Black Women's Voices Matter --Today and Always [Op-ed]

TAMPA, Fla. - July 23, 2020 - PRLog -- This is not a time of business as usual.

There was something catalytic about watching the cataclysmic murder of George Floyd. In that one moment in time, our whole world shifted. Bearing witness to a death of such an egregious nature shook us to our core. It disrupted our central nervous system and it left us all aghast—gasping for air. Incredulous. Heartbroken, Infuriated, and Traumatized are a few of the adjectives that I can use to describe my disposition after witnessing that horrific moment, caught on video and broadcasted across the globe in unrelenting news cycles.

For as long as I live, I will never be able to un-see the abhorrent murder of George Floyd. Seeing something like that leaves an indelible impression on your psyche, and remnants of the pain become permanently imbedded in your nerves, cells, atoms, protoplasm and sinew. In that moment, my resolve for Activism and Social Justice deepened. From that moment on, it was no longer business as usual.

The 'knee on our neck' has not only proven itself to be deadly; I believe that it can also cause a form of laryngitis. When one has laryngitis it makes it very difficult for them to speak. Laryngitis can also cause a person to lose their voice altogether. According to the Mayo Clinic, laryngitis is an inflammation of your voice box (larynx) from overuse, irritation or infection. Inside the larynx are your vocal cords—two folds of mucous membrane covering muscle and cartilage. Normally, your vocal cords open and close smoothly, forming sounds through their movement and vibration. But with laryngitis, your vocal cords become inflamed or irritated. The swelling causes distortion of the sounds produced by air passing over them. As a result, your voice sounds hoarse. In some cases of laryngitis, your voice can become almost undetectable.

If it were up to some of the people running the country, the Black woman's voice would be virtually undetectable--on mute, indefinitely.

For centuries, Black women have had a [proverbial] knee on our neck, impeding our ability to speak up and speak out--Causing us to lose our voice, stifled by the pain of not being able to speak with ease, and sometimes we find it easier to simply be quiet altogether. Because every time we attempt to stand up for ourselves, call out BS or speak truth to power, we are dubbed as the "angry Black woman". The powers that be use that term as a way to vilify and silence us--simultaneously. The "angry Black woman" stereotype is a trope in America that portrays African-American women as sassy, ill-mannered, and ill-tempered by nature. The problem with stereotypes is that they are sweeping generalizations. Stereotypes are generalized because one assumes that the stereotype is true for each individual person in the category. While such generalizations may be useful when making quick decisions, they may be erroneous when applied to particular individuals.
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