At a time when African American women have earned more degrees than ever before, that has not translated to being respected.
We have experienced and seen examples of some of the most educated, professional, intelligent, accomplished women who happen to be Black be disparaged by white men who think it’s okay to throw racist tropes in order to dehumanize or minimize them. Numerous examples include those endured by Michelle Obama, many African American reporters including Rachel Scott, Yamiche Alcindor, April Ryan as well as politicians like Jasmine Crockett, Kamala Harris, and other public figures and professionals. No matter how many degrees a Black woman has, no matter what professional title she earns (which some refuse to acknowledge), no matter what her income bracket, she is not spared from insults of being referred to as men, apes, dumb, ghetto, low IQ and more.
The reality is that a portion of the population in the Disunited States of America is committed to ignorance and bigotry. They refuse to listen. Refuse to learn. Refuse to consider anything about Black women besides what they want to think. No amount of evidence will change their mind, because that evidence is what they resent. They go to the extent of banning books, programs, curricula, movies and anything else that will educate them. They have made it clear that they want to stay uninformed, narrow-minded, and limited in their ability to operate in a civil manner outside of their small world.
Instead of celebrating and supporting the talent, brilliance and contributions Black women make to our society, we are undermined like when a South African immigrant who recently became a trillionaire slashed huge swaths of the federal government. He went on a spree of firing a disproportionate number of Black women while the person who put him in that position replaced Black women in leadership positions. But Black women have a history of resiliency and many affected have found ways to reinvent themselves.
Despite the unrelenting attempts to put obstacles in front of us, Black women have made incredible strides over the last 160+ years. We have gone from centuries of backbreaking or menial and demeaning work for zero compensation while also being denied the opportunity to be educated to the majority today (65%) having attended college while 29% have earned a bachelor’s degree or higher. We have sacrificed, dreamed big, found a way out of no way to gain education. We have gone from one room, makeshift, underfunded school houses, many located in churches, to the top universities in the world.
However, too many times, we are overeducated for the positions we hold. We are talked over, have ideas stolen from us, still called disparaging names while others who are less educated, less qualified are promoted or lauded. An entire presidential cabinet exemplifies this reality. Yet we still keep going.
Although we have every right to be angry and sometimes discouraged, we learn from a young age to manage insults. Ignore the unfair low expectations. Ignore the accusations that we cheated in order to perform well. Ignore the jealousies and efforts to undermine us. It never gets easier no matter how high we ascend, but we develop a tough skin out of necessity to survive. We don’t have the luxury to burst into tears or run to others for comfort because many times those who are in positions to effect change are the ones causing the harm.
We learn that only insecure people make themselves feel better by putting others down. We learn to not respond to comments made out of spite and total lack of knowledge or couth. We rise above pettiness and jealousy. Because there have rarely been systems set up for us to succeed that we didn’t create ourselves. When we excel, many times instead of being praised we are accused of not doing the work ourselves. We experience people ignoring or criticizing our ideas when we say them, then accepted and praised when someone else, usually a White male, says the same thing. Yet we continue to strive for more. We continue to better ourselves and take the high road when many others who are treated like us would probably not be as gracious as we are. We learn to not define ourselves through other people’s eyes. And recognize that no amount of hate can erase or diminish who we truly are. And their self-hatred and low self-esteem is not our problem to solve.
As Toni Morrison famously said, “The function, the very serious function of racism is distraction. It keeps you from doing your work. It keeps you explaining, over and over again, your reason for being.” So, those who are actually busy living their lives, pursuing their goals, engulfed in being excellent simply don’t have time to respond to ignorance and bigotry. We recognize that they have made a commitment to being ignorant so engaging with them is a colossal waste of our time. We have better things to do, like continue being excellent.
Rebellious Magazine celebrates America’s 250th anniversary with a series of featured events and voices that examine our American past, present, and future.