Diary of a Mad Black Woman
The explanation of identities perceived through the intersectional lens.
Being a “mad” black woman is not as easy as it may seem. By “mad” I do not just mean angry, but I am also including feelings of sadness, frustration and anger. That is because the identity of the black woman is complex. The black identity and female identity intersect to create issues of discrimination that are threefold: 1) discrimination against one’s womanhood 2) discrimination against one’s blackness and 3) discrimination against one’s black womanhood. This reflects the issues of what Kimberle Crenshaw calls representational intersectionality and political intersectionality.
Being “mad” is just the only way that society views us African-American women. This is so it helps with their stereotypical views. This idea is from the term representational intersectionality, which is having to cope with the stereotypes already presented in social media versus your truth. Although the idea has been around for sometime now, it has become more relevant in today’s political environment.
The 2017 election not only brought out the African-American women but women of all races, shapes, and sizes. This is due to the disrespectful remarks and actions that the President of the United States exposed to the world. Having Trump as our president has deepened my overall awareness. This is because I am a double minority. Being an African-American woman there is always something one has to deal with, whether it being about race or about the fact that you are a woman. Within the race topic, an internal argument between African-American women are the various shades that we come in. Black women have to build internal strength for the general harassment type of comments. This depending on how light you are versus how dark you are. At this point, as people are still arguing about which shade is better the world only sees us as black. As for being a woman, there is always a stigma for women being frail, quiet, weak, and things in that nature. But once women show their strength society freaks out rather than praising the women that are gifted with the strength of their voice or their actions to help prosper all mankind. This fully explains the hardships of political intersectionality. In other words, having to choose between two of your identities. In this case, that would be seperating black people and women. For things in this nature, this is where we are supposed to come together. Crenshaw shared a quote within “Mapping Margins: Intersectionality, Identity Politics, and Violence against Women of Color” (1993), “This process of recognizing as social and systematic what was formally perceived as isolated and individual has also characterized the identity politics of African Americans, other people of color, and gays and lesbians, among others. For all these groups, identity-based politics has been a source or strength, community, and intellectual development.” (Kimberle Crenshaw) Honoring the coming together of all mankind, especially women. Representational intersectionality correlates with political intersectionality. With both at hand it is difficult for African-American women to feel free.
Crenshaw’s Ted Talk fully demonstrates the issue of political intersectionality and the contrast in the recognition of African-American men and women that have suffered from police brutality. Audience members were asked to stay standing if they recognized the names being called. Throughout the male names announced more than half of the audience remained on their feet. Once the first female name was called around three fourths of the audience sat down. Crenshaw then stated, “Only One thing distinguishes the names you know and the names you don’t know; Gender”. (Kimberle Crenshaw) The lack of knowledge that the audience knew was just a way to show how women are underrepresented. Along with the Ted Talk being a way to give visibility and call attention to the African-American women that couldn’t have a voice.This evoked the new hashtag #Sayhername, so that these African-American women could be recognized for the police brutality that they had gone through. Melissa Brown, the writer of “#SayHerName: a case study of intersectional social media activism”, supports the efforts that this hashtag falls within. This being the upbringing of black women all together. By the rise of social media, this hashtag will be noticed way more than the simple protests. Melissa states, “Social media activism presents sociologists with the opportunity to develop a deeper understanding of how groups form and sustain collective identities around political issues throughout the course of a social movement.” (Melissa Brown)
My thoughts about this topic align with Melissa Brown and Kimberle Crenshaw. There is nothing that I would change or reconsider from the decisions that they have made. From the article to the Ted Talks I feel as though now there is some sort of attention being given not only to the struggles of African-American men and women, but to African-American women. Now, by putting the womens’ names that were harassed and killed by the police we are putting shine on the topic at hand. From first hand experience, being a woman of color is hard. Harder than any quiz or test,because my life is an on-going testament. People judging that we ‘colored women’ are more “compelled to crime” (Angela Davis), that we are ignorant, and that we are always “mad”. Newsflash! I’m not mad, but I’m scared,worried, and upset about all the things that I dream of doing but cannot complete just because I am not just a woman, but an African- American woman.
