Im so glad you wrote this. As a while person, I can’t help but notice most of the images I see of black women, and black people in general, are of the “Strong Woman” model you don’t want to mess with. Strength is something I feel is respected in society, but it goes to far in the case. I feel like society colors black women as giant, scary, pillars of strength capable of handling all the shit the world throws at them, to the point where there are presented unhurt-able. This is messed up, and I think it’s a big part of the abuse inflicted on black people, because there’s a perception that they can take it. It also tells white people we should fear black people and their strength, leading to more violence. Black women are always expected to be strong, to the point where we rob them of their humanity, their softness as you say, we gloss over their vulnerability, their pain, their very capability to feel pain.
Recently for February, I researched one of my favorite black American heros, Phyllis Weathley, the US’s first published African American poet. I saw criticism thrown at her, because of the treatment she got from a white family due to her being a timid, shy, quiet girl at the age of 7. The criticism was that wasn’t strong enough, didn’t show more rebellion and strength at a time when she has been kidnapped, sold into slavery and transported to a different country, as a 7 year old child. And this was cited as a reason to downplay her later accomplishments as a revolutionary African American writer. I mean, why couldn’t we give her a break and just let her be a vulnerable, scared person? Must she and her accomplishments be erased from history because she dared be a scared child during one of the most traumatic experiences a person can go through? Can we not let black women experience vulnerability, fear, weakness, fatigue, and other human traits? Must we make them into super strong creatures? I think it’s a big part of racism that I only see images of black women as being the strong, invincible stereotype and it needs to go away if we are to stop the abuse and violence towards black people.
