Sunday March 11, 2012- 140 character exchanges spark a rich conversation…
The Tweets that ignited the conversation…
We aren’t all “Strong Black Women”
Has “strong” become a euphemism for “it doesn’t matter how we treat them because they’ll survive”?
It seems so. And I often get the idea that they think we’re strong like oxen. Less than human.
“Strong” Yep I think it does mean it doesn’t matter how you treat them.
...that, and makes it easy to call some women a credit to our race if we aren’t loud, abrasive, or bitter
B/c it can be a little like describing a black person as “articulate.” I think it depends on who is making the description.
black women are always expected to endure anything and everything sometimes making it impossible to get help
Just yesterday I thought: I’ve put up so many walls trying 2b “strong”. Time for vulnerability.
“strong” definitely backhanded if used as a character trait or trope…maybe not so much if used to (cont)
..describe someone and her accomplishments individually? (disclaimer- white dude)
I HATE “strong” & “resilient” – they make me sound like a weed, not a flower.
Can you express your thoughts on race in six words? Give it a try at The Race Card Project™
Michele Norris is a Peabody Award-winning host and Special Correspondent at NPR. She produces in-depth profiles, interviews and series for NPR News programs. Norris also leads The Race Card Project, an initiative to foster a wider conversation about race in America that she created after the publication of her family memoir, The Grace of Silence. For more than a decade, Norris was a host on NPR’s “All Things Considered” where she interviewed world leaders, American presidents, Nobel laureates, leading thinkers and groundbreaking artists. Norris is also a Shorenstein Fellow at The Harvard Kennedy School.
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