What exactly makes a “strong black woman”? Is it her ability to take care of her children as a single mother? Perhaps it’s the way she stands tall without a man by her side. Or maybe how she can withstand any obstacle that comes her way – alone. “Strength” is a trait of masculinity; therefore why do we connect the word strong to femininity?
It’s implied that the phrase “black woman” is defined as “strong”. It evokes the image of single mothers doing it all effortlessly through sickness and in health. There is an inhumane appearance inflicted upon black women that they are soldiers – they do not cry or ask for help. They do not break down and they use themselves as their only support system. They put their family’s needs before their own and while carrying the many burdens of others on their back.
Is this a misrepresentation of the truth? Why do we all adhere to putting our women in these pigeonholes? Conceivably, it isn’t our fault that we bind our black women to these overly competent traits. Let’s rewind back 300 years to when slave owners created a method to control all slaves. They remove what is left of the mind and soul till there is nothing left but a beaten body. They take the Negro male slave and break him down of his masculinity in front of his woman.
Black women are seen as undesirable partners because they are too angry and too independent for any man to control. In the 1700s wasn’t that the point? To create a woman that was psychologically independent? How can a black woman fulfill her duties and eluding the attacks of her femininity by being weak? Yes, a black woman is strong but society uses this phrase as a mockery to trivialize the anguish from 300 years ago that still leaves a wound. Black women are forbidden to complain, they must suffer in silence. The instant they ask for help or they break down; that wound is re-opened and they are told to slap a Band-Aid on it and keep it moving.
Now my readers, back to 1712, let’s make a slave – shall we? According to the Willie Lynch letter, they inflict fear into the Negro woman’s heart by beating the man until he is a gasp of air away from death. They destroy the depiction of the male so if her offspring were to be a male, she will train him to be mentally weak but be physically strong. If the Negro woman has a female she will train her to be exactly like her. The woman is up in front with the scared weak man behind her. Now, you will have the perfect slave. This has been passed on from generation to generation – from grandmothers, to mothers, to daughters.
The problem with this is that young females will enthrall the idea of having unfeasible standards. They will start to believe that there is no longer any control over their well-being and all they have left is this frozen state of psychological independence. They are taught to tolerate the social injustices and cruelty. They are forced to tolerate the inequity around them with self-hatred for themselves. Don’t you see that our black women were trained this way?
For 300+ years the “strong black woman” has been broken down into pieces and rebuilt into a slave. They are angry because they have lost control, they are undesirable partners because they were trained to be stronger than their men. To this day, they are still slaves – slaves to the misconception that they are not women but merely just an image of a Goddess with nonviable powers. They have been beat down and put down for way too long. “Black strength” is not an enticement for discrimination and calling a black woman strong isn’t an accolade.
