Can We #BlameBlackMen For The Arrogance of Black Women?
For as much talk as there is about how much black women are under attack, there sure are plenty of daggers thrown at black men.
Every time you turn on a television or computer screen, a black woman is being celebrated or uplifted. Michelle Obama is being applauded for her #VotingSquad movement encouraging more Americans to vote (Democrat). A poll over the summer showed that her approval ratings are 20 points higher than Trump or Pence.
Megan Thee Stallion is garnering sympathy in light of her violent altercation with Canadian rapper Tory Lanez. The New York Times posted a piece narrated by Megan titled “Why I Speak Up For Black Women”, a feminist depiction of black women that absolves them from the consequences of their transgressions and puts the blame solely on the patriarchy.
Meanwhile, black men continue to take the brunt of the criticism in mainstream discourse. Atlanta rapper Waka Flocka Flame is being criticized for suggesting that President No. 45 is better than No. 44. Ice Cube and 50 Cent have now become the faces of black male backlash on Twitter. Ice Cube’s willingness to work with the Trump administration and Fiddy’s outright support of Trump spurred failed sports journalist Queen Wokeness herself Jemele Hill to tweet:
Black men fired back, thus launching #BlameBlackMen as a sarcastic response to Hill’s comment. Predictably, women (many of them black) bashed and berated black men, continuing the ongoing battle of the sexes.
What if this battle pitting black men and women against one another is black men’s fault?
Black women are empowered to make whatever decision fills an emotional need at the time while being able to escape any backlash or repercussions of those decisions. Black women are sometimes implicitly encouraged to have children without the benefits of marriage. Yet, these same women escape the blame for 74% of black female-led households living at or below the poverty line. Women like Megan Thee Stallion are free to date men like Tory Lanez. When the relationship turns sour, the court of public opinion finds Tory Lanez guilty, while never exploring why Megan was involved with him in the first place.
This blatant lack of accountability by black women is, in part, due to the black men.
Black men relentlessly cape for the shortcomings of their gender counterparts, possibly because of the fact many were raised by their mothers. Growing up, if the mother was not happy, no one else in the home was either. From a very young age, black boys adopt the mindset to keep a black woman happy at all costs, even if that cost is themselves. A black male that is in a state of constant idolization of black women has dire effects.
First, everything that he does is for the adoration of the black woman. The clothes he wears, the car he drives, the location of the home he lives in, how he talks and the profession he goes into is all driven by how much attention he can get from the opposite sex. Frivolous and irresponsible spending negatively affects the earning potential of some of these men, leading them down a road of unrealized potential. The thousands of dollars spent to woo a woman could have been used to start a business venture, buy a home, or something financially productive.
Idolizing women and placing them on a pedestal beyond criticism has psychological effects. Instead of studying other successful men, learning how to lead, how to hustle, how to become a creator, Black boys observe women. They study how women operate, trying to understand a woman’s emotions (I’ve been down that road; there is no understanding of a woman’s emotions) for the sole purpose of trying to sleep with them.
Many black men are driven by the head below the belt rather than the one above it. Women exploit this brilliantly. That is why many of them act in such illogical ways. It does not matter what a black woman looks like, how many children out of wedlock she has, how many different men she had those children with, how much debt she is in, what her mentality towards men is, there will always be a line of men who will forgive all of her mistakes to be with her.
Accountability is a desideratum of life. Black men like Tory Lanez need to be held to the fire for their actions. However, many people shrink when the time comes to hold black women accountable. As a result of not having their actions challenged, women of color have become quite the arrogant species. Unchallenged arrogance allows black women like Brittney Cooper to believe that sex strikes can sway black men to not vote for Trump or that “what is good for black women is good for black men”.
We can #BlameBlackMen for many things. black female arrogance is one of them.
