Written by Nicole

Faster than a speeding bullet, able to organize a protest in a single bound, it’s the Super Black Woman! Behold her beauty and her power, with her cape flapping in the breeze as she rushes to defend any and every cause, often for groups that would not and do not do the same for her! And often at great risk to herself! And only to get called a queen today, but a bitch tomorrow!

While you may think this is a noble thing to do, it is not without consequences. Because black women have no first, or even second or third line of defense, sticking your neck out for any old cause, whether you feel it is valid or not, is unlikely to be of a significant benefit to you. As women much wiser than me have written, “All the Women Are White, All the Blacks Are Men, But Some of Us Are Brave”.

But it is complicated. For some women, the thought of marching doesn’t register very high on their to-do list. Rather than going out and protesting, they move differently, be it through education, politics, or donating to vetted, relevant causes. These women, I believe, are the exception. The majority of Black girls are indoctrinated into a race-first mentality, and therefore they get their cape mere days after birth and can swoop into superhero mode before they even reach double digit ages. Such loyalty is not reciprocated – even though black women have plights all our own, no one is ever out in such force for us to match how we show up and out for them. Not even fellow black women. With that in mind, I have a handy guideline to use if you are not sure if you should put on your cape or not.

• Don’t put it on.

  Honestly black women need to just turn the cape into a dusting rag at this point. At least then it would be useful. While the causes may be noble, this is not the way to go through with it. Before attaching that cape to your shoulders, instead pass it along to the men of the community, and demand that they show up for you before you return the favor. After all, if the recommendation to have police abolished (not defunded, but completely abolished), then seeing how they act on a cause on your behalf would be a barometer of how they might work at self-policing too.

• Get all the facts if you decide you must wear that cape.

  While I believe that black women should not be manning the front lines of these protests, we are adults and can do what we want. I have written on this platform for over a year now, and no matter how much I might say “XYZ is a bad idea”, with sources, statistics, and data, black women will still do XYZ, as is her right. So we have to take baby steps. Like I said, that race first mentality is hard to shake so it may take slow and steady action to shed that belief.

  The key to any good argument, for or against something, is to get all the facts. It is not divisive to want to know as much as possible about somebody or something before deciding what your next steps will be. The last thing black women should be doing is putting themselves in harm’s way for men, individual or collective, who have shown, in word or in action, that they hate you. If someone of any race despised your likeness and image in life, you don’t have to march for them in death.

Black women are victims of police brutality, just like black males.  Not to mention, black women have the highest rates of homicide out of all women. Black women’s issues continue to be in last place even though we represent a large portion of victims. And yet the overwhelming response to any and every harm that makes the news is black women saying “that could have been my son”.

It could have also been your daughter.

It could have been you.

So, if you must cape, cape for yourself and for black women and girls. No one else is.

Disclaimer: This blog was written by me, Nicole, and my ideas are not necessarily reflective of Christelyn Karazin or other writers on this platform.