Black Women Need To Stay Out Of Race Wars

See how peaceful life is when you are not engaging in race wars online?

In the past few months, there have been several viral videos of white and Asian women engaging in racist behavior publicly. Seeing all of these videos of white and Asian women screaming slurs erratically and looking like patients straight out of a mental asylum reminded me that this is the exact sort of imagery I do not want to see of Black women. The way those Black women behaved in that video of the racist Asian lady screaming slurs in their face is exactly how I want all Black women to respond when being baited into a race war. Stay calm, stay collected, and most importantly, stay composed. The racist Asian lady did not succeed in getting the reaction from the Black women that she wanted and ended up looking like a complete idiot. She was forced to apologize, by the Chinese government, to the Black female tourists she harassed. The Chinese government knows that the woman’s distasteful behavior reflects poorly on all Chinese women. They understand how one is portrayed online can affect how others view them. Calling children slurs or attacking random tourists with profanity is not an image I want Black women to be known for worldwide. If nonBlack women want to be foolish and let their male counterparts masculinize their image for pointless race wars, I say we let them! I, for one, am glad I do not see any videos of Black women acting like rabid monkeys and screaming slurs at random individuals like a crackhead on behalf of the Black community. I would rather Black women go viral for our beauty, being educated, traveling, or just living our most luxurious lives instead. Let nonBlack women be the face of race wars while we become the face of the soft life aesthetic. It is hard to be soft when you are too busy worrying about race 24/7, so let’s stop worrying about it. Sounds like a good deal to me! Race wars are male wars. Despite race wars not benefitting women directly, nonBlack women do acquire secondary benefits from these conflicts because their men actually uplift and protect their image. As Black women, we do not have that luxury, because our male counterparts refuse to behave like real men, and it is important that we do not fall for the bait Black men have set out for us when it comes to engaging in race wars on their behalf. 

Black men have made it very clear that they have no interest in operating productively like other races of men do. They have no desire to build safe countries with thriving economies for Black women and children to live in. This is evident any time we see photos of underdeveloped African countries destroyed by useless governments, pointless tribal wars, or religious extremism. Instead of uplifting Black women’s image, Black males take every and any chance they get to publicly tarnish our reputation and undermine our beauty. The only common goal that Black men share and will act on is the belief that they are entitled to sneak into the successful patriarchies of nonBlack men and leech off the lower-class women in these nonBlack communities. Do not let this group of males that I have just described bait you into fighting race wars on their behalf. Black men do not give a damn about racism. They are upset that racism limits their access to the wombs of nonBlack women and therefore limits their access to nonBlack communities. These are the same Black men who have spent the last four decades spreading misogynoiristic propaganda across the globe through the music and media they produce. For the past fifteen years online, Black males have been aligning with white supremacists via the manosphere to refer to Black women as sheboons, weaveheads, obese single mothers, masculine, and many other degrading racist slurs. Black men have spent more time using social media platforms to humiliate Black women than building first world countries. Black men’s dedication to degrade Black women is stronger than their desire to no longer have their countries and communities be the laughing stock of the entire world. Imagine that! Black men would rather use every opportunity they have to remind nonBlack people about how “ugly” Black women are than to have countries that aren’t riddled with civil wars, famines, deadly epidemics, child slaves, no running water, rebel gangs, and unreliable electricity. I do not think many Black women truly comprehend just how much Black men hate them. To paraphrase Kendall St. Charles, I also think many Black women ignore this reality because to actually acknowledge Black men’s misogynoir would mean we as Black women would have to admit that we have essentially birthed (and keep birthing) our own enemies.  

Look at the picture above. This tweet currently sits at 126,000 likes. I do not like to bring attention to racist posts such as these, but I think it is important to remind Black women that it is a Black male behind this account. A Black man invited the entire globe to attack and degrade Black women through this tweet. Is this really a group of males Black women should risk their lives fighting for? A group of men that publicly refer to us as the “least desired” and laugh along with racist white males in the comments? I need Black women to understand that if we engage in race wars on Black men’s behalf, it will be our reputations that are ruined. If these race wars make it to the mainstream, and we are labeled the face of race warring online, we will be the ones that get socially isolated from society and left without jobs or opportunities. Black men would then blame us for fighting on their behalf and call us “masculine” once everything is said and done. They would sit there and pretend like they did not literally ask us to fight their battles all while nonBlack people make us the scapegoat for all of society’s ills. Black women need to let Black men deal with their disputes with nonBlack people by themselves. Their fight is not our fight, and do not misconstrue what I am trying to say here. I am not telling Black women to ignore the racist things nonBlack people say about us. We should absolutely report any anti-Black female media we come across online. It is our responsibility as older Black women to protect younger Black girls from seeing this type of content. What I am addressing are the recent attempts by Black males to use Black women as shields after they purposefully get into arguments with white men. No other race uses their women as shields except for Black men. Black women need to question that more often, and we need to shut that down immediately. Do not let Black men bait you into fighting their battles whether that be with the police, white males, Asian males, Latino males, or just nonBlack people in general. Don’t be dragged into a war that has nothing to do with you. Remember, we are minding our business for the next four years and beyond. 

Lastly, I am not stupid. I know racism exists, and I know it affects Black women. Personally, I think Black women should start moving like Jewish people when we find ourselves in racist situations. Despite being hated on, Jewish people will still get to the bag. They understand the importance of moving strategically. They do not engage physically with antisemites or try to start a dialogue with them. They use anti-defamation and anti-discrimination laws to their advantage and utilize the best lawyer they can find. They practice self-preservation and make sure to never do business with demographics who have been exposed for having anti-semitic beliefs. They prioritize themselves first and foremost. That is how Black women need to move when they have been put in a racist situation. Do not risk losing employment because you decided to get physical with some random racist in front of your local Walmart or air out your former racist manager on LinkedIn. Instead, use the law to your advantage. Find a lawyer who will help you get money from winning an anti-discrimination case. Most importantly, stop doing business with and enriching the communities of individuals who clearly look down on Black people (yes, this includes buying wigs from Asians who look down on Black women). That is how you strategically deal with racism. 

Countless individuals that voted for Trump are angry about losing their high-paying federal jobs and are anxious about the present state of the economy. As times get even tougher, these individuals will be looking for someone to attack, to scapegoat, and to blame. Do not let Black males trick you into making yourself a target on their behalf when they are arguing with white males over useless topics. I still believe most Black women are dangerously oblivious to the current state of the world. Men in the U.S. are extremely angry, and they are not afraid to express their anger through gun violence either. Now is not the time to be getting into physical fights with random strangers on the street. Instead of participating in pointless race wars, focus on saving money to survive the upcoming recession, update your skincare routine, declutter items that no longer serve you, plan a beach vacation or day at your local spa, and most importantly, limit your time on social media. Social media, specifically Twitter, is an energy vampire. Your feed is purposely flooded with rage bait to make you feel scared, insecure, hopeless, and angry. Do not let anyone disturb your peace, not even other Black people. Invest in yourself offline and divest from race wars online.