Fix OUR Crown

Call me old. Call me prudish. It may be so. I will own it...

I do not think, however, that our young women know, or perhaps they don't care about, the hurdles Black women have overcome in terms of demanding dignity, respect and the right not to be regarded as sexual property to be raped on demand. This imagery of unclothed or scantily clothed Black Women on public display feeds some very disturbing history.

Our foremothers were raped. No one could protect us, not even our men. Miss Anne, modern day "Becky", resented us (still resents us) because her man couldn't stay away (thank God Black Women now have choice, he still wouldn't stay away...), somehow it was our fault. We made her "man" violate and rape us and bare his children whose eyes she recognized as his when they peered back at her daily. I can only imagine the hurt turned to rage...

Historically, Black Women have been stereotyped as "lose", "jezebel" or "hypersexual" beings therefore legitimizing the rape of us dating back to slavery. Somehow, "we asked for it"...

These young Black women are feeding a very damaging dialogue or depiction of us and seem not to know or care that their "shock value" behavior and/or attire is harmful [to us] as they justify the absurdity with some new nonsense catch-all phrase, "respectability politics", the latest of many newfound buzz words used to justify or distract from the unacceptable or the inexplicable...

There is sexy, there is suggestive and then there is downright tasteless and classless. Sadly, this new generation seems mostly attracted to or influenced by the latter. They are role models to the next generation of young Black Women whether they want to be or not. They are being watched and imitated by our baby girls.

My generation knew there was a difference between the behavior and dress of entertainers and us. We separated. This generation does not. What will their "shock value" be or will the pendulum swing back?

Perhaps our parents said some of these things about us too. Perhaps our morals and a standard to be "ladylike" has deteriorated over time as we have adopted feminism, an ideology that has not served us well in so many ways...

I am mindful and very careful to consider that yep', I might be getting old, never forgetting, that I, too, was a young, sexy thang'. I remember being bothered by and complaining to my Mom about older women acting jealous or insecure about my body and my simply becoming a woman. I vowed never to envy or deny women younger then me their beauty and their right to be young and sexy. I value their beauty, their shapeliness and their youth and I tell them to embrace and enjoy every moment!

Each generation it seems  is critical of the next. Maybe that's the natural order of things. No matter I slice it, however, this generation seems out of control. No barriers, no judgment, no consideration of our past, no sense of regard for us as community, as a collective. These young Black women,  knowingly or not, are playing to every stereotype. It is shameful, it is unwise, void of introspection or forethought. It is exhausting and disturbing to see...

Fix OUR crowns young Sistahs. This is not who we are...

#teamIndieArie