So, I know this story is a few days old and I wasn't even going to voice my opinion on it at first, because every other day, I'm reading a different article about my people being degraded, demeaned, or shot down in the street, for doing the same daily activities as other races. Honestly, while it's all very sad, it's exhausting to put so much energy into getting angry over each and every story; because all too often, we are being made to feel like WE don't matter. Our lives don't matter, our children don't matter, and it's infuriating, to say the least.
Now, just in case you haven't been keeping up with this story, the beautiful young lady pictured above is 13-year-old Mo'ne Davis, who has been making a great name for herself on the baseball field, here lately. She's not out in the streets, twerkin', drinking, smoking, or having underage sex. Nope, instead she's a Little League World Series star, and a few days ago she was subjected to the worst type of bullying. Not only was she referred to as a "slut" on twitter, the name-calling came from an adult, Joey Casselberry, a Bloomsburg University baseball player, after it was reported that Disney wanted to make a movie about this awesome young lady. His exact tweet goes as follows:“Disney is making a movie about Mo’Ne Davis? WHAT A JOKE. That slut got rocked by Nevada."
He tried it (in my Tamar Braxton voice) then in typical racist fashion, once Twitter got on his ass and he was booted off the baseball team (rightfully so) he gave the usual, "I'm so sorry for my comments, blah, blah, blah," and he deactivated his Twitter account. And as for Mo'ne? Well, in typical fashion, she took the high road, accepted his apology, and even asked that the University re-instate his ignorant ass on the team. Her response was: ”While I admit I was pretty hurt when I read his comments, I felt sad that he was dismissed from the team…,” the Philadelphia pitcher wrote. “I am sure Joey Casselberry has worked very hard to get where he is and dreams of playing in the major leagues. For this reason, I'm asking you to please allow him back on the team so that he can continue to chase his dream. He made one dumb mistake. I'm sure he would go back and change it if he could. Everyone makes mistakes," Davis echoed Monday on SportsCenter where she was being interviewed about her new book, "Mo'ne Davis: Remember My Name."
Yes, it clearly shows that she, at 13, is far more intelligent than this clown, and it's very admirable. But what I want to know is, why are Black people ALWAYS expected to take the high road? Why do we always have to forgive, forget, and move on? The police shoot our son's down in the street like dogs- we're supposed to accept the lame ass excuses given for doing so, and move on. Then there's this whole thing that happened recently with Giuliana Rancic (I just want to shove a couple of sammiches down her throat) She clearly has no room to judge anybody, but a few weeks ago on Fashion Police, she made a very racist, demeaning statement about Zendaya's dreadlocks, saying, "The hair to me on her is making her a little more boho. Like I feel like she smells like patchouli oil. Or weed.” And what did she do once the relentless force, known as Black Twitter, read her ass? She gave a half-ass, lame apology, then went on about her business. And what did Zendaya do? Once again, she took the high road (after a very long social media post) and forgave her. And lets not forget our own FLOTUS being attacked by fashion reporter, Rodner Figueroa, who said, on national tv, that she looked like one of the Planet of the Apes characters. He only apologized and tried to explain himself, after he found himself in the unemployment line the following Monday morning. What's even sadder, these things have all happened within the last few weeks, and in such close proximity to each other. We've always known that there is a war on Black men, but my sista's aren't too far behind them.
Unfortunately, this is nothing new. Black women, especially, are being insulted everyday, all day, by the media, our peers, the entertainment industry...and we're always told to just suck it up and deal with it. Had First Lady Obama (I'll give her the respect she deserves and use her offical title, because it's rarely done these days in the media) responded to this ass clown, she would have been deemed as a race baiter, too sassy, or having a bad attitude, or any of the the other negative comments often made about black women. Why does a 13 year old child even have to endure being called out of her name, and on social media for the world to see. How can we fix the issue of bullying in our schools, when we have so-called grown people who should know better, doing it each and everyday? I can say this right now, maybe that's why God has never made it possible for me to be famous, because while I don't feel the need to respond to each and every negative thing said about me, I would definitely get my point across: "Don't come for me, unless I send for you," (in the famous words of Kenya Moore) These people need to be put in their damn places, and we need to stop accepting weak apologies from people who want to feel bigger and better about themselves by tearing a black woman down, by any means necessary. That apology is like saying, just put a bandage on the cut, it'll feel better in the morning. Newsflash, underneath the bandage, the cut is still there, and it still hurts. Yes, Mo'ne accepted her bully's apology, but as a child who still has a lot of growing up to do, that comment is going to follow her for quite a while...and all the while she's asking forgiveness for the man who caused her the pain.
So for the many people on Twitter- namely conservative white women- who made a big deal over the BET Special, Black Girls Rock, I hope this answers your questions, as to why a show like this is necessary, and why it isn't a form of reverse racism. It's necessary, because every damn day, Black women are told we're bitches, sluts, whores, look like apes, smell like weed because we wear dreads...the list goes on and on. The media and common everyday idiots, have no love for the sista's, so we have to create events to show some love and celebrate ourselves. We definitely won't get it from anywhere else. So, all this neck and eye-rolling, smart mouth, and finger-snapping that we do, and the Angry Black Woman Syndrome (ABWS) that people like to associate with us, it didn't just drop out of the sky. I only recently learned that ABWS was a real thing- while doing research for this post- but it sounds like a bunch of B.S. created by one of our own black men, unfortunately, as an alternative to calling us what he really wants to refer to us as- angry black bitches. Black men, especially, should be the last one's to put us down, but sadly, we get the most criticism from them. Aren't they angry about being racially profiled by the police everyday, about their lives being taken everyday, because someone felt threatened by them, so they just pulled out their guns and shot them down, to eliminate the threat? Exactly! So, are we not supposed to be angry that we're constantly being made to feel like we don't measure up to other races of women, EVERYDAY? Then to add insult to injury, we have misguided 'celebrities' (I'll use that word lightly) like Raven-Symone, who is African-American (even though she says she doesn't consider herself to be) and a lesbian- defending the guy who made the comment about the FLOTUS, talking about, "Some people do look like animals." She, of all people, should know what the discrimination and hurtful, judgmental comments feel like. Have several seats, Raven. Right beside Common- the rapper, turned Oscar winner, who decided to chime in with his two cents by saying,"Racism would disappear and wouldn't be an issue if Black people would just forget about the past and extend a hand in love," to the very white people who hate us so much; that, he said, would cure the issue of racism in America. Someone needs to take that Oscar trophy he won, and knock some damn sense into him. People like these two, are the reason why other races feel like that have permission to insult us any time they feel like it. Our own, one they've made it, suddenly turn a blind eye to the issues that are affecting US everyday.
Black women have endured pain for many centuries, and we grin and bear it, because that's what we're expected to do. Will it ever stop, probably not. All I can say is, people know who to mess with. This college player, weak bully that he is, chose Mo'ne because he knew she couldn't- and at the advice of those around her- probably wouldn't defend herself. But I'll bet he wouldn't have tried it with Serena Williams. She wouldn't have hesitated to put him in his place, in that nice-nasty way that she does, then she would have crip-walked out the room; and that's exactly what needs to start happening. As long as social media gives these cowards a platform, we'll keep reading about stories like these, and until we're able to stand up for ourselves, the results will continue to be the same. We don't want to be associated with that ABWS, so we sit and say nothing. Oh, hell to the nah! I will be all that and then some, just as soon as I get done telling you to kiss my, well you already know where I'm going with this. I refuse to stand by and let anybody demean me, just so they can have a good laugh at my expense. I can't stand Kanye West as much as the next person, but people still haven't gotten over what he did to poor Taylor Swift at those MTV awards all those years ago, and they won't. Even though it seems the two of them have kissed and made up, he'll always be looked at as the big, bad black man, who bullied a poor, defenseless white girl, for the world to see. See, that's that double-standard ish. Mo'ne was more than likely told that in order to sustain her budding baseball career, she should brush that slut comment off, let it ride, and be the bigger person. I just can't...
I'm just going to end this blogpost, because the more I type, the angrier I'm getting. I really wish this war on black women would end, but that's like wishing I'd win the damn lottery...I still have to get up and take my ass to work in the morning, because it's not likely to ever happen. I'm sure next week I'll be reading about another negative comment being made about another black woman. So stay tuned, I'm sure I'll be back.
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