It is 2020 and Black women are still the most disrespected and disregarded group within the United States. In response to this harsh reality Megan Thee Stallion has published an essay via the New York Times addressing the way Black women are treated and represented in America. Titled “Why I Speak Up for Black Women,” the article describes Black women’s prospective role in the 2020 presidential election, Megan’s alleged shooting by Tory Lanez this past July, her protest on Saturday Night Live against Breonna Taylor’s killing, the staggering maternal mortality rates of Black mothers, and other social factors that inform her fight to “Protect Black women.”
The rapper begins her essay by connecting the issues Black women face to the upcoming election. “In the weeks leading up to the election, Black women are expected once again to deliver victory for Democratic candidate,” She wrote. “Despite this and despite the way so many have embraced messages about racial justice this year, Black women are still constantly disrespected and disregarded in so many areas of life.”
Megan and her supporters amplified calls to protect Black women after the incident in which she was shot in the foot, and then was ridiculed, doubted, and victim-blamed online. “I was recently the victim of an act of violence by a man,” she wrote, not mentioning Lanez (who was recently charged in the incident) by name. “After a party, I was shot twice as I walked away from him.”
She further describes her hesitation to speak out, and how her “fears about discussing what happened were, unfortunately, warranted.” In the end, she writes, she realized that violence against women “happens because too many men treat all women as objects, which helps them to justify inflicting abuse against us when we choose to exercise our own free will.”
This op-ed also comes on the heels of Megan’s soul rattling Saturday Night Live performance in which she called out Kentucky attorney general Daniel Cameron for denying justice for Breonna Taylor and her family, during a musical interlude that included recordings of Malcom X and activist Tamika Mallory. While she anticipated backlash for the moment, she wrote in the Times, “I’m not afraid of criticism. We live in a country where we have the freedom to criticize elected officials. And it’s ridiculous that some people think the simple phrase ‘Protect Black women’ is controversial. We deserve to be protected as human beings. And we are entitled to our anger about a laundry list of mistreatment and neglect that we suffer.”
Meg goes on to share that she wishes she and other young Black girls had the opportunity to learn about all of the important things Black women have contributed to society throughout history and that she hopes Kamala Harris’s candidacy, “will usher in an era where Black women in 2020 are no longer ‘making history’ for achieving things that should have been accomplished decades ago.”
“But that will take time, and Black women are not naïve,” she concludes. “We know that after the last ballot is cast and the vote is tallied, we are likely to go back to fighting for ourselves. Because at least for now, that’s all we have.”
The Houston Native makes a series of powerful statements, undeniable points, and exposes ugly truths about the manner in which Black women, girls, and members of the LGBTQ community are marginalized and silenced in this country.
I have got to say that if Megan were to lead the revival and proliferation of feminist practices on a global scale, I am all in!
Read her full article on New York Times, and watch her short clip below.
