Image of an Angry Black Woman

There are so many wonderful Black bloggers out in the blogosphere that write about current happenings that when I decided to start blogging, I realized it was not my desire to join them since while I am a news junkie, there are simply times when the news is too much for me. However there are times I feel when I need to add to the voices talking about current happenings and this is one of those times.

Unless you been living under a rock the past day or so, no doubt you have seen or heard about the very foul ass New Yorker cover showing Barack Obama wearing a turban and Michelle with a power fro and a gun strapped to her in the stereotypically angry Black woman pose while her and Barack give each other daps or as idiots at Faux News Network would say exchanging a terrorist fist jab.

My first reaction upon reading about this, this morning was outrage, followed by the slow and sickening realization that as always black women are under attack. Now I get the fact that this cover was supposed to be satirical but maybe I will find the humor when I see a depiction of Cindy McCain as a pill popping, cookie recipe stealer and ole MadDog McCain looking the crazed war monger one might say he is.. after all he is the fool talking about 100 year wars. As if the US of A will even be here that long, too many more banks go under and we will be the newest addition to the list of third world countries, but that’s not the issue here.

No, the issue for me as a Black woman is that for over 400 years in this country, the media imagery of a Black woman has never been positive, we are either loud-mouth buffoons, hyper-sexualized creatures, or at best we play the role of docile Mammies ready to selflessly give of ourselves while we wait to die and get our rewards in the sky.

Well last time I checked and I don’t know the woman but from what I have gleaned Michelle Obama fits none of those roles yet the media is insistent on placing her in a role that continues to undermine her womanhood and I am tired of it.

Depicting Michelle in this manner is not just an attack on the Obamas as a family but speaks to the greater disconnect in society that places lesser values on the lives of Black woman and girls. One has to look no further than the idiot box and whenever something bad happens to a white woman or child it is national news. Don’t let a pretty white woman go missing, it will dominate news coverage for weeks and days, while a missing woman of color only gets a mention in passing.

Yet people speak to why are those black women so angry, well maybe when our womanhood stops being assaulted on a daily basis we can stop being angry until then I am an angry Black woman in Maine and while I may not rock a fro and a gun, don’t let this mild manner fool you…

We must find our voice and speak out…. stop assaulting Black womanhood.