Just a thought...
The "mad black woman complex" irritates me. Its this socially accepted source of doubt that almost dehumanizes black men. In todays culture, if there is a problem, there is a black man to blame it on. Conversely, a woman should be a man's biggest supporter, backbone, and greatest source of encouragement. If black women were really the Christian following women as they generally claim to be, they would know this. (Check out Ephesians 5 ) This blame game has made black woman look victimized, and has provided one more thing to blame black men for. Its almost like a catch 22, society doesn't expect any good of them, no one supports them to do well, and so they lack the source of motivation to do otherwise. Take a look around, alot of successful black men, have a strong, supportive woman beside him. Recognizing this does not condone or excuse domestic foul-play on a mans part or womans part, but I do see a social correlation. With most of black men in America spending some sort of time in jail, where were the black woman, who were supporting them to not make those bad choices. Yes there are woman struggling to raise babies on their own, but where were the mothers that could help their sisters in their times of need instead of criticizing eachother, just adding fuel to the fire to raise men that dont know how to take care of their families.
So now that I have framed the gruesome picture of the negative trending relationship of the Black American male and female, lets relate that to a more specific issue.
When did it become ok for a MAN to hyper- inflate this issue and market off of the "mad black woman" anger?
Tyler Perry has created a film empire from marketing to angry black women. I think its great to identify a womans stuggle, however, where are the films that touch on the accomplishments in the black community? If someone would spend half of the effort used to create some sort of media source that highlighted black accomplishments, I feel like there would be an even further sense of pride and accomplishment for our people. Making movies about mad black women, is just buying in to what the old Jim Crows wanted. They wanted minorities to feel so low, that they hated themselves.
I think as black woman, we have a responsibility of uplifting our men and we need to not be so quick to add money in the pockets of a man who claims to fully grasp a womans story. I feel like I would feel more at ease to watch a Tyler Perry movie if he actually showed more of what the Black man's struggle is really about, rather than promoting this pretentious idea that black men are inherently bad and black women will inherently struggle. If we take charge to uplift ourselves, then I think the world will start to recognize our strengths as strengths of our own inspriation. The way black strength as a whole is characterized is that the strengths are more of a reaction to some sort of indirect/direct struggle. Im not saying that the struggles dont exist, but it discredits our own will power. If we invest in positivity for our own people, the would be more positive outcomes. Some struggles are more easily prevented by not giving them attention, but there always has to be some sort of alternative to replace whatever that is. For example, if we dont want to have our sons repeating the lyrics of popular rap songs, stop buying them, and stop letting little girls characterize themselves according to them, and provide something or encourage more alternative and holistic sources of entertainment....
We need to be proud of who we are, and its about time we start showing it .
just a thought,
@sophiacamille
