Black Queens

Black Queens

I’ve been a black man in America (Nigerian American to be specific) my entire life.  Importantly though, I tell people I didn’t realize I was a black man in America until I was about 24 years of age.  You can read more about that in Essay No. 1: Race, Romance, Religion, and Reaganomics.  Although I share that with people facetiously, there’s something to it.  I think at that point in my life, my sense of identity was in flux.  I was developing a new understanding of what it meant to be black.  I was developing a new understanding of what it meant to be a black man.  And, perhaps most importantly, I was acquainting myself with what it meant to be a black man in America.  Not surprisingly, there was a lot unfolding in the news that forced me to confront this epiphany: not a few shootings of unarmed black men, in addition to racially motivated hate crimes (ie. the Dylan Roof shooting in Charleston, which admittedly, I was particularly rattled by).

It was an important epiphany… one I’m tremendously grateful for, and it continues to enrich my life daily.  But I think it’s made me wrestle with other things, too.

We can certainly talk about the experience of blackness in America, but that experience isn’t universal for all black people.  For instance, there are situational considerations that may also shape one’s experience.  It probably depends on the city you’re in, the neighborhood you grew up in, the social climate of where you’re living, the degree of segregation in your community, your family’s household income, and so on and so forth.  Of course, as a behavioral scientist, I take a lot of interest in variation at the individual level, too (not just the situational level).  These, too, are important.  For instance, your experience of blackness in America likely depends on whether or not you’re an athlete/entertainer; your skin complexion; your hair texture; your height, weight, and general physiological structure, including but not limited to your facial features; how you talk; and much, much more.

Indeed, these all vary considerably from individual to individual.

To appeal to the language of social scientists, these are ‘modifiers’.  In other words, each of the considerations listed above may MODIFY how race predicts various outcomes concerning your black experience, whether that be at school, at work, at church, at the grocery store, or just walking down the street.

An example may help.

While black persons, in general, may be subject to many negative stereotypes, there’s research that shows darker complexion black people are more likely to be criminalized than their lighter complexion counterparts, including receiving longer sentences and being more likely to receive the death penalty in legal proceedings.  Of course, that stream of research has applications in (many) other settings, too, like grade school education (ie. detention, suspension, expulsion, etc.).

It’s kind of wild.  Again, the experience of blackness depends on other things, too… like skin complexion, for instance.  These may MODIFY how race predicts your black experience in America and the associated outcomes.

There’s an important wrinkle that we probably don’t speak to enough though, particularly concerning the black experience.  Gender matters (sexuality too, but that’s a different conversation).  The experience of black men and black women in America diverge in a number of domains.  While I could spend the remainder of this post highlighting why that is, I’ll try and simplify by summarizing with the following sentence.

In addition to all of the adversity that’s engendered as a result of sexism, black women also have to overcome all of the adversity that’s engendered as a result of racism.  And less skin bleaching or a sex change surgery, race and gender follow black women for the duration of their lives, even as early as grade school (see my reference from earlier).  With this in mind, perhaps it’s no wonder why in 1962, Malcolm X went as far as to say, “The most disrespected person in America is the Black woman.”

Shortly after having my epiphany about realizing I was a black man, it made me take a similar stock of black women.  I’ve been doing that stock for the last 3 years or so, which largely motivated this current piece… something I’ve been thinking about for at least two years at this point.

We’re here because of Black Queens.  It’s quite simple, actually.  While there are many stereotypes and narratives that come with being a black woman, this is a tribute, my tribute, to Brilliant Lively Ambitious Courageous Knockout Queens.

We’re commending the awesomeness of Black women.  And there’s plenty to appreciate.

B-rilliant

The ‘B’ is semi ironic, considering the stereotype that dates back to the 17^th century describing those of African descent as incompetent.  In the centuries that followed, the world would go as far as to describe black people, including women, as biologically inferior, including but not limited to their cognitive capacity.  But you and I both know that’s not true at all.  Black women are absolutely brilliant.  Higher education in America was originally intended to exclude women in the same way it was intended to exclude black people.  Some 400 years later, ironically, women across racial groups actually earn the majority of bachelor’s degrees, and that’s especially true for black people.  At 64%, the overwhelming majority of black people that are college educated are WOMEN (not men).

And honestly, it’s been that way for some time.  Black women are brilliant.

For instance, medicine is one of the most prestigious occupations and fields of study in the United States, and it would be easy to assume that most black doctors are men, but that would be untrue.  Most black physicians (54%) are actually women.  In fact, at 67% of black physicians under the age of 34, the overwhelming majority of NEW black doctors are women.  While this doesn’t say much about where these women are working, or what they’re being paid, in the ~60 years since the passing of the Civil Rights Act, black women have risen to the challenge and shown themselves to be absolutely brilliant when given the opportunity.  And it’s not just medicine (although public data from the Association of American Medical Colleges lends itself well to our discussion).  From the boardroom, to the courtroom, to the emergency room, black women are absolutely brilliant.

But there’s more.  One thing I’ve truly come to appreciate in all of my travels is the brilliant creativity and artistry of entertainers and creatives across the African diaspora.  It doesn’t matter what country I’m in or the language they speak… across Africa, there’s such a rich, diverse tradition in the arts, we bring that with us wherever we go.

West Africa.  Northern Europe.  The Caribbean.  The shores of South America.  The northeastern corridor of the United States, all the way to the Trap Museum in ATL.  Our artistry is absolutely brilliant.

And black women in particular have such an interesting story to tell as a result of their intersectional identity (black AND woman), they can’t help but to showcase that creativity in such an absolutely brilliant way that’s new and fresh to the entire world.  Strife.  Adversity.  Identity.  Struggle.  These produce such rich themes in art (not to say there aren’t positive themes that come out in black artistry), and the world is literally begging for it.  So, shoutout to the Beyonce’s, and the Rihanna’s, and the Cardi B’s, and other black artists and entertainers.  The whole world is watching, as you continue to wow us with your brilliance.

L-ively

Again, I think the ‘L’ here is an in your face irony as well.  You know as well as I do black people, perhaps especially women, are stereotyped as loud and obnoxious.  But you know, I’m not sure I see it that way.  Sometimes, life just needs a little bit of extra flavor.  Big afro, big hoop earrings, big personality… we out here loud, live, and in color.

Say what you will, but I don’t think it’s coincidental that black people, women included, seem to fair extremely well in the entertainment industry.  I think we can have these really big, lively, vibrant personalities that really just attract people to us.  There’s a running joke that Black Twitter (ie. Twitter’s black users) IS Twitter.  In other words, Black Twitter makes Twitter cool and Black Twitter makes Twitter funny.  BLACK TWITTER MAKES PEOPLE WANT TO GET ON TWITTER.  Sounds like Black Twitter is good for business, as far as social media goes.  You could say the same about social media influencers, right?  Vine.  Instagram.  Youtube.  Etc.  A lot of these ‘overnight’ success stories come from black people, including women, with vibrant, flavorful, lively personalities.

And honestly, it just works.

Queens, your presence fills and illuminates the entire room.  And you don’t need to be apologetic about that.

A-mbitious

Hmmmm, I guess the ‘A’ is semi ironic too, considering black slaves in the Americas frequently worked 10 hours a day for 6 days a week… somehow though, there’s still this ongoing stereotype about us being lazy.  I mentioned this in passing before when we discussed the fact that black women earn significantly more bachelor’s degrees than black men and most black physicians are women.  But ‘A’ is for ambition, and black women have a lot of motivation, drive, and ambition.  And to be clear, I’m not simply saying that based on the number of degrees they’re awarded or their interest in pursuing higher education.  To quote Malcolm X, I think if you’re one of the most disrespected persons in America, you really can’t afford to NOT be ambitious.

If we take a step back though, I do think part of that motivation and drive was produced as a result of institutionalized racism.  As America waged various domestic wars against the black populace throughout the 1900’s, many black women ended up doing a lot to keep their family afloat.  Honestly, I think for a lot of black women, it was hustle or die.  It wasn’t really complicated and there weren’t really many options.  They weren’t going to stay afloat any other way.

Of course, I’m doing my PhD in a business school, so I think about the enterprise implications, too.  Researchers who study entrepreneurship have noted that most NEW businesses in America are being started by WOMEN (not men).  If you think that’s impressive, it gets more interesting.  Women of color are actually creating businesses at twice the rate of women in general.  In other words, most of America’s NEW businesses are created by women of color.  Researchers who study this frequently discuss the ‘push’ factors: situational considerations that push people into starting a business, like lack of advancement in corporate America, sexism/racism at work, being underpaid, being overlooked and/or unrecognized at work, etc.  I’ll admit, this isn’t my field of study, and it’s hard to speak to this because we don’t have all the data, but my intuition says sexism and racism produce a crappy experience for black women in corporate America, so many of them decide to work for themselves instead of working for someone else.

Imagine that.  You’re not really feeling your boss, so you decide to become your own boss.  I’m not mad at you.  Hey, when you’re earning 64% of the degrees being awarded to black people, I wouldn’t expect anything less, to be honest.  It’s a perfect storm.  Keep your head up and keep grinding.

I stand by what I said.  Black women have hunger, drive, and ambition (provided, I think it’s a matter of survival, really).  Salute to the Queens.

C-ourageous

I think it’s difficult being a black man in America, but I imagine it’s even more challenging to be a Black woman.  As I mentioned before, that basically means all of the adversity that comes with institutionalized and interpersonal racism, but it also means navigating it without male privilege, so you’re not really allowed to assert yourself, speak up for yourself, or even get angry in the way a man probably would.  I think every single day you roll out of bed you’re demonstrating how courageous you are.  When you show up to the job that some of your coworkers don’t think you’re qualified to have, or go to the school where you fall asleep in your dorm lobby and someone calls the police on you because they thought you were homeless, or when you carefully break down to someone why it’s not okay for them to touch your hair without your permission, you could have decided a long time ago you were going to be a hermit and never leave your home.

And yet, here you are.  Eyebrows on fleek.  Shoes matching the purse.  Popping curls.  Black Queens, you’re doing just fine.

Don’t let anyone make you feel like you’re crazy because it’s a hard thing just to show up.  It takes a lot of courage.

K-nockout

Hey, knockout is exactly what it sounds like.  Look, Queens, you’re a slam dunk.  The real question is, what heterosexual man wouldn’t be interested in a Brilliant, Lively, Ambitious, Courageous woman?  You guys are a KNOCKOUT.  You have this beautiful, creamy skin.  Strong, pronounced facial features: the eyebrows, the lips, the jawline, the cheekbones.  You age SOOOOO gracefully.  The kinks and coils and curls in your hair are both iconic and signature.  They pay tribute to the struggle… the struggle to understand beauty in particular and blackness in general.

Tall or short, light or dark, big or small, curly or straight, ALL of you are beautiful.  Because black is beautiful.  And I think being brilliant, lively, ambitious, and courageous only add to the fact that you’re a knockout.

Like I mentioned before, given both the sexism and racism that black women are expected to overcome, day in and day out, I don’t think we recognize them enough.  So, this is a tribute, MY tribute, to the Black Queens.

Some random thoughts,

Nnam’