I Got A Lot To Be Mad About… And That’s Ok

I ran into this girl, she said, “Why you always blaming?”
“Why you can’t just face it?”
“Why you always gotta be so mad?” (Be mad, be mad, be mad)
“Why you always talking shit, always be complaining?”
“Why you always gotta be, why you always gotta be so…”
I got a lot to be mad about

“I don’t cheat to win, I’d rather loose”, these are the words Serena Williams said to the umpire during a recent match. Serena was basically called a cheater and obviously as most people would she became upset. Being upset occasionally is fine unless you’re a Black woman and then being upset makes you an “Angry Black Woman”. As adults we kinda just deal with this it’s our fate and there’s not much we can do about it. I think the fact that we don’t consider is that this same stereotype is also portrayed on our girls. Any time our girls show emotion or get upset they are labeled “angry”.

Although, we cannot control how others portray or treat us, we can control how we react. We usually teach our children not to react but to ignore the negative comments of others. Although I understand why we teach this to our kids. I think it’s also important that we teach all children, but especially our girls that it is okay and appropriate for them to stand up for themselves and/or be mad when something affects them.

I ran into this girl, I said, “I’m tired of explaining”
Man, this shit is draining
But I’m not really allowed to be mad

~Solange (Mad, 2016)

How magical would it be if our girls understood how powerful it is to stand up for something and that it is ok to be “Mad”.

This week the Innocent Brown Girl Project will release content directly related to speaking up for yourself and others. Please use these resources to start the conversation and encourage your girls to speak up. If you have any questions or comments to share to this conversation we invite you to join our Facebook group and discuss this and many other topics effecting African American and Latina girls.