Nowadays, all you have to do is turn on the TV or log onto the internet, and we’re inundated with stories about Black women and girls being mistreated, discriminated against, having the police called on us and even killed for doing nothing more than being in our skin.
Where we are allowed to go and be our carefree unapologetic selves? At times, it feels as if those spaces are getting more limited, especially in Trump’s America. From the golf course to Waffle House to our own homes, here are nine places where it’s literally unsafe for us to exist.
1. Why Can’t They Let Us Live?
Nowadays, all you have to do is turn on the TV or log onto the internet, and we’re inundated with stories about Black women and girls being mistreated, discriminated against, having the police called on us and even killed for doing nothing more than being in our skin.
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Where we are allowed to go and be our carefree unapologetic selves? At times, it feels as if those spaces are getting more limited, especially in Trump’s America. From the golf course to Waffle House to our own homes, here are nine places where it’s literally unsafe for us to exist.
2. Waffle House
25-year-old Chikesia Clemons was arrested and brutally attacked by officers who threatened to break her arm after she asked for plastic utensils. When a Waffle House employee claimed she had to pay for the forks and knifes, she refused, cancelled her order and asked for a business card to complain. That’s when the cops came and brutally slammed Clemons. Sadly, Clemons was booked on charges of disorderly conduct and resisting arrest. She was released on $1,000 bond Sunday morning.
3. In Our Cars
As Sandra Bland’s death shows us, Black women are rarely safe in the vicinity of our cars. Bland died three days after she was jailed and violently arrested by a Texas cop. Breaion King, a Texas school teacher also arrested after a routine traffic stop turned violent.
4. The Golf Course
Recently, five Black women playing golf at a Pennsylvania golf club had the police called on them because they were playing “too slow” for the co-owner’s liking. They were asked to leave and told they their memberships would be refunded right before the cops were called. They were also accused of having “escalated voices.” Thankfully, these women were not charged, but still…we can’t even play a sport at our own leisure and speed?
5. Pool Parties
A McKinney, Texas police officer reminded us back in 2015 that young Black girls in bathing suits can’t be safe or respected at something as unsuspecting as a pool party. Cpl. Eric Casebolt was placed on administrative leave and resigned after a disturbing video surfaced that showed him grabbing Dajerria Becton’s braids and pinning her to the ground while she lay in only a bathing suit. Last year, the teen filed a $5 million lawsuit against Eric Casebolt, the city of McKinney and the police department for mental anguish, loss of quality of life and attorney’s fees.
6. In Schools And Colleges
Whether it’s being poisoned by your white roommate like Chennel ‘Jazzy’ Rowe, dragged and flipped out of your chair and by a police officer for talking back like at Spring Valley High School or the beating death of Amy Inita Joyner-Francis by her classmates in the bathroom, it’s clear that schools and universities are no longer the safe havens that we once believed them to be. And those are just three examples…sadly there are many more.
7. In Our Homes
Korryn Gaines’ tragic 2016 death by the hands of police will always remind us that being in the confines of your own home will never protect you from state violence. Yet, we also can’t forget the violence in our homes that comes from within. Just look at Fab allegedly beating Emily B and threatening to shoot her brother and father. Not to mention, the murders of Jasmine Dunbar, whose boyfriend set her on fire for asking for a paternity test.
8. Twitter And Other Forms Of Social Media
Whether it’s Hotep Twitter reminding Black women and girls that we are too nappy, loud, aggressive and unloveable OR alt-right trolls like Milo Yiannopoulos harassing folks like Leslie Jones with their Neo-Nazi and sexist rhetoric, it ain’t easy being us and vocal on social media. The abuse we endure on the Internet is real and pervasive and it needs to stop.
9. Trains
We can’t even laugh on a train without someone getting in their feelings. Just ask the California book club members who filed a racial discrimination lawsuit against the Napa Valley Wine Train after being kicked out for “being too loud” and “aggressive.” Even worse: two of the women claimed they lost their jobs because of the way they were portrayed in the media. Luckily, the women settled their lawsuit, but there never should have been one in the first place for #LaughingWhileBlack.
10. The Street
Ask any Black woman and girl how often they are harassed on the street, asked to smile or followed to get our phone number. It’s damn near everyone of us. What’s worse is that over the years we continue to hear stories of women such as Janese Talton-Jackson and Mary Spears who was murdered for rejecting a man’s advances. If we are not safe walking down the street, where can we be safe?
11. Yet, We Gonna Be OK
No doubt, the fact that our bodies, lives and mental health are at constant risk is a bitter pill to swallow. But as Black women, we are always going to love each other, uplift each other and find the joy in our lives as a way to cope and flourish in this world. We don’t have a choice.
