Why I'm an angry black woman (video)

Dominique Matti (thsppl.com) via DemocraticUnderground.com via Thom Hartmann (video/KPFK); Prof. Joy DeGruy; CC Liu, Pat Macpherson, Ashley Wells, Wisdom Quarterly

Anger? Prof. Joy DeGruy-Leary, Ph.D. explains "Post Traumatic Slave Syndrome" PART 1

Why I’m absolutely an angry black woman

Because when I was 5, my kindergarten classmate told me I couldn’t be the princess in the game we were playing because black girls couldn’t be princesses.

Because I was in 3rd grade the first time a teacher seemed shocked at how “well-spoken” I was. Because in 4th grade I was told my crush didn’t like black girls.

Because in 6th grade a different crush told me I was pretty  --  for a black girl. Because in 7th grade my predominately black suburban neighborhood was nicknamed “Spring Ghettos” instead of calling it its name (Spring Meadows).

Dominque Matti (Femi Matti/thsppl.com)

Because I was in 8th grade the first time I was called an Oreo and told that I “wasn’t really black” like it was a compliment. Because 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.

Brilliant law professor Dr. Michelle Alexander explains on democracynow.org

 

Because I was suspended for telling the school resource officer he didn’t deserve respect. Because my senior year boyfriend said n*gg*r. 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.”

White rapist, racist cop

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. (Continued below). D.U.

• VIDEO: Post Traumatic Slave Syndrome explained
• VIDEO: What is "PTSS" disorder?
• Post Traumatic Slave Syndrome: America’s Legacy of Enduring Injury and Healing (Dr. Joy DeGruy)
• The New Jim Crow: Mass Incarceration in the Age of Colorblindness (Dr. Michelle Alexander)
• The Counter-Revolution of 1776: Slave Resistance and the Origins of the United States of America (Dr. Gerald Horne)
• Maybe voting Bernie Sanders would be better
  

(IWPS Finals 2014) Slam poet Porsha O. [Another] "Angry Black Woman"

White cop Daniel Holtzclaw: serial rapist of black women on the job.

• White policeman who raped black women picked wrong one
• Cover up: Feds reject releasing video of fatal shooting by cops
• Sheriff's deputy charged with 2 Ohio killings surrenders
• Chemical conglomerates Dupont and Dow to merge 
• Oklahoma ex-cop guilty of 18 counts in sex assaults trial
• GUILTY: serial rapist cop Daniel Holtzclaw convicted in Oklahoma by all-white jury
• Witness credibility focus in officer's sex abuse [rape] trial
• Ex-Oklahoma cop on 24-hour watch in county jail
• Family of teen shot by police joins calls for change
• Corruption: Top white politician's conviction roils city
• No bail for police chief facing federal charges

Part II: more reasons to be angry

Sit down! What is she angry about?

Because my nephew told me he couldn’t be Spider Man like he wants to because Spider Man is white.

Because when he was 4 he said that he wants to be white so that he can go on a boat like the people on TV. Because I couldn’t save him from that. Because I can’t protect my son. Because I can’t protect myself.

Because my stomach sinks whenever I see a police car. Because when my husband leaves the house at night, I am afraid he’ll be killed for looking like somebody.

Because I worry that if I went missing like the 64,000 other black women in this nation, the authorities wouldn’t try hard to find me. Because I am disposable. Because I am hated.
 

Because we keep dying. Because they justify our deaths. Because no one is held accountable. Because I am gas lighted.

Because I have been told that by speaking about being oppressed I am victimizing myself. Because our murders are filmed and still pardoned.

Because I don’t know what it means to let loose. Because doing the things that my white peers do with ease could cost me my life --  trespassing in abandoned buildings, smoking joints, wearing a hoodie, looking an officer in the eye, playing music loudly, existing. Because I am afraid to relax.

Because I am traumatized. Because there isn’t a place in the world White Supremacy hasn’t touched. Because I am trapped here.

Racism is alive and well in America.

Because the playing field isn’t leveled. Because I love my skin. Because I love being a woman. Because not hating myself is considered radical. Because I’ve been called racist for defending myself.

 

Because all the major protests are for CIS black men. Because I’ve been told that talking about the women who’ve died is taking away from the real issue.

U.S. racism? (jensorensen.com)

Because I get no break from fighting. Because everything is a struggle. Because my anger isn’t validated. Because they don’t care about my pain. Because they don’t believe in my pain.

Because they forgive themselves without atoning. Because I’m not free. Because the awareness of it permeates everything. Because it’s not ending.

Because they teach the children that it’s already ended. Because someone will assert their supremacy over me today. Because they’ll do it tomorrow. Because I want more. Because I deserve better. Source

ACLU is tired of racist, sexist, right wing Donald Trump (kfiam640.com)

A board member of the ACLU’s Colorado chapter and co-chair of the ACLU’s Colorado Springs chapter called for supporters of Trump to be stopped before they vote for the billionaire businessman. Comparing Trump to Nazi propagandist Joseph Goebbels... (KFI) #DumpTrump