A Quick Reminder: Society Undervalues Black Women
It’s a fact.
In the US, women overall are paid 82 cents for every dollar paid to a non-Hispanic white man. This is terrible but gets worse. Black women are paid just 62 cents.
We all owe Black women. I’m not just talking about the other 38 cents on each dollar, although that would be a great start.
For the record, human value should never be assessed by how much money someone makes, but the statistics above are telling.
Students may learn of Harriet Tubman and Rosa Parks as mere footnotes to the work of Abraham Lincoln and Martin Luther King during Black History Month, if at all. This is an erasure of history. Those men did not accomplish this work alone. Furthermore, history must include the incredible contributions of Black women. Growing up, I was fortunate enough to learn about Madam C.J. Walker, Ida B. Wells, Mae Jemison, Shirley Chisholm and many more courageous trailblazers who succeeded despite the odds stacked against them. These stories must be told and these voices must be heard.
Unfortunately, there are countless instances where Black women speak, but their voices fall on deaf ears. With regard to healthcare, it has been well documented that Black women receive poorer care and are not even taken seriously when raising their concerns. Black mothers die in childbirth at three or four times the rate of white mothers. During this pandemic, there have been multiple Black women who have gone to hospitals at least twice seeking to be tested for COVID-19, only to be denied, told to go home, and eventually die of coronavirus just a few weeks later. (RIP Deborah Gatewood and Rana Zoe Mungin)
Today, the men who murdered Ahmaud Arbery and the men who murdered George Floyd have been arrested. What about the police officers who murdered Breonna Taylor? They have not been fired. They have not been arrested. The truth is her story has not received the same level of coverage as the other cases. She deserves justice as well and so do countless other Black women killed by police.
Say Her Name.
Black women are taking care of not just their families, but our whole society.
Black women are on the frontlines serving those in need during a global pandemic unlike any other. They are more likely to continue working while many others quarantine at home. At the same time, the pandemic still disproportionately affects the Black community.
Black women are the leaders of this current global social justice movement unlike any other. They are challenging all of us to be better and to do better. They teach all of us about the complexity of our identities, intersectionality, racism, sexism, classism, homophobia, transphobia, and so much more. They are putting their lives and bodies on the line to make sure that all of us can live rich, fulfilling lives.
I, as a Black man who continues to navigate racism and anti-Blackness, thank them.
P.S.: Here’s how you can help demand justice for Breonna Taylor.
