Another day, means another article, but this one is a must read. These past view days have forced me to speak out against situations the black community has to come to normalize. From ignoring mental health to ignoring interactions between older people and young black individuals, its almost as if we’re turning a blind eye to these problems which is why we are struggling to thrive as a community.
1. STOP OVERSEXUALIZING BLACK WOMEN.
For some reason, some of the male population in this world thinks black women were put on this earth to be of sexual service to the male population, and that’s a problem. It seems that if you’re black and female, you’re expected to have the big butt, curves, big chest, beautiful hair, etc. and at the same time, it doesn’t help that when we decide to wear more revealing outfits, men think that’s green light for them to throw themselves on us, and that’s not okay. Black women were put on this earth to change the world for the better and not be stigmatized as sexual beings. So to those within the black community and even outside the black community, please stop sexualizing us 24/7, that is not the move anymore.
2. STOP NORMALIZING PEDOPHILES
This is something that has been normalized in the black community for a long time, and it’s almost as if we’ve accepted this criminal behavior. Just a reminder, the age of consent in the state of Georgia is sixteen. Now while this age of consent varies across different states all together there is no excuse to why grown men in their thirties and forties should be trying to “holla” at young teenagers still in high school. This has become one of the silent killers within the black community because many cases like this cause young girls to come up missing or even dead.
3. STOP IGNORING MENTAL HEALTH
“Just pray about it”, “that ain’t nothing to be sad about”, “You’re X years old, what do you have to be depressed about?”. These are just some of the common responses given to black people when they confront their loved ones about their mental health problems. Apparently those before us never learned about mental health and the negative impact it can have on us in the long run. For so long, it seems as if we’ve normalized the way we approach mental health by not really talking about it as often as we should and even when the conversation is brought up, it may not ever go as planned. As a community, if we really claim to be for the advancement of our people, we shouldn’t be afraid to have the conversation nor should we sugar coat our personal experience.
As I was typing this article, I was reminded of how my personal experience with each of these situations had made me into who I am, and not in a good way. Some of the things we normalize within the black community can become stressful to overcome as we get older and contribute to our PTSD trait that stems from our ancestors being taken in chains; but nonetheless we have the power to break these generational trends before they reach our children. Don’t be a part of the problem when you can provide a solution.
HCXO