Pamela Merritt: 'If you aren't angry, the odds are you are one of the people pissing me off'
Michelle Obama denied that she is an angry black woman, following a new book's allegations of infighting with her husband's staff. I appreciate that the first lady was responding to the stereotyping many black women face, that paints us as unhinged and angry without justification. But I wish she had taken this opportunity to educate the masses on the fact that black women have the right to be angry.
I started my blog, AngryBlackBitch, to challenge the stereotype that black women are irrational in our anger. My inspiration was being raised to believe that one of the worst labels I could earn was that of an angry black bitch. I was taught that "anger", when channelled through a black woman, was unacceptable. My family made it clear that black women who expressed anger were making trouble for themselves and the punishment for black women who expressed it was severe – bad school grades at school, future unemployment, and a general lack of opportunity and happiness. They spoke from experience – having grown up in the segregated south where getting angry over discrimination was often met with violence and additional discrimination.
As I grew older it occurred to me that the issue wasn't with anger. Other people got angry and they didn't get treated like they were about to blow something up. The problem was with a black woman speaking truth to power. Once I figured that out, I channelled that emotion into my work as a reproductive justice activist.
There's plenty to be angry about – the fact that black women in America are three times more likely to die in childbirth than white women, the race-baiting, anti-abortion billboard campaign in America that claims that black women's wombs are the most dangerous place for black babies, the way that poverty is only worthy of discussion now that white, middle-class people are feeling the pain.
My father used to say that if a person isn't angry then they aren't paying attention. I say that if you aren't angry, the odds are you are one of the people pissing me off.
• Pamela Merritt is founder of the blog AngryBlackBitch
Hannah Pool: 'It's a handy way to put a black woman down'
I'm not so much an angry black woman as a livid one. I live in a state of perpetual rage, only ever one news story away from flying off the handle. I start most mornings shouting "racists" at the radio, and end many of my days shouting "sexists" at the TV. When I'm not bawling at inanimate objects, I'm applying cocoa butter to my skin, which is incredibly dry, or trying to manage my "unruly" hair. If I'm not the wrong gender for a position of power, I'm the wrong colour: invariably my face doesn't fit for both reasons.
When racism and sexism collide, feminists call it the theory of intersectionality – where multiple identities combine to increase oppression – but for black women it's just known as reality. I collect statistical evidence of injustice against black women in the same way others collect football facts: in 2002, minority women made up less than 8% of the total female population, but 29% of the female prison population; despite often high academic achievements, we are twice as likely to be unemployed as white women; we make up over 1% of the population, but under 0.5% of MPs (just three black women). If parliament were representative there'd be 55-60 BME MPs. Let's assume half of those were women, and if just half of those were black, we'd still have more than three times the black women MPs we currently have. Why does this matter? Because decisions are taken in the corridors of power that affect all our lives, so why shouldn't we be represented at the table?
And then there's the seemingly frivolous stuff: told by mad scientists that we are less attractive, and by the rest of the world that we are highly sexed exotic creatures is it any wonder we're miffed? The fashion world really should get some sort of award for its dedication to constantly letting us know that it finds our hair type, skin colour and bodies to be the least desirable.
Despite all this, I've spent my life fighting the label angry black woman because it's a handy way to put a black woman down, modern-day shorthand for telling her not to have ideas above her station. The truth is, black women are no angrier than white women; if anything we could do with being a lot angrier. But we get labelled because deep down everyone knows we've got a right to be mad as hell.
• Hannah Pool is the author of My Fathers' Daughter
Bonnie Greer: 'Chicago Southsiders are blunt, honest and pull no punches'
As a Chicago Southsider born and raised, I know where Michelle Obama is coming from. Southsiders are blunt, honest and pull no punches. We can't afford to, because life is too tough. To step back and take it goes against our very grain – and as the mother of two black girls, there is no way that Michelle is not going to go on the record about her purported activities in the White House. If indeed she was "F-bombed" by former White House press secretary Robert Gibbs, it would have been water off a duck's back. And that book doesn't really bother her, either.
A Southsider's motto is: "If I don't know you, I don't care what you say." The expression "tell it like it is" comes from the Southside. So in that spirit, this is just a little of what makes me angry: the establishment left, they are arrogant, clueless … and everywhere. No other segment of society dares to presume that they know what you think, how you feel, what's best for you. Once upon a time they made room for you, gave you space. Now it's all about patronage – and only the very young are allowed into the golden circle.
Bleaching crème: an abomination, and the single most dangerous force working against black women today. Dark-skinned women – and light-skinned women, too – are its victims. Shame on the media that carry advertisements for it.
Also, white women who sing like black women: all these ladies with the Mariah Carey whoops, the Beyoncé flourishes, the Aretha Franklin vibrato. At first it was wonderful and slightly flattering. Now to hear some home counties girl singing like she comes from the Southside of Chicago sounds phoney and insulting. And it keeps the real ladies from the world's various Southsides, out of the loop. I blame that killer of music: Simon Cowell – and having Sinitta as his close friend doesn't let him off the hook.
• Bonnie Greer is a playwright and author
Bim Adewunmi: 'The fear of being labelled an ABW makes you bite your tongue all the time'
Many things make me angry: queue-jumping at train stations, a colleague saying something wrongheaded about sexism and misogyny, being left on hold by the tax office for half an hour, someone repeatedly getting my name wrong … People get justifiably angry about all of these things every day. But if I articulate my anger in any of these situations, it's all too easy for my reaction to be categorised as yet another display from the "angry black woman".
The meme is old and tired: it's from the same school of thought that sees women as overly emotional creatures with an equilibrium so delicate, the slightest thing upsets them. It's similar to the stereotype of the strident feminist, and much like that old gem, the ABW limits you – every response has to be calibrated, because one angry (justified or not) reaction is all it takes for you to become known around the office that 'angry black woman'.
Comedian David Chappelle talks about an experience he had in a Mississippi restaurant where the waiter jumped in before he could order and suggested the chicken. "It's no secret down here that blacks and chickens are quite fond of one another," the waiter says. "All these years I thought I liked chicken because it was delicious," Chappelle tells the audience. "Turns out I'm genetically predisposed to liking chicken!" To paraphrase: "I thought I was angry because the situation called for an angry reaction, but it turns out I'm just an angry black woman. Whoops, sorry!"
The fear of being labelled an ABW makes you bite your tongue all the time. It's designed to shut you up. It allows people to get away with things they would never try anywhere else – and then blame you and your reaction. It's a catch-22 situation: I'm angry about this, but I can't show it, or else they'll use that anger as a stick to beat me with.So, I say: screw it. Get angry – and show it. There's a lot to be angry about. From the big things: pay inequality, female genital mutilation, a ridiculously low rape conviction rate, government policies which hit the poorest women hardest. To the little things: still having to pay tax on sanitary products (is menstruation a luxury?), that woman who cut you up at the traffic lights, oppressively high prices for black hair products. And let's not forget: this ridiculous stereotype that deserves to go quietly into the night.
• Bim Adewunmi blogs at yorubagirldancing.com
Latoya Peterson: 'Channel all this righteous anger into action'
I'm loth to reclaim stereotypes – which, after all, are just fictions applied to people on the thinnest of pretexts by others. There's nothing to like. But I think anger gets a bad rap these days. Why shouldn't we be angry when poverty is growing – and not just in the United States, but around the world? Occupy Nigeria was kicked off when the president removed a fuel subsidy that doubled and tripled the price of fuel overnight. While all across the world, from Greece to Bahrain, to Iran, to Egypt, to the USA, the youth have taken to the streets.
But we can't just stop at being angry. Maya Angelou prefers anger to bitterness, noting: "Anger is like fire. It burns it all clean." But it is far too easy for that blaze to become all consuming. Instead, we need to channel all this righteous anger into action. We should demand more of our governments and our fellow citizens to create more equitable societies. We should feel our anger, understand it – and then push it outwards, allowing it to be the catalyst for collective action. We no longer need to rage at the machine – it is time to figure out how to dismantle it.
• Latoya Peterson edits racialicious.com