Where are all the black women?

Recently, we watched a video regarding black women in society today. It features three Bryant students, Charde Hunt-Jeanty, Christina Watts, and Desire Marshall. This video is described by the creator, Kevin Martins, as, "A tribue to black women. Too often overlooked and under appreciated, too often left out of history lessons in classrooms across America, and too often asked to bear society's burdens without acknowledgement." To fully understand the remainder of this blog, please watch the video.

The conversation our class had with the three women was as eye-opening as the video. As a white woman in American, I cannot truly understand the plight of African-American women. What the women in the video shared with us in our conversation helped me to understand a little bit better.

One of the women said something that really stuck with me. When asked what it was like to be a black woman in America, her response was that she feels her black everywhere she goes. She's fully aware of her surroundings and recognizes what is necessary for her do in order to succeed as a black woman in America. She also went on to say that she worries about the black men in her life, such as her brother. It is interesting because it sounded like black people, in a way, operate as one and look out for each other. You do not see that with white people. We are not united by the color of our skin, we compete and aren't afraid to tear each other down to hoist ourselves up. It is an interesting juxtaposition that I hadn't realized occurred.

To me, I define white privilege as not having to think about the fact that we are white. I am able to go about my day without having to worry about whether a shopkeeper will think I am stealing. I am able to be angry and be validated in my anger. I am able to know that I can get the goods and services that I need without worry. That is white privilege. Each woman spoke of a different aspect of being black that a truly would have never considered if they did not mention in. Not because I am ignorant, but because it never had to cross my mind. I feel bad that I did not realize so many things about being black. That leaves me with the question, how do we fix this? I am not sure of the answer to that.