Black Girls are Brilliant

Source: Pinterest

Welcome Back, Everyone!

I’m super excited about today’s topic because it has been one that many of my classmates and friends have been asking me to write about.

Have you ever been told, “You’re smart for a Black girl”? Or have you ever dealt with the “You’re ACTUALLY really smart” that comes accompanied with a smug look and an undercutting tone that exposes their surprise?

I cannot begin to tell you the number of times that I have encountered this exact experience. I still vividly remember one of my classmates in high school telling me, while working on a group project, that she just couldn’t trust my judgment because she couldn’t believe I was actually that smart. And, to this day, I still don’t know what gave her that impression, but after showing her my report card that boasted my 3.96 GPA, her surprised expression is still what I remember most.

So, my question is why it is always so surprising when Black women are educated? We go to school just like everyone else. We get the same degrees that everyone else gets. We work the same jobs that everyone else works. So, why is it that we have to work 200 times harder to receive half of the recognition that others get?

A recent study done by researchers at the Society for the Psychology of Women, suggests that Black women who believe they are looked at or treated differently than their white counterparts may be right because they are more likely to be perceived as “sexual” or less than human. For decades, Black women have been called Jezebels, which is a term used during slavery that said Black women were sexually seductive and that, therefore, explained the sexual unions, and often times rape, involving slave owners and Black female slaves. While the term is not commonly used in conversation today, the concept of the Jezebel still hovers over Black women and puts them at a great disadvantage in the professional world.

So, Black women are not allowed to be smart because they are PERCEIVED negatively under the light of an old, racist myth? That just doesn’t seem fair. It’s not fair that family members must tell their beautiful Black girls that they’ll have to work with 150 percent more effort than their Caucasian counterparts and learn to use “correct English” if they wanted to be accepted as a professional in any industry in America. It’s not fair that Black women have to code-switch and prove themselves on a daily basis just to get the smallest ounce of respect in the professional world. It’s just not fair.

Professor Regina Luttrell referenced the Public Relations Society of America’s Code of Ethics in her book “Social Media: How to Engage, Share and Connect” writing, “We deal fairly with clients, employers, competitors, peers, vendors, the media, and the general public. We respect all opinion and support the right to free expression.”

But how are we supposed to do that for clients when we can’t even do that for the Black women working in our organizations? It is timeout for the microaggressions and time that people begin to be held accountable for their negative and biased behavior toward Black women.

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So, my advice to you all is to keep your head up high and never let anyone make you feel less than you are. You know your worth and value and that’s something that no one can ever take away from you. Let the voices of the doubters and haters fuel your drive to succeed because the best thing you could possibly do is show them how wrong they are.

Janelle Harris, a journalist for Essence magazine, wrote in her article “14 Affirmations to Support Black Girls’ Shine,” “We, [Black girl’s] village, do and can and should speak power into them and affirm them until they know empowerment for themselves. The contagion of positivity is critical for Black girls—urgent, even—because baseless criticism and negativity falls on them so freely from so many places.” It is important that, as Black women, we hold each other up and encourage one another to strive to be the best.

And, lastly, be the change that you want to see. Continue to push back when people make sly, negative comments or say things that could be considered a microaggression. Speak up for yourself and let your presence be known. Even if you are the only one in the room, remember that your voice may be the one to help change the system.

Source: The New York Times

So, for today’s post, I look to Michelle Obama, my forever FLOTUS. While many people look at her as merely the wife of President Barack Obama, she is equal with Hillary Clinton as the most educated First Lady of the United States of America. She received her Bachelor of Arts degree in sociology and African-American studies from Princeton University and her Juris Degree from Harvard University. In her autobiography, “Becoming,” Obama talks about how her high school teachers tried to dissuade her from applying to Princeton saying that she was setting her sights too high. By the end of her book, you can tell that everything that she has been through in her life, from college experiences to being called many inappropriate names as First Lady, has made her into the woman that she is today. Let FLOTUS inspire you to take the positives and negatives that may be thrown at you daily and let them fuel your fire.

#BlackGirlsRock #BlackGirlsAreBrilliant #BeautyAndBrains #ForwardFocused #BlackAndEducated