'The Angry Black Woman' Narrative in the Media

Black women need to constantly police themselves. They can't be too loud, emotional, wear anything "too sexual" or even laugh in public without being viewed critically in some way. The media sure loves to do the best it can in getting that message across. A couple of months ago Azealia Banks was painted that label when calling out the cultural appropriation of Iggy Azalea. The media used pictures where she looked "aggressive" used words and phrases like 'attacked' and 'goes after' when reporting on the supposed 'fued' between the two women.

This isn't anything new and will probably continue, considering 16 year-old Amandla Stenberg was painted with the same image when she addressed 17 year-old Kylie Jenner's appropriation of black features and hairstyles. Andy Cohen a 47 year-old d-list celebrity, known for his shows on Bravo, proceeded to call Amandla, once again a teenager, a 'Jackhole' for calling out Kylie's appropriation.

There is this weird, not really if you take history into account, notion of white women needing to be protected from the so-called "angry black woman." It's obvious that the media will do everything in their power to protect white women, even when they're wrong and even go as far as attacking a 16 year-old black girl for rightfully calling out a a girl only a year older than her.

It's things like this that make a black women's anger seem worthless when addressing the adversity, double standards and blatant hatred and disrespect of black women and womanhood. It tells black women their angry is never justified and all because of a stereotype doing exactly what it was intended to do when it was created, dehumanize black women.