The Root's contributing editor Demetria L. Lucas argues at Clutch magazine that a piece of animation making the social networking rounds says more about the person who created it than it does about a decline in black female virtue.
Have you seen this cartoon? It's been making the rounds on social media, at least among my uber-educated, well-connected circles, and surely yours as well. I ignored it the first time I saw it, rolled my eyes the second, and when a "friend" who I respect and thought knew better added it to her status update and declared herself a "'70s lady," I finally decided to address it.
I'll join the chorus to say we, black folk, got problems: Piss-poor graduation rates, the number of children born out of wedlock or even into committed relationships, and the number of people incarcerated are issues that need addressing — not just criticizing — by us, even if we weren't the ones who got that trend rolling down hill. I admit that. But to make lace-front-wearing gold diggers who don't know the difference between a pot and a pan the face of the current generation of black women isn't just unfair; it's also inaccurate. So is linking submission to men as a virtue and labeling "strong" and "independent" women as a vice. Please explain to me how it benefits black women or the black race as a whole to have women who are weak and dependent….
All black women ain't bad, but the bad ones who exist and you keep encountering or attracting one another? What they all have in common, actually, is you
Read Demetria L. Lucas' entire piece at Clutch magazine.
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