CREATIVE WRITING To Be a Black Woman

By Rehanna Bertram, Lead Writer

To be a Black woman is to live a life of woe before knowing the very definition. It is to be hated by a population you’ve never met and probably never will. It is to grow up wondering why the comb glides so smoothly through your doll’s hair but gives up when it’s your turn. It is to see the mothers of fairer friends hold their children close when you walk by. It is to watch the desired princesses live in palaces and wish upon a star while the one who looks like you is always “almost there.”

To be a Black woman is to be traumatized by warnings of the enforcers whose aim is to peel your lifeless body from pothole-ridden streets. It is to be made the catalyst of slavery and prejudice in classes where your only goal is to learn. It is to feel inclined to be educated on the whitewashed version of blackness so that you can defend your existence. It is watching your counterparts revel in the latest celebrity gossip while you’ve committed names like Trayvon Martin, Michael Brown, and Tamir Rice to memory. It is realizing that eight years later, you’ve added Breonna, George, and Ahmaud to the list, only this time, you watched as the enforcers and imitators chose to play God. It is to be overwhelmed by hashtags and petitions that are useless. It is to be at the forefront of the fight, knowing very well that you might be next.

To be a Black woman is to watch the white man hide behind labels and exploit your desires to embrace your crown. It is to drain your funds to support Black businesses because they aren’t supplied with the oppressor’s resources. It is to watch the men designed to protect you swap vows and rings with those who look nothing like you. It is to question your beauty and value while stereotypes of aggression and hostility are bestowed upon you with no context. It is to endure the hours of screams and hair-based trauma between your mother’s legs to watch later the media credit a family who fetishizes Black culture for the invention of styles that have been around for centuries. Not only that, but it is being labeled and forced to be strong when all you want to do is cry.

To be a Black woman is to know that you are the most disrespected person in America, but choose to live anyway.