#81

 
Dr. Boyce Watkins

Fox News: Black Women are Typically Angry

By Dr. Boyce Watkins - www.YourBlackWorld.com

For those who may not understand why I had to critique Barack Obama's contribution to the perception of black men being irresponsible, perhaps you can get it now. Fox News recently did a segment about 'why black women on TV tend to be angry'. In the segment, they make continuous reference to the 'angry black woman', and point to several examples of black women who tend to be angry during interviews. The video clip is at the bottom of this comment.

I have heard a lot of brothers write off black women as angry, bitter and nasty, and with equal force, I INSIST that they not characterize the entire black female population by the actions of a subset. Although I've had much personal experience with negative black women, I choose to describe them as collectively beautiful and marvelous, without allowing bad apples to spoil the bunch. I only ask that the same respect be given to black men, without using the actions of bad men to describe us as a collective. Instead, I am hopeful that you can focus on the many black men who've chosen to 'man up' and do what is right with their lives.

I received about 130 emails yesterday from people who had mixed opinions about my article on Senator Obama's comments about black men needing to learn the art of fatherhood. They've been interesting and seem to call for more discourse. I noticed that the opinions were right down the middle and many of them were very strong in either direction. I also noticed that many of the emails came from a position of intense pain: Brothers dealing with 'baby mama drama' who wanted to see their kids but were pushed out of their lives, or women dealing with some pathetic man who has chosen to ignore his responsibilities. I too know this pain personally, as my father abandoned me when I was a child, and I've also fought like hell (sometimes unsuccessfully) to find a place in the life of my own child. I have 7 god children and I mentor dozens of black youth around the country, many of whom do not have fathers or mothers who are doing the right thing, so I know the problem quite well. I will do a video on the topic soon, but I wanted to pose some quick thoughts I had while reading your emails (and yes, I do read my email and try to respond to you. I only ignore people who come off as flat out lunatics, since I don't mess with crazy people). Here are my thoughts.

  • Why do we assume that a broken family implies that a man 'ran away from his responsibility'? Is it not also the case that many relationships end due to actions of the woman as well? All of us know of at least one 'insane baby's mama' - either you have dealt with one, been in a relationship with a man who was dealing with one, or perhaps you have BEEN ONE! This does not imply that the end of the relationship is most likely the fault of the woman, but it does take two to tango.

  • No. I didn't make my statements for political purposes or to make money. I don't get paid for what I do on the internet, and I am NOT a politician. I honestly don't trust politicians and life is too short for me to spend all my time hoping that people like me. Telling the truth is the only way I can sleep at night, even if it implies that some people don't like what I have to say. One thing you will always get from me is a straight shot, I assure you of that. I guarantee that if you know me long enough, you will eventually disagree with me.

  • Yes, I support Obama 100% . Critiquing someone and keeping them honest doesn't mean you hate them. I critique my mama and I love my mama. Also, even though I love Barack, I put him in the same category as most 'selectively honest' politicians. If a man loves his pastor and church for 20 years, and then suddenly realizes that he should disown them, I can't believe that he just had the wool pulled over his eyes for two decades. I am not in the business of abandoning those who've remained loyal to me for 20 years straight, that's not how I was raised. That's also why I'll never be a successful politician.

  • Obama has made a commitment to being race neutral in this election. However, if he or anyone else chooses to address race in this election I ONLY ASK THAT THEY BE FAIR. For Barack (or anyone else) to shut down anyone who speaks honestly about racism, and then to contribute to racial stereotypes about black male irresponsibility is not balanced. For those who feel that Obama was 'telling it like it is', please remember this: Dr. Jeremiah Wright was also 'telling it like it is', but he was attacked, disowned and told that his words needed to be muted. Honesty should not know racial boundaries. If Barack Obama is not comfortable going into a group of white males and being honest about their weaknesses, then it is not acceptable for him to do that to black men. Being bi-racial, Obama has just as much moral authority to speak on the negative choices of white males as he does for black males.

  • There are ALWAYS going to be people in every group who do the wrong thing. White women are not stereotyped by the actions of Britney Spears and Paris Hilton. I would never stereotype black women for the actions of a few 'insane baby's mamas'. So, the notion that it is ok to define black men by the actions of a select few is equally problematic. However, it is comfortable to say 'these brothers need to start doing right' because it alleviates anyone else of the guilt of whatever role they play in the breakdown of their families, and it also contributes to the 400 year tradition of defining black men as being socially inferior. A person could just as easily celebrate the great choices of positive black men as he could mulling over the actions of the irresponsible.

Here is the issue: I do not feel that Barack would go into any other venue and paint any other group with a blanket indictment. He would not say 'too many Jews support killing Palestinians', or 'too many Catholic Priests are molesting little children'. So, I am not sure why it is ok to say that 'too many black men are ignoring their responsibilities and not being fathers'. While all three of these stereotypes may have some element of truth to them and one could claim you are 'helping' the group by criticizing their collective behavior, it seems that 'truth in stereotyping' is only acceptable when dealing with black folks.

Additionally, one-dimensional analysis is usually incorrect. If I were to define Bill Cosby as 'the man who cheated on his wife, had an illegitimate child, abandoned that child to live without her father, and had the child thrown in jail', such a statement could be considered true. However, it would be flawed, myopic and ultimately incorrect. If doing this to one man is wrong, then doing it to 18 million men is damn near criminal. Black men and black women are equally worthy of love and protection and it is only via mutual respect that we are going to rebuild our families. Blaming men for all broken relationships is not the answer, and neither is defining all black women as 'angry'. We should all spend time looking in the mirror if we want to find the truth.

Finally, racial conversation by political figures must be HONEST AND BALANCED. If you would not say something to a group of white men, then please don't say it to me. I refuse to accept someone else's label.

Bless you,
Dr. Boyce Watkins
www.BoyceWatkins.com
www.YourBlackWorld.com

 

August 15, 2008

In terms of the "angry Black woman" description, I've gotten over that also.  If being angry means I won't allow anyone to speak to me any old kind of way or allow anyone to treat me any old kind of way, or that I will speak up when I feel strongly about something, then call me angry.  I recently had to tell an employer, who accused me of having an attitude after he came out of his mouth crazy, that I, indeed, did have one and that he could expect me to have a bigger one the next day.  I do not cringe any longer when I'm accused of having an attitude, nor do I attempt to explain myself.  Yes, I do have an attitude, and yes, sometimes I am angry and I feel I have every right to be!  When my man justifies dealing with a white woman because something is wrong with me (I'm materialistic, I have a big mouth, I nag, etc.) versus just saying I love white women, then I am angry.  When I see Black women and children suffering because the fathers can't or won't step up, then yes I am angry!  You see, Black women have never had the luxury of being the lady of the house.  We've mothered everyone and now we're tired and want someone to take care of us for a change.

Just my two cents...

jace

"CNN" White in America Part 1

 

I'm tired of people, no matter who they are, gender or color, describing me and trying to explain who I am, how I feel and why.  Yes, there are many Black women angry and justifiably so but those same women are also funny, gentle, sad, exciting and all that other good stuff...like all other women. -- Priscilla B. Dames

Contraception is abortion?

Let the games begin!

Male legislators are bent on controlling the right of women to control their power to reproduce.

This is what we were talking about on August 13 on MUSICWOMAN TALK RADIO with Suzanne Brooks, Director of International Women of Color Day and creator of the egroup and website www.justice4allincludeswomenofcolor.com 

Knowledge is power. What will we do about this?

Diva JC

  • September 26-27, 2008 

  • Conference to Set A National 

  • Women of Color Agenda

  • Sacramento, CA

We need major help and we need it now to bring about the full empowerment of women of color for the first time in the history of this country. We are asking for help in getting people to register quickly and attend the conference. We are asking for help in locating speakers and panelists who will submit papers for presentation that can be published later. We are seeking the participation of women and men of all ethnic groups who share our goals and vision. And we need people from all levels and generations of society, from the homeless to celebrities. We are working to bring together those who have never had a voice.

 Whatever help you can contribute will be appreciated.

 Suzanne Brooks and Akilah Hatchett, co-coordinators

Justice 4 all Includes Women of Color
email: justice4allwoc@aol.com
www.justice4allincludeswomenofcolor.com
www.womenofcolorday.com

Contraception is abortion?

I had to share something with you. Can you imagine living in a place where birth control is considered an "abortion" and health insurers won't cover it? Where even rape victims are denied emergency contraception?

It seems unbelievable, but the Bush Administration is quietly trying to redefine "abortion" to include birth control. The Houston Chronicle says this could wipe out dozens of state laws that protect women's reproductive freedom and protect rape victims. And this proposed "rule change" doesn't need congressional approval.

I just signed a message to Health and Human Services Secretary Mike Leavitt, whose department is considering this rule change, telling him: "Contraception is NOT abortion." 

Add your voice to this cause? Click here to sign the message.

Thanks! -- Diva JC, editor of WORDS WE SPEAK

This is the writer Suzanne Brooks referred to, last night on MUSICWOMAN TALK SHOW.


MICHELE WALLACE, writer

Feminist scholar, cultural worker, intellectual Michele Wallace has been furthering the difficult work of decolonization since her first brave and controversial book Black Macho and the Myth of the Superwoman appeared in 1979, when Wallace was twenty six. She was attacked, like Ntozake Shange, for her refusal to be reticent about the corrosive and painful effects of sexism and racism on Black women. As she commented in her interview in Marlon Riggs' Black Is, Black Ain't, she is still, in many ways, being punished. Wallace's exemplary critical writing on visual art is cogently presented in such essays as "Modernism, Postmodernism and the Problem of the Visual in Afro-American Culture" and her afterword in the book Black Popular Culture, based on a path-breaking conference organized by Wallace at the Studio Museum in Harlem in 1991, Why Are There No Great Black Artists? The Problem of Visuality in African-American Culture. Her attention to the invisibility and/or fetishization of Black women in the gallery and museum worlds has made possible new critical thinking around the intersection of race and gender in African-American visual and popular culture, particularly in what she has called "the gap around the psychoanalytic" in contemporary African-American critical discourse. Presently, Wallace teaches in the English Department at the Graduate Center of City University of New York (CUNY).

DADDY'S GIRL