Yesterday my younger brother posted what I can only describe
as a piece of ignorant dribble derived from that of an over-privileged mind. I
want to take this moment now to say that this is another segment about race so
if you’re going to get sensitive either stop reading now or leave that stuff at
the door and follow along with me.
Now, the issue at hand is this article: http://madworldnews.com/michelle-obama-white-girls/
The article’s title is “Michelle Obama Sends Message To
White Girls That They Don’t Matter”
Let that sink in for a moment. It is obviously crafted to
serve as click bait to ensure someone reads it. But, as the saying goes, “One
cannot judge a book by its cover” so, too, “One cannot judge an article off of a
sensational headline”. In the interest of not being shallow in my assessment, I
clicked on this link and read the article.
Here’s a summary if you didn’t click the link above:
Basically Michelle Obama attended the “Black Girls Rock” event and as a result
of doing so, she told white girls they don’t matter.
It takes some effort for me as a Black Woman and a Latina to
get through the article and took even more effort to nicely summarize the point
of the article as I did above. Ok, now that I have that little item out of the
way, let me get to my opinion and why I have arrived at my opinion.
I think that the author is wallowing in the shallow end and
grasping for items that aren’t there. Black Girls Rock is merely a platform to
celebrate achievements by Black Women that would otherwise be over-looked by
other traditional platforms which have a penchant for giving recognition to
White Men first, White Women second, and rarely a Black person, male or female,
is recognized. These traditional platforms, be they the Academy Awards, or
whatever do this as a constant. (Notice how almost no Black person was nominated this last go around. I don't forget, even if you have.)
Just because we are given a platform doesn’t mean we are
negating anyone else. We’re talking about several organizations and platforms
versus one or two that just recognize Blacks.
White women, while they have had many battles to fight
themselves in the name of equality, have not always recognized or acknowledged
Black Women’s contributions to society. They have also lived and still do live
with a certain level of privilege in which Black Women do not get to participate on a
general basis.
Black Women celebrating each other is no different than when
a so-called “diverse” panel of female actors did the same back in 2014. Here is
the example: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1jaWzNu8Buo
On that panel it was a group of White Women giving each
other pats on the back as “top actresses” and not one black woman like Halle
Berry or Viola Davis, can be seen. Until the top actresses and Oscar
Nominees not only feature more Black faces but Latina ones as well in that “top
actresses” group, I don’t want to hear anything about them complaining about us
all doing our own thing as we celebrate achievements that are just as great and
awesome.
This isn’t about double standards, it is about the author’s
unwillingness to see the moment of discussion within the historic context of
this country. I’ll listen to them speaking on double standards when they
recognize how they, themselves, continue to enjoy the benefits of the same double
standards about which they desire to complain. Until then, as many folks echoed
in the comments on my brother’s page: Take a seat, in fact, take several.
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