Writing at xoJane, Christiana Mbakwe says that black women should be less worried about policing offensive comments in person and more about the thoughts people keep to themselves.
An article published by the Guardian this week, revealed that white applicants are twice as likely to be granted admission to Oxford University than ethnic minorities, even when they have the same A-Level grades. My friends and I weren't alone. There's a trend.
Despite what's being said to your face in interviews — that you are smart, capable, poised, etc. — something's being unsaid, resulting in negative outcomes behind the scene. It's the unsaid that really scares me.
Yesterday I read an article on xoJane entitled, "10 Things Every Non-Black Person Should Know (By Now) About Black Women." A few weeks before there was "How Not To Be A [D—k] To Your Black Friend". I'd also read "How Not To Be A [D—k] To Your Fat Friends" and "10 Things Straight People Say That Make Me Want to Throttle Them." Beyond the fact that I feel these "how not to be a [d—k]" articles can go on until infinity, all of them have left me feeling conflicted.
At the risk of conflating, I'll say the vein that runs throughout all these pieces is a variant of the same theme; Strong smart women from groups that society has thrust "other" status on explain to the majority (implicitly white and male), how to speak to them.
I applaud this.
I'm aware of the frustrating, insipid, are-you-kidding-me encounters anyone who's deemed a minority, regularly has with people who are willfully or unintentionally ignorant.
Read Christiana Mbakwe's entire piece at xoJane.
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