Yes yes yes! I feel like I’m constantly bombarded with the narrative of the strong black woman. To the point where I feel it dehumanizes black people.
Don’t get me wrong, in my culture strength is respected, so it is often portrayed as building black women up. And black women in my country have been through a lot and their accomplishments and strength should be applauded. However, it’s out of hand.

People treat black women like they don’t feel pain or can’t be broken due to their strength. This leads to fear of their strength, and begets abuse.

I’ll never forget the time I saw, an actual photograph of a American lynching from 80 years ago. It was horrible. But my first automatic thought, was “wow, that man looks so strong.” The man was dead. There was nothing strong about him. A dead man can’t do anything, and isn’t a threat to anyone. I realized that’s probably how the white people who killed him also saw him, as strong, and had no compassion, no empathy, no thought of him as a vulnerable human being. That same thinking that allowed that man to be murdered, that black people are so strong, still is perpetuated all around us.
I read another medium article by a black woman who talked about what a radical act it was for her to be “soft.” To portray herself and dress in a way that showed her delicateness and vulnerability. That she felt so much of the pressure to look strong, she couldn’t be herself. It really struck with me.

Anyway, thanks for writing this. It needed to be said.