and their blatant appropriation is often excluded in conversations about them.
There’s privilege in being able to choose to present oneself as a Black woman and receive praise and adoration. Yet Black women are forced to endure society’s endless judgment and ridicule of their bodies, hair texture, skin color, and features. The truth is society loves black women’s features, style, and attitude but only when it’s not represented by a black woman, despite Black women being the leading influence for these beauty and fashion trends. Sadly, there is still a fight against under-representation and for proper representation within these industries. When there is representation, it is often the same type of Black woman — light skin/mixed with loose curly hair — failing to provide a full range of skin colors and hair types seen within the Black community. In cosmetics, brands worldwide continually struggle to have shades of foundation and other face products that are inclusive for Black women. The repeated exclusion often leaves Black women to have to uplift themselves and create their brands to provide variety for Black women. The ratio of businesses owned by Black women has grown by 322% since 1997, making Black women the fastest-growing group of entrepreneurs in America. However, the media often sees the “for us, by us culture” threatening.
One nurse’s lamentation best expresses the Black woman’s frustrations with their circumstances in 1912:
“On one hand, we are assailed by white men, and, on the other hand, we are assailed by Black men, who should be our natural protectors and, whether in the cook kitchen, at the washtub . . . we are but little more than pack horses, beasts of burden, slaves!”
The mistreatment of Black women by Black men has a long history within our community. Unfortunately, the genre of hip hop has further fueled the perception and mistreatment of Black women by society. Its culture is a tragic example of bashing Black women, overly objectifying their bodies, dismissing their pain, and claiming their “ride or die” partner should put up with anything. Artists sometimes use demeaning and derogatory language against Black women as well as negatively compare them to exotic types. In an interview with Lil Wayne, rapper 50 cent explains he prefers exotic women and then proceeds to bash Black women as he uplifts his preferred type. The influence of celebrities speaking this way about Black women has been detrimental within the community. The lack of respect, support, and unity within the black community from Black men also creates many challenges for Black women to be valued by the rest of society. How can the world understand how to treat and value Black women without first establishing the support of Black men and setting the standard within the Black community?
Photo by Clay
Throughout our era of the digital age, Black women have been underrepresented in news coverage and the media often minimizes their experiences. Stories about Black men are typically highlighted instead as they are portrayed as the most targeted individuals in America. Black women are also just as targeted, however, their experience is entirely different due to intersectionality. This term coined by scholar Kimberlé Crenshaw in the 1980s highlights how black women face extreme struggles and suffering in American society because they belong to multiple oppressed societal groups, especially race and gender. As a result, they deal with intersecting factors of racism and misogyny in their everyday life which often leads them to be treated as second class citizens. Although many people do not want to acknowledge that race is always paired with politics, there is no separation between gender and race issues. For each issue Black women face, — sexual and physical assault, cultural appropriation, lack of representation, disproportionately targeted by the judicial system, etc. — there is always an underlying layer of structural racism and/or misogyny that heightens their injustice.
Law enforcement has an extensive history of abusing and murdering innocent Black women. However, the stories Black women are often minimized or muted from the media’s exclusive focus on police brutality towards Black men. Throughout the years, the media has led headlines of murders of Black men — Eric Garner, Philando Castille, Alton Sterling, and countless others — narrowing the narrative (and the early BLM movement) to be heavily focused on police brutality towards unarmed Black men, not placing the same emphasis on police brutality towards unarmed Black women.
Breonna Taylor’s murder is just one recent example of another Black woman’s death that was initially not given enough media attention or emphasis. It led to her story being overshadowed at first by the fight to gain justice for George Floyd and Ahmaud Arbery at the beginning of our current movement. It’s several months later since her death and there is still no justice for her murder besides the firing of only one of the officers involved — Brett Hankison —and the creation of Breonna’s Law. The #SayHerName movement was created by Black women to combat this lack of exposure by highlighting Black women’s experiences of police violence to promote a gender-inclusive approach to racial justice that centers all Black lives equally. As one of the authors from the #SayHerName report, Andrea Richie, explains “Women’s experiences of policing, criminalization, and resistance [have] become unworthy of historical study or mention, particularly when those writing our histories are also men.”
The lives of Kimberlee Randle-King, Joyce Curnell, Ralkina Jones, Kayla Moore, Gynnya McMillen, Korryn Gaines, Tanisha Anderson, Yvette Smith, Rekia Boyd, Natasha McKenna, Sandra Bland, Kindra Chapman, and countless other Black women lost shall not go in vain. Their stories matter. Their trauma is real. And their families deserve justice.
Photo by Sushil
Black women deserve to be cherished for who they truly are and not what society perceives them to be. Black women should be free to feel their emotions and not be told to suppress them. They deserve to be recognized for their influence within society and our culture. They are the leaders of many 21st-century protests and organizations against systemic racism and police brutality, however, who is fighting for them? Why is their value not appreciated? Their struggle is as real as any other minority and they deserve to be protected and valued as well. Black women’s lives are filled with oppression and obstacles from multiple angles. They deserve to be fought for. They deserve support from others to help fight against and end the oppression they face. Structural racism and societal hierarchy were made to suppress both black men and women, so our society can’t choose to fight for justice of one and not the other.
Black women matter and need justice too!
This feature is the first from Ars Poetica’s Writing Series for BIPOC voices. Ajeé Buggam is a Black mixed-race woman who advocates for Jamaican, African American, and all other POC communities. She is a content writer and fashion designer from NYC. Alumni from the Fashion Institute of Technology. Shortly after her career blossomed in fashion design, she returned to pursue writing, which was her first love. She specializes in writing about race, social injustice, feminism, entrepreneurship, and mental wellness. Check out some of her recent work at https://www.notes-toself.com/portfolio-1!
Socials: IG @notestoselfblogg Twitter @JayBuggam
Over the next couple of weeks, we will be featuring other stories from an array of artists and across multiple mediums. If you have a story to tell and are interested in being featured, send an email to our project curator, Shakilya, at sulawren@ncsu.edu.