Why People Assume Black Women Are Angry
By: Stacey Herrera
Tags: Feminism, Black Women, Equality, BlackLivesMatter, Womanhood

The cliché of the angry black woman is old and tired. I find the homogenization of black women, both annoying and disheartening.

Even seemingly well-meaning individuals cast us in the role of the oft irritated black woman with the perpetual chip on her shoulder. Just the other day, I was sharing a personal story while on a Zoom call with friends when one of them assumed that I was angry. I immediately felt compelled to adjust my tone, posture, and disposition.

While I admittedly had strong emotions during the actual incident, not only was I not triggered in the retelling of the story, but I had done the work of processing my feelings and resolving the issue. So why then did I feel obligated to transform my response?

Because as a black woman, I have been tone-policed my entire life. For as long as I can remember, people have been trying to control my emotional landscape. As a child, my tears were unwelcome, and my questions were silenced. As an adult, I was told to “simmer down” or “lower my voice,” even when I wasn’t yelling. The easily intimidated have encouraged me to take up “less space.”

Like other black women, I carry the burden of social responsibility, familial expectation, all while being discarded under the guise of plausible deniability. Black women suffer the plight of racial injustice and the weight of patriarchal oppression. We are both revered and denied under the same clause — STRENGTH.

Being called a strong black woman is disempowering. It presupposes that we do not need support and that we never tire. Strong carries the toxic masculine energy that stifles progress and inhibits freedom. When we are called strong, we are dehumanized and disregarded. For black women, “strong” is a synonym for angry.

Not so ironically, being characterized as angry has very little do with us. The fact that our emotional state is reframed as an identity speaks to the discomfort that a black woman’s passion evokes in others.

People hate the way our feelings make them feel. And so they employ blaming and shaming tactics to coax us into submission, so that they may assume a position of superiority. Being misjudged emotionally and having our selfhood falsely labeled, is just another form of oppression — and by that, I mean white supremacy. Because in case you didn’t know, the origin story of the angry black woman began with Amos n’ Andy, a radio show with white actors mocking black behavior.

Yet and still, we are expected to rise while being kept underfoot. If we speak above a whisper, even as our words echo the sentiments of the majority, we are still ignored. What’s worse is the stereotype of the angry black woman has done more than harm our self-identity, but it’s also informed the way the world at large views us.

A 2017 survey organized by the American Advertising Federation’s Mosaic Center for Multiculturalism and the black sorority Zeta Phi Beta reported:

But contrary to popular belief, black women experience a full range of emotions. We experience hurt, grief, and fear. We love hard, big, and deep. Yes, our passion runs the continuum, but that does not condone the policing of our emotional expression. And despite being the most educated demographic in the United States, black women are still at the bottom of the totem pole.

So do we have the right to be righteously pissed — hell yeah! But are we angry all the time — that would be a resounding no.

Black women experience situational anger, just like everyone else. But anger is not our default setting. Our passion for things that are important to us should not be made redundant by the inability of others to see our humanity.

We have grown weary of being mislabeled and misunderstood. We are bone-tired from hiding our feelings and suffering in silence. And we are fed up with being looked to for encouragement and backing by the same people who can’t be bothered to empathize and support us.

The patriarchy and feminism have betrayed black women. We have been beaten down by white supremacy and male superiority. And it’s high time that we receive the kind of support that we have always offered to others.

It’s time to eliminate the biases that devalue our worth in the workplace. Check your privilege before dismissing a black woman for her brand of expression. And if you identify as a feminist, make sure that your fight for equality includes black women too.

Time is up.