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Black Women Lied: Representation Doesn’t Matter (A Cautionary Tale Of How External Validation Doesn’t Heal Internal Insecurities)
Whenever black people are represented in the media, instead of celebrating they make it their business to tear down the same representation they’ve bullied the media into promoting.
Black people, especially black women, have been begging the media for more representation on screen for decades, especially in roles that do not promote negative stereotypes about our race like the ghetto bird, the mammy, the thug, the drug dealer, the pimp, the ride or die chick or the social justice warrior. I have always thought the, “Representation matters!” slogan to be deceptive because I am well-aware of the nature of humans in general: we do not do things out of the kindness of our hearts. There is always a hint of selfishness that hides behind martyring and social justice.
Basically, what may have appeared to be an innocent request to promote more diversity to eradicate racism was a strategy to soothe the feelings of inadequacy that so many black people share due to their skin color, body shape, facial features, hair texture, and the opportunities they believe are unavailable to them based on aesthetics. As if seeing themselves on the big screen is their ticket out the mental and emotional hell they’ve inhabited…
