(ThySistas.com) We know the story black women are loud, they have attitudes, they fuss and cuss… and are angry all the time. We know the charges: black women can’t get it together, always picking the wrong men, too masculine, she the original hood rat, got all those kids by different fathers, they always on welfare, don’t want to work, they coddle their sons while mistreating their daughters, she a gold digger and hindrance to black men. It’s very easy to get frustrated when we turn on the TV, and see reality shows and dramas that promote so many of these stereotypes.
It’s disturbing when we don’t have to just fight with men about the use of the word b*itch and whore, but Sistas are using these insults towards themselves and each other. It’s discouraging when we log on to Facebook, Instagram, Snapchat or Twitter and one minute we calling ourselves Queens, but the next minute we are blatantly disrespecting ourselves and the very idea of what a Queen should be. If we focus on the above mentioned we will miss the beauty, and truth of who we are.
We are women that know how to embody grace and poise under extreme pressure. Sistas what we see on TV, and in the media are not accurate depictions of who we are as a whole. As graduation season is in full effect… take in all of the images of beautiful Sistas graduating from high school, and college. There are so many of us earning degrees with families, hardship, disability and poverty… but we are striving. We see our women in childbirth labor with laptops turning in assignments. We are doing the unthinkable! Know this, yes, the above mentioned does exist, however those things exist among EVERY ethnicity of women. Contrary to popular belief black women are not the only group that have our lost ones.
Furthermore, YES our men love us. We can’t afford to believe the “all black men date outside of their race because they can’t stand black women” nonsense. The majority of black men, statistically, are still marrying black women. Yes, it’s the truth… let’s let go of the anger associated with lies meant to destroy our self-image. Regardless of what we are told we must continue to walk on grace and poise as these feminine virtues are a part of the foundation that is our strength.
As the Obama administration is coming to a close let’s take a moment to allow the grace, and poise of our First Lady to inspire us on long after she is out of the White House. Here is a women degreed from two Ivy leave universities, with a beautiful marriage and beautiful daughters. Michelle Obama has been a walking moving embodiment of grace and poise under pressure. For going on eight years she has been criticized for everything from being too masculine to being angry… where did that come from.
She has been disrespected, arguably, more than any First Lady in history yet she has not allowed the hatred of many to break her stride. We will never know what all she has endured as a woman, wife and mother in the White House, but she has remained an example of class and intelligence. Every sista cannot, and should not, be Michelle Obama as we must be our own women, but we can learn from her strength, dignity, grace and poise. Be encouraged Sistas what we see in media is mot us as a whole. As long as we take our grace and poise everywhere we go there is no pressure we can’t overcome.
Staff Writer; Christian Starr
May connect with this sister over at Facebook; https://www.facebook.com/christian.pierre.9809 and also Twitter; http://twitter.com/MrzZeta.