Black Women Are Already Dead In America

[orangeblossom]

www.huffingtonpost.com/kali-nicole-gross/black-women-are-already-d_b_5825914.html?ncid=fcbklnkushpmg00000047


A mix of outrage, horror and despair probably best describes many people's responses to the recent coverage of and reactions to the violent assault of black women. It conjures up questions about how race may have played into it. Would Ray Rice been dropped from the Ravens quicker if the first video showed him dragging face down a white woman he beat unconscious from an elevator? Would we have needed to see the second video? Would media outlets have used the second video sparingly, out of consideration for the victim, if Janay Rice was white? But let me also ask this: how different might media coverage be of Daniel Holtzclaw, a police officer from Oklahoma City who faces 16 charges for allegedly raping several black women while on the job, if he was a black officer accused of the rape and sexual assault of eight white women during traffic stops? The answers lead to one cold, hard conclusion: black women's lives do not matter. They simply do not matter. Not in mainstream America at least, and not in black America either.



For those who disagree, I suspect they would say the NFL has been roundly criticized for its handling of the case - both for initially only giving Ray Rice a slap on the wrists and then waiting until the knockout video surfaced to enact harsher punishment. But it has taken months for the NFL to change its policies and to finally suspend Rice indefinitely. Each step of the way both Rice and the NFL have had their defenders, from people pointing out that Rice is hardly the first player to assault a woman, to others, including many in the black community, suggesting that Janay invited the assault by slapping Ray Rice. Simply put, an unarmed 115-pound woman posed no threat to the NFL player who takes hits from men three times his size for a living. Those who disagree are also willfully ignoring the fact that the number two cause of the death for black women and teenage girls is homicide, primarily intimate partner violence. Clearly the NFL, and the NBA for that matter, should have an absolute zero tolerance policy on violence against women but also it cannot just be a room full of men deciding on these policies and evaluating the evidence when cases arise.



With the Holtzclaw case, the relative silence surrounding it coupled with the low-profile media coverage is appalling, and not only because an officer targeted poor black women for sexual assault, who ranged in age from 34 to 58 years old, but also given the massive response to the officer involved shooting of unarmed black teenager, Mike Brown. Adding insult to injury would be the crowd funding effort on behalf of the accused and the fact that Holtzclaw has been released on bail, which was reduced from $5 million to $500,000. While there is a petition on Change.org calling for his bail to be revoked, little else on a national level is happening. Al Sharpton and Jesse Jackson should be fast on their way to insist that the governor revoke Holtzclaw's bail. The National Organization of Women, at a minimum, should be putting out a statement denouncing the rape of black women and girls. Even if we ignore black women's grinding poverty, the sky-high rates of HIV infection, and the disproportionate incarceration, the fact is nearly half of all black women have been sexually coerced by the age of 18. The government should roll out an initiative for young black girls now or amend My Brother's Keeper to include them. And I wonder: will the DOJ launch a probe into the track record of the judge who released an officer accused of targeting impoverished black women for rape and other forms of sexual terrorism, particularly given the current DOJ investigation into the Ferguson Police Department?



Perhaps they should. Maybe things would be different if Holtzclaw had shot and killed his alleged victims, granted they would be dead, but it seems most black women are already dead anyways.

[redwino]

This makes my heart hurt because it's all so true. There is a highway patrolman who has been accused of of raping 2 women here in okc. I haven't seen the women, but their attorney's and the head of the highway patrol were all over the news this morning. This coverage is quite different than the 20 second blurb they reported about holtzclaw. I have no doubt that these women are White, or whitish, and the news coverage will be much more thorough.

Don't be surprised if y'all see me on the news in a police chase because there is no way in hell I'm stopping for a police officer in this city unless it's in a highly visible area. I've even changed some of my routes to make sure I stay on well lit, well traveled roads. I do not trust these fuckers in uniform around here. If two got caught within a month, how many more are going unreported? Although y'all probably won't hear about it since I'm a Black woman and all.

Eta: after reading another article, I realized the HP is actually not in my city. He's a little farther east. Still too fucking close for comfort.

[orangeblossom]

Yeah, it's a very hard to story to read. It's one thing to instinctively know it, but another to see it in writing.

[Deleted]

I'm not sure women matter much in America. It is worse for minority women, but not much better for white women.

[Deleted]

Sept 16, 2014 10:02:28 GMT -5 @dyermaker said:

Sept 16, 2014 9:58:20 GMT -5 @kcpokergal said:

I'm not sure women matter much in America. It is worse for minority women, but not much better for white women.

Ummm yes it actually is a lot better for white women. Do not derail conversations over this. There are layers of privilege. Black women have additional struggles from race and gender.

Agreed and I'm actually quite horrified someone felt the need to make the comment.

[IIOY]

Sept 16, 2014 8:32:12 GMT -5 orangeblossom said:

With the Holtzclaw case, the relative silence surrounding it coupled with the low-profile media coverage is appalling, and not only because an officer targeted poor black women for sexual assault, who ranged in age from 34 to 58 years old, but also given the massive response to the officer involved shooting of unarmed black teenager, Mike Brown. Adding insult to injury would be the crowd funding effort on behalf of the accused and the fact that Holtzclaw has been released on bail, which was reduced from $5 million to $500,000. While there is a petition on Change.org calling for his bail to be revoked, little else on a national level is happening. Al Sharpton and Jesse Jackson should be fast on their way to insist that the governor revoke Holtzclaw's bail. The National Organization of Women, at a minimum, should be putting out a statement denouncing the rape of black women and girls. Even if we ignore black women's grinding poverty, the sky-high rates of HIV infection, and the disproportionate incarceration, the fact is nearly half of all black women have been sexually coerced by the age of 18. The government should roll out an initiative for young black girls now or amend My Brother's Keeper to include them. And I wonder: will the DOJ launch a probe into the track record of the judge who released an officer accused of targeting impoverished black women for rape and other forms of sexual terrorism, particularly given the current DOJ investigation into the Ferguson Police Department?

Yes, yes, yes to all of this. As to Holtzclaw, I've been getting my news about him from Twitter because it's not coming from anywhere else. In the aftermath of Mike Brown, I expected that story to blow up and it just never has.  Infuriating.

[miniroller]

Sept 16, 2014 11:10:13 GMT -5 @helenabonhamcarter said:

Sept 16, 2014 10:02:28 GMT -5 @dyermaker said:

Ummm yes it actually is a lot better for white women. Do not derail conversations over this. There are layers of privilege. Black women have additional struggles from race and gender.

Agreed and I'm actually quite horrified someone felt the need to make the comment.

I've said it once & I'll say it again- as disgusted as I am that people actually think these thoughts strongly enough to post them on a message board, it does serve to remind me of how widespread ignorance is in this country. Sad but helpful to remember

[sparrowsong]

Black children too. Can't think of a single big story about a missing or murdered child of color. I can think of at least five white children, famous for what happened to them, just off the top of my head.

[teflepi]

Sept 16, 2014 9:58:20 GMT -5 @kcpokergal said:

I'm not sure women matter much in America. It is worse for minority women, but not much better for white women.

It is a lot better for white women. You must be an idiot.  Welcome dumbass.

[wawa]

Sept 17, 2014 14:25:25 GMT -5 @246baje said:

Sept 16, 2014 9:58:20 GMT -5 @kcpokergal said:

I'm not sure women matter much in America. It is worse for minority women, but not much better for white women.

Are you kidding me?

From your insensitive comments about the woman who left her kids in the car to go to an interview, to telling me my daughter's name sounded made up among other not so subtle things I have concluded that you not only wallow in your white priviledge but you must be fucking clueless.

[Deleted]

Sept 17, 2014 9:20:17 GMT -5 @dyermaker said:

From what I can remember, there seems to be a trend in treating black children as adults, even when they are victims and they often are. They are not afforded the same privacy and pictures and info is released to make it seem like they are less innocent, less child-like. I think this is so young men are seen as threats even earlier, think of size and strength mentioned with Trayvon and Mike. With Renisha, drug use was stressed. At least her killer was brought to justice. But she was portrayed always as a woman, also threatening, banging down the door. No. She was a teen.

This is so true. When I think back on the cases I remember, it's always the ones where it could be stressed what either the victim or the victim's parents did wrong. They especially like to highlight the deaths of abused black children. We either see little white children who were just riding their bikes or we see black children whose were killed because their mother was a crack whore.

[wawa]

Sept 17, 2014 14:41:33 GMT -5 @helenabonhamcarter said:

Sept 17, 2014 9:20:17 GMT -5 @dyermaker said:

From what I can remember, there seems to be a trend in treating black children as adults, even when they are victims and they often are. They are not afforded the same privacy and pictures and info is released to make it seem like they are less innocent, less child-like. I think this is so young men are seen as threats even earlier, think of size and strength mentioned with Trayvon and Mike. With Renisha, drug use was stressed. At least her killer was brought to justice. But she was portrayed always as a woman, also threatening, banging down the door. No. She was a teen.

This is so true. When I think back on the cases I remember, it's always the ones where it could be stressed what either the victim or the victim's parents did wrong. They especially like to highlight the deaths of abused black children. We either see little white children who were just riding their bikes or we see black children whose were killed because their mother was a crack whore.

Or because they live in a bad (i.e. black) neighborhood and were shot in a drive-by.  But that's just mentioned in passing.  I certainly don't know any of those kids names.  There aren't weeks of followup reports on Justice for [insert name here].

[Deleted]

Sept 17, 2014 9:20:17 GMT -5 @dyermaker said:

Sept 16, 2014 15:21:02 GMT -5 sparrowsong said:

Black children too. Can't think of a single big story about a missing or murdered child of color. I can think of at least five white children, famous for what happened to them, just off the top of my head.

From what I can remember, there seems to be a trend in treating black children as adults, even when they are victims and they often are. They are not afforded the same privacy and pictures and info is released to make it seem like they are less innocent, less child-like. I think this is so young men are seen as threats even earlier, think of size and strength mentioned with Trayvon and Mike. With Renisha, drug use was stressed. At least her killer was brought to justice. But she was portrayed always as a woman, also threatening, banging down the door. No. She was a teen.

The only case I can think of where this was not true is Avonte Oquendo, but I'm not entirely sure how national that coverage was.  I'm local and it was everywhere here, including announcements on the subway with his description for weeks. But I don't think it would have received the same type of coverage (in quantity or perspective) if he hadn't been autistic.

[lasagnasshole]

Sept 16, 2014 15:21:02 GMT -5 sparrowsong said:

Black children too. Can't think of a single big story about a missing or murdered child of color. I can think of at least five white children, famous for what happened to them, just off the top of my head.

I can think of one, but it's local.

But it also highlighted the disparate treatment of black children because the time lapse between when the girl went missing and when an actual investigation started was shameful.

[iammalcolmx]

Sept 17, 2014 14:25:25 GMT -5 @246baje said:

Sept 16, 2014 9:58:20 GMT -5 @kcpokergal said:

I'm not sure women matter much in America. It is worse for minority women, but not much better for white women.

Are you kidding me?

From your insensitive comments about the woman who left her kids in the car to go to an interview, to telling me my daughter's name sounded made up among other not so subtle things I have concluded that you not only wallow in your white priviledge but you must be fucking clueless.

Hold the fucking phone!!! She told you , your daughters name sounded made up? May I ask the name? Though I am already mad but if you wouldn't mind sharing.

[rootbeerfloat]

baje's daughter's name is normal and pretty.

[NitaX]

*pulls up a seat next to Sou*

[wawa]

Sept 17, 2014 14:55:27 GMT -5 rootbeerfloat said:

baje's daughter's name is normal and pretty.

So it's not KneeSock Wunderkind or anything?  Because that's how bad a name for a born baby would have to be before I told somebody that their kid's name sounded made up. 

I'll offer up an opinion if you're just narrowing down a list, but damn man - once the kid is named you kinda have to zip it and just roll your eyes to your H later.  How do people not know this??

[orangeblossom]

Sept 17, 2014 18:10:00 GMT -5 @246baje said:

Sept 17, 2014 14:48:48 GMT -5 iammalcolmx said:

Hold the fucking phone!!! She told you , your daughters name sounded made up? May I ask the name? Though I am already mad but if you wouldn't mind sharing.

Aria. 

Say what now.

Her name is beautiful, and furthermore, it's an actual word.

Rule 1: If you're going to talk about a name, google it first.  You might be surprised what you find.

[Deleted]

So people don't google shit before running their mouths?

Huh

[elleblue]

Sept 17, 2014 18:10:00 GMT -5 @246baje said:

Sept 17, 2014 14:48:48 GMT -5 iammalcolmx said:

Hold the fucking phone!!! She told you , your daughters name sounded made up? May I ask the name? Though I am already mad but if you wouldn't mind sharing.

Aria. 

That's on my shortlist of names for a future daughter, I love it. My husband probably won't go for it, so I may have to use it on a future dog instead (Italian Greyhounds must have Italian names, heh) but not because I think it's only appropriate for a dog, if that makes any sense.

[iammalcolmx]

Sept 17, 2014 18:10:00 GMT -5 @246baje said:

Sept 17, 2014 14:48:48 GMT -5 iammalcolmx said:

Hold the fucking phone!!! She told you , your daughters name sounded made up? May I ask the name? Though I am already mad but if you wouldn't mind sharing.

Aria. 

(1) that name is beautiful. (2) I am going to remain mad. (3) automatic side eye will be given to most of what she says from now on.

[meshaliuknits]

Sept 17, 2014 18:10:00 GMT -5 @246baje said:

Sept 17, 2014 14:48:48 GMT -5 iammalcolmx said:

Hold the fucking phone!!! She told you , your daughters name sounded made up? May I ask the name? Though I am already mad but if you wouldn't mind sharing.

Aria. 

Then you & a mess of other folks have the same imagination.The casino in Vegas named after her is very nice.

Sent from my EVO

[wawa]

Sept 17, 2014 18:12:18 GMT -5 @246baje said:

Sept 17, 2014 14:57:56 GMT -5 wawa said:

So it's not KneeSock Wunderkind or anything?  Because that's how bad a name for a born baby would have to be before I told somebody that their kid's name sounded made up. 

I'll offer up an opinion if you're just narrowing down a list, but damn man - once the kid is named you kinda have to zip it and just roll your eyes to your H later.  How do people not know this??

This was pre-birth and I asked if the name was too trendy due to Arya on Game of Thrones and she busted up in the thread with "it sounds made up to be honest".  
She's been eating crackers for me for a while now.  

That was my latin name in 8th grade latin class. So I mean...sure its made up. By some Roman lady in ? B.C.

[NitaX]

Lawd Baby Jesus. For Real? LOL Aria as in solo operatic piece is made up? Ok then.

[iammalcolmx]

Sept 17, 2014 20:35:53 GMT -5 @246baje said:

Thanks everyone.

I'm sorry to derail the thread but often when there is a thread about black people she shows her ass.

Remember the black student that got into all the Ivy League schools? Yeah she was saying that he wasn't that impressive or some such nonsense.

You didn't derail we need to be made aware of such. I hope she knows the following:

[iammalcolmx]

Meh fuck it Imma be messy and page nuggetbrain dowagercountess cookiemdough summer NewOrleans @mx as well so they are aware of this.

[downtoearth]

Well, I was going to comment on the article about how sad that black women are already so far down the line for being heard. I think this article needs to be more prominent. I heard a 94 year old black woman on the radio today (yes, they mentioned she was black) who has never missed a vote since eligible and may have to miss this year due to not being born in a hospital and having a birth certificate - freaking voter registration laws are making life harder for minorities and women to boot! She should be able to vote freely and I WANT her to vote!

Then my jaw dropped at the replies... you can't tell someone on an internet board or IRL that the name they like for their kid is weird or wrong, you can suggest alternatives that might be "easier to spell" or "sound better with the middle name" but really, why do you care if they name their kid Nevaeh or Apple or Ben Dover or PumpkinSpiceDrinksTastelikeTushie?

[dowagercountess]

As a member of the Negro Community, I definitely frown up on this asshole. And Aria is beautiful...and a word, uncultured hag.

[cookiemdough]

I don't like this.