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"If you dare assert your rights
as a black person, especially a
black woman, the conclusion is
that you are angry - angry about
your station in life, angry about
everything - and you will take
that anger out on anyone."
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Would
Sandra Bland be on her way to the new job that awaited her at Prairie
View A&M University if only she had not challenged the police who
made the traffic stop? Twenty-eight year old Bland is dead after
being arrested, her death ruled a suicide by Waller County, Texas
officials. Many questions still swirl around her unnecessary death.
It seems to be that since the advent of the #BlackLivesMatter movement,
the most racist sectors of the country have resorted to an America they
know best—one where black people are subservient to white people. The
more we assert our black humanity, they more threatened they become and
the more hostile is their response to our stance. Police-community
relationships are where the opaque nature of a pseudo-democracy ends in
black and brown communities.
Sandra Bland was allegedly stopped for not using her signal when she
changed lanes. The fact that she joins a growing list of black folks
who’ve lost their lives at the hands of police for initial minor
violations only increases the volatility between police and the African
American community. These stops are pretexts to some police needing to
make it clear who’s the boss: I’m stopping you for nothing because I
can. I’m arresting you because I can. I’m tasing you because I can. I’m
shooting you in the back because I can.
Mike Brown was accosted by police for jaywalking. Eric Garner was
choked to death for selling loose cigarettes. Walter Scott was stopped
for a broken tail light and ended up with eight bullets in the back.
And the list goes on.
Legal observers have pretty much agreed that Officer Brian Encinia had
no right to order Bland out of her vehicle. He also made other demands
that Bland rightfully questioned such as putting out her cigarette.
Encinia threatened to “light her up” with his stun gun if she didn’t
comply with his irrational orders.
Once the mainstream media got a hold of Bland’s involvement in the
#BlackLivesMatter movement, her responses to the agitated cop got
twisted into an age-old narrative about the angry, black woman. Sandra
Bland should have done what she was told—without question—and maybe she
would still be alive. You may recall that First Lady Michelle Obama was
given the same jacket after it was discovered that her Princeton thesis
was on the racial divide.
If you dare assert your rights as a black person, especially a black
woman, the conclusion is that you are angry - angry about your station
in life, angry about everything - and you will take that anger out on
anyone.
As someone who has been called the angry, black woman, I embrace it
with pride. My response to what the accuser thinks is a personal attack
that will disable me is to say that my anger means that I’m alive and
know that I’m being treated unjustly. If the daily heaps of American
injustices don’t get a rise out of you, you’re either spiritually dead
or psychologically diminished. I am neither.
Kadia Blagrove, an African American blogger, gave some satirical advice
about how not be the angry, black woman: Them first, you last. Always
be aware that you are black. Have no reaction…to anything. Shut up! Be
passive. Always smile.
Blagrove’s post concludes with a simple affirmation and a cynical
question. “Angry black women are people who are unapologetically
secure, successful and confident despite the color of their skin. How
rebellious! Wait, is the angry black woman really just a white man?”
The stereotype of the angry, black woman goes back to the minstrel days
but has gotten more sophisticated in contemporary times. As in the case
of internalized oppression, unfortunately too many black women and
black men have accepted the label for different reasons. The goal is to
get a black woman to be quiet, to submit and accept her fate. Usually
that fate is rooted in some form of patriarchy and racism. Hang your
head and shuffle along.
Sandra Bland was a human being with full citizenship rights. A white
cop didn’t like that she upheld her humanity and refused to submit to
his abuse of authority simply because he was white and male. This is
why we are at a critical time in this country and why we must be
serious and strategic in the fight against U.S. white supremacy. We
must win this round; it can’t be a TKO, it must be a decisive victory.
The #BlackLivesMatter movement demands that not only black folks refuse
to be passive about the racist policies, laws and attitudes that
dehumanize and criminalize an entire race but that other nationalities
match that anger as well. It validates your own humanity when you
respect and protect someone else’s. No lives matter until
#BlackLivesMatter.
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 is published every Thursday |
Executive Editor:
David A. Love, JD |
Managing Editor:
Nancy Littlefield, MBA |
Publisher:
Peter Gamble |
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