<?xml version="1.0" encoding="UTF-8"?><rss version="2.0" xmlns:content="http://purl.org/rss/1.0/modules/content/" xmlns:wfw="http://wellformedweb.org/CommentAPI/" xmlns:dc="http://purl.org/dc/elements/1.1/" xmlns:atom="http://www.w3.org/2005/Atom" xmlns:sy="http://purl.org/rss/1.0/modules/syndication/" xmlns:slash="http://purl.org/rss/1.0/modules/slash/" > <channel> <title>misogyny – The Dithering of a District Diva</title> <atom:link href="http://www.brookeobie.com/districtdiva/tag/misogyny/feed/" rel="self" type="application/rss+xml" /> <link>http://www.brookeobie.com/districtdiva</link> <description>Chasing God + Purpose</description> <lastBuildDate>Mon, 12 Sep 2022 06:19:46 +0000</lastBuildDate> <language>en-US</language> <sy:updatePeriod>hourly</sy:updatePeriod> <sy:updateFrequency>1</sy:updateFrequency> <generator>https://wordpress.org/?v=4.9.26</generator> <image> <url>http://www.brookeobie.com/districtdiva/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2016/03/cropped-District-Diva-Brooke-Obie-1-32x32.jpg</url> <title>misogyny – The Dithering of a District Diva</title> <link>http://www.brookeobie.com/districtdiva</link> <width>32</width> <height>32</height> </image> <item> <title>Is God A Misogynist? God Forbid.</title> <link>http://www.brookeobie.com/districtdiva/is-god-a-misogynist-god-forbid/</link> <comments>http://www.brookeobie.com/districtdiva/is-god-a-misogynist-god-forbid/#comments</comments> <pubDate>Sat, 28 May 2016 14:03:48 +0000</pubDate> <dc:creator><![CDATA[Brooke Obie]]></dc:creator> <category><![CDATA[The Usual Dithering]]></category> <category><![CDATA[Bible study]]></category> <category><![CDATA[God]]></category> <category><![CDATA[misogyny]]></category> <guid isPermaLink="false">http://www.brookeobie.com/districtdiva/?p=3812</guid> <description><![CDATA[Last month, I left a church community that I love. It was both difficult and easy to do. Difficult because NYC has been rough for me and at this church I finally felt like I had community and a place where I belonged. Easy because it became apparent that I]]></description> <content:encoded><![CDATA[<p>Last month, I left a church community that I love. It was both difficult and easy to do. Difficult because NYC has been rough for me and at this church I finally felt like I had community and a place where I belonged. Easy because it became apparent that I didn’t actually belong and needed to be up out.</p> <p>Much like in romance, when you’re thirsting for community, the lure of wonderful people who are nice to you can seem like enough. I eagerly joined after a few months because everyone was so nice! Instead of deeply investigating, I took phrases like “a new way to do church” and “a commitment to social justice” to mean what I needed them to mean as a Black woman: an end to church-sponsored <a href="http://www.ebony.com/wellness-empowerment/jamal-h-bryant-aint-loyal-sermon-043#axzz49x58QAVJ">misogynoir</a> (misogyny targeted at Black women).</p> <p>It never occurred to me that a church with “social justice” in the vision wouldn’t be against misogyny, even as the pastoral staff had no women on it. “It’s a new church,” I reasoned like a woman who’d begun dating again after a dry spell. “I can work with this.”</p> <p>And I did try to work with it for over a year. I volunteered, I paid tithes, I was active in two community groups, I reviewed and gave feedback on a sermon…I was all in! Until it became clear that women being in positions of actual power in the church was a question best answered by Timothy and Titus. The “new way to do church,” started to feel a lot like the old way.</p> <p>At the time I found out that it was debatable whether God wanted to use women as pastors and elders in the church, I was pitching with another sister an idea for a spirituality workshop. I’d taken 2.5 hours off of work to pitch and discuss this idea. And while it seemed possible that I could lead a Bible study workshop (after some training and at some point in the far future) as a woman and I could plan and organize and otherwise pour my emotional labor into the church, I could not, if called by God, be a pastor or an elder in that same church.</p> <p>The door wasn’t completely closed, however. “Ongoing discussions,” were needed to see if women could be in power at the church where they do a great chunk of the labor. I had flashbacks of my <a href="http://www.marieclaire.com/sex-love/features/a20338/dating-while-black-and-feminist/" target="_blank">last relationship</a>. “I see why you want to be considered a human being with feelings that are as valid as mine, but I’m not really ready to accept your feelings as equally valid, but let’s have ‘ongoing discussions’ about it.” Nah.</p> <p>“Nice” wasn’t enough. In fact, discriminating against women isn’t nice at all. Like I said, I had to be up out.</p> <p>But it was devastating for me. How could the church I loved, a church who loved me still be willing to discriminate against women in 2016? I was relieved to find that there are plenty of NYC churches who don’t discriminate and who love and affirm everybody. But my relief was short-lived.</p> <p>This past week, I was preparing a simple assignment for work and stumbled across <a href="https://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=Numbers+12" target="_blank">Numbers 12</a>, the story of Miriam’s punishment.</p> <p>Miriam and Aaron are pretty miffed with Moses for marrying a woman they didn’t think he should marry. They go out to the people and speak against Moses for marrying this woman. God gets upset and calls all 3 of them into the Tent of Meeting, chastises Aaron and Miriam for speaking against God’s prophet Moses. “The anger of the Lord burned against them,” the text says, and God left them. When Miriam and Aaron left the tent, guess who was punished? <em><strong>Miriam</strong></em>! Her “skin was leprous—it became as white as snow.”</p> <p>Here’s my favorite part: “<span id="en-NIV-4070" class="text Num-12-10">Aaron turned toward her and saw that she had a defiling skin disease,</span> <span id="en-NIV-4071" class="text Num-12-11">and he said to Moses, ‘Please, my lord, I ask you not to hold against us the sin we have so foolishly committed.'” LOL. Men are a trip. Miriam’s the one with the skin disease, Miriam’s the one who has been punished, but somehow her punishment is “just like Aaron also being punished.” NAH!</span></p> <p>So here’s where I reached my breaking point. (Numbers 12:13-15):</p> <blockquote><p><span id="en-NIV-4073" class="text Num-12-13"><sup class="versenum">13 </sup>So Moses cried out to the <span class="small-caps">Lord</span>, “Please, God, heal her!”</span></p> <p><span id="en-NIV-4074" class="text Num-12-14"><sup class="versenum">14 </sup>The <span class="small-caps">Lord</span> replied to Moses, “If her father had spit in her face, would she not have been in disgrace for seven days? Confine her outside the camp for seven days; after that she can be brought back.”</span> <span id="en-NIV-4075" class="text Num-12-15"><sup class="versenum">15 </sup>So Miriam was confined outside the camp for seven days, and the people did not move on till she was brought back.</span></p></blockquote> <p>If you’ve ever been a woman reading the Bible, you might understand my frustration. There are a lot of things in the Bible that I’ve learned to deal with or explain away. The misogyny of Paul and the misogyny of Solomon and his harmful letters to his son about the nature of women being chief among them. My former pastor said that the Bible is not instructions for life because it’s not about us! It’s about telling us who God is. (Of course, that church was using Timothy and Titus to instruct women’s lives on whether we could be pastors/elders, but I digress). But Numbers 12 isn’t about men being misogynistic jerks. Numbers 12 is all God. <em>God</em> punishes Miriam alone. <em>God</em> admits to spitting in her face! <em>God</em> tells the people to banish Miriam outside the city for 7 days and to shame her and spare Aaron. God is…a misogynist?!</p> <p>It was too much. It was too untrue. My God loves me, desires me to be free from all oppression. My God would never spit in my face…right?! No wonder men treat women the way they do…it’s right there in the Bible that God did it first! No wonder men can’t really love women as equal people, God doesn’t love me as an equal person, either. I was in complete distress.</p> <p>I no longer had a church, I no longer had a pastor, so I ran to my co-worker, almost in tears. She let me borrow her copy of The Inclusive Bible, which is a Bible translation that removes sexist language from the Bible and provides commentary to help readers separate misogynistic culture from what principles we should know.</p> <p>But Numbers 12 still had the same result when I read it; the language wasn’t the sexist part, it was God’s action! So my sweet co-worker went a step further and contacted her Bible study teacher Lizzie who gave me this amazing insight:</p> <blockquote><p>First, Brooke, please know that you are not alone! You stand with so many faithful readers across time who have found objection to this portrayal of women, of priesthood, of justice and of God. Numbers 12 is notoriously “difficult.” An important side note is that this passage raises issues around race as well as gender (but that’s a discussion for another time).</p></blockquote> <blockquote><p><a href="https://twitter.com/WilGafney" target="_blank">Wil Gafney</a>, a womanist theologian [and Bible scholar], points out that in Numbers 12:15 the people refuse to leave Miriam behind in her affliction; the congregation does not continue to the Promised Land until the ‘gathering of Miriam.’ (This is on page 85 of <em>Daughters of Miriam: Women Prophets in Ancient Israel</em> by Wil Gafney.)</p></blockquote> <blockquote><p>When I read verse 12:15 ( “Miriam was shut out of camp seven days; and the people did not march on until Miriam was readmitted”) I see you, Brooke, as part of that congregation! You are standing by her!</p></blockquote> <blockquote><p>Also, it’s good to remember that Mary the mother of Jesus was not actually named Mary Her name was Miriam! She was named for this powerful prophet. So “Mary’s” parents clearly wanted her to continue in her tradition too! You stand with some wonderful and powerful people in our faith ancestry when you stand with Miriam.</p></blockquote> <blockquote><p>Many interpreters not only agree that it is unfair that Miriam is punished while Aaron is not they think the story is BS. They see in the discrepancy between Hebrew verbs and nouns that the story has been whitewashed in order to protect the priesthood! In the original tale, they believe, BOTH Aaron and Miriam are punished. But since Aaron is the source of authority for the men who wrote this version (Aaronide priests wrote certain texts in the Bible, and they claimed their authority by tracing their lineage to Aaron) they cannot allow Aaron to be portrayed as having a skin disease because that would make him “unpure” and not fit for priestly duties. (<em>see p. 52 of Women’s Bible Commentary, expanded edition. Newsom and Ringe, eds.</em>)</p></blockquote> <blockquote><p>So, if church authorities are interpreting the passage by siding with the unfair punishment of Miriam, perhaps that’s about maintaining authority too. Not so surprising, right?</p></blockquote> <blockquote><p>In <em>The Torah: A Women’s Commentary</em>, Beth Allpert Nakhai says plainly about this passage, “First of all, this reader is outraged.” She then goes on to say, “Upon reflection, though, this reader’s outrage is softened for there is much here that speaks to the power of women, even as it reflects unease about their authoritative voice…. At first, the story of snow-white Miriam seems a perfect example of a double standard, for God permits the brother independent thought but punishes the sister for the very same ideas and words. Still, the story is more than that, for it shows us how much all of Israel valued Miriam. Her brothers plead for her….And the people do not respond by abandoning this victim of God’s great anger. Rather they ‘did not march on until Miriam was readmitted’ seven days later, thus expressing their solidarity with the woman who in happier times led them in victory song and celebration.”</p></blockquote> <blockquote><p>In <em>Women’s Bible Commentary</em>, Katherine Doob Sakenfeld writes about Numbers and in looking at this story of Miriam she writes that the unfairness of Miriam’s punishment is never erased, no matter what interpretations help us see the larger truth. She goes on to write, “The lineage of Miriam is a lineage of generations of women who have been rejected or humiliated for doing exactly the same thing as their male counterparts. But the larger biblical tradition presents us with another face of God, beyond the face of the One who puts Miriam out. That other is the face of God who stands close to and defends those on the ‘outside,’ a God who has likewise been rejected, put outside, by people who thought they knew best. The starkness of Numbers 12 must not be undercut, but Miriam outside the camp may point us not only to the painful arbitrariness of her situation but also, however indirectly and allusively, to the suffering of God.”</p></blockquote> <blockquote><p>Thank you Brooke, for standing with this suffering too. But please know you are not alone in it! A large community both human and divine is gathered together.</p></blockquote> <p>I was so relieved to have this scholarly understanding of Miriam and these comfort-filling words from my co-worker’s teacher. I was so relieved to not feel alone! But most of all, this was confirmation. My God loves ME so incredibly that God sent me to my co-worker for comfort. My God loves ME so fiercely that God put it on my co-worker’s heart to reach out to her Bible study teacher on my behalf. God loves ME so much that Lizzie prepared this beautiful analysis to lift me from despair, to reveal God’s true nature to me: God loves ME, God loves ME, God loves ME!</p> <p>And if I still didn’t get it, my boss insisted I interview an author about a book called <em>Outlaw Christian</em>. I read it and had one of the best interviews of my life with the author, Jacqueline A. Bussie (I’ll post it, soon!). What struck me most was Jacqueline’s quote: “In order to really follow Jesus, we must stop following laws that destroy life.”</p> <p>Misogyny from the ancient Bible days destroyed life back then and it’s still destroying life right now in 2016. We don’t have to do it anymore.</p> <p>Jesus empowered women. Jesus revealed Himself to women. Jesus used women repeatedly to prophesy in His name when He was on earth and even today. So if your masculinity, if your manhood, depends on you subjugating women, it isn’t Christian. It’s your misogynist ego.</p> <p>Jesus came so that we could have life and life more abundantly. Jesus is life. Jesus is freedom. Jesus is love. So if our Christianity oppresses, if it destroys life, if it restricts freedom, if it puts up barriers to love, it isn’t Christianity at all.</p> <p>I found my God, and my God is NOT a misogynist oppressor. My people aren’t either. Now, we just have to go find each other.</p> ]]></content:encoded> <wfw:commentRss>http://www.brookeobie.com/districtdiva/is-god-a-misogynist-god-forbid/feed/</wfw:commentRss> <slash:comments>37</slash:comments> </item> <item> <title>#YouAreWrong The Amanda Seales Street Harassment CNN Remix [VIDEO]</title> <link>http://www.brookeobie.com/districtdiva/youarewrong-amanda-seales-cnn-street-harassment-remix-video/</link> <comments>http://www.brookeobie.com/districtdiva/youarewrong-amanda-seales-cnn-street-harassment-remix-video/#respond</comments> <pubDate>Thu, 06 Nov 2014 14:06:02 +0000</pubDate> <dc:creator><![CDATA[Brooke Obie]]></dc:creator> <category><![CDATA[The Usual Dithering]]></category> <category><![CDATA[#NotJustHello]]></category> <category><![CDATA[#YouOkSis]]></category> <category><![CDATA[Amanda Seales]]></category> <category><![CDATA[Carlesha Freeland-Gaither]]></category> <category><![CDATA[CNN]]></category> <category><![CDATA[Feminista Jones]]></category> <category><![CDATA[Fredericka Whitfield]]></category> <category><![CDATA[HollaBack]]></category> <category><![CDATA[Mary Spears]]></category> <category><![CDATA[Mikki Kendall]]></category> <category><![CDATA[misogynoir]]></category> <category><![CDATA[misogyny]]></category> <category><![CDATA[street harassment]]></category> <guid isPermaLink="false">http://www.districtdiva.com/?p=3498</guid> <description><![CDATA[There’s been much talk recently about that controversial street harassment video where a woman walks through New York City for 10 hours getting harassed and followed around by men. The controversy around the video stems from the fact that the people behind it edited out all of the White street]]></description> <content:encoded><![CDATA[<p>There’s been much talk recently about that controversial street harassment video where a woman walks through New York City for 10 hours getting harassed and followed around by men. The controversy around the video stems from the fact that the people behind it edited out all of the White street harassers to make it look like street harassment is a men of color-only problem, and the video featured a White woman, supporting the false <em>Birth-of-a-Nation</em> narrative of savage men of color prowling the streets in search of White women to harm.</p> <p>In fact, women of color and trans women have been speaking out against street harassment for ever, and recent viral campaigns like Feminista Jones’s “#<span style="text-decoration: underline"><strong><a href="http://thegrio.com/2014/08/02/youoksis-online-movement-launches-to-combat-street-harassment/" target="_blank">YouOkSis</a></strong></span>” and Mikki Kendall’s “#<span style="text-decoration: underline"><strong><a href="http://www.bustle.com/articles/46996-notjusthello-exposes-how-all-women-even-young-girls-are-vulnerable-to-street-harassment-and" target="_blank">NotJustHello</a></strong></span>” highlight the dangers that women of color face on a daily basis from street harassers who threaten women’s safety. These campaigns by women of color, however, have not risen to the level of attention the HollaBack! video has.</p> <p>Just yesterday, 22-year-old <span style="text-decoration: underline"><strong><a href="http://www.nbcphiladelphia.com/news/local/Abducted-Woman-Found-Alive-in-Maryland-Police-Source-281698261.html" target="_blank">Carlesha Freeland-Gaither</a></strong></span>, a Black woman, was found alive by the FBI after being kidnapped on the street three days ago. The horrifying kidnapping was captured on video and we see the assailant’s first gesture is to hold out his hand to her as if to “just say hello” before he drags her kicking and screaming to his car. And exactly a month ago, 27-year-old Mary Spears was <span style="text-decoration: underline"><strong><a href="http://www.clickondetroit.com/news/police-woman-shot-killed-by-man-she-rejected-at-detroit-hall/28976620" target="_blank">shot in the face and killed</a></strong></span> by a man on the street after she refused to give him her phone number.</p> <p>The consequences and dangers of street harassment on women and particularly women of color and trans women are real and they are terrifying. Street harassment is terrorism and a man’s feelings and ego are not more important than a woman’s safety. Men need to understand that women are just trying to get from point A to point B, we’re not looking for your “harmless compliments” on our bodies. (Check out Elon James’s #<span style="text-decoration: underline"><strong><a href="http://www.buzzfeed.com/rachelzarrell/dudes-greeting-dudes" target="_blank">DudesGreetingDudes</a></strong></span> campaign if you need to understand why, from a male point of view.) We didn’t do our hair for you. We didn’t wear this dress for you. WE DON’T KNOW YOU. And we don’t have to acknowledge your existence. So keep your distance.</p> <p>In case it’s not clear enough, the ever-amazing Amanda Seales made it very clear on a recent CNN interview about that viral street harassment video with Fredericka Whitfield and some clown “expert” street harasser. <span style="text-decoration: underline"><strong><a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-HI4DC18wCg" target="_blank">It’s epic</a></strong></span>. You should watch it. But also watch this fantastic musical remix of Seales’s appearance in case things need to be funny to make sense:</p> <p>#YouAreWrong: Amanda Seales CNN Remix, for your viewing pleasure:</p> ]]></content:encoded> <wfw:commentRss>http://www.brookeobie.com/districtdiva/youarewrong-amanda-seales-cnn-street-harassment-remix-video/feed/</wfw:commentRss> <slash:comments>0</slash:comments> </item> <item> <title>For My Good Brothers: The Ramifications of the Pseudo "Good Man" Shortage (Pt. 2)</title> <link>http://www.brookeobie.com/districtdiva/for-my-good-brothers-the-ramifications-of-the-pseudo-good-man-shortage-pt-2/</link> <comments>http://www.brookeobie.com/districtdiva/for-my-good-brothers-the-ramifications-of-the-pseudo-good-man-shortage-pt-2/#comments</comments> <pubDate>Mon, 07 Mar 2011 07:55:47 +0000</pubDate> <dc:creator><![CDATA[Brooke Obie]]></dc:creator> <category><![CDATA[The Usual Dithering]]></category> <category><![CDATA[brothers]]></category> <category><![CDATA[community]]></category> <category><![CDATA[destruction]]></category> <category><![CDATA[family]]></category> <category><![CDATA[healing]]></category> <category><![CDATA[misogyny]]></category> <category><![CDATA[paternalism]]></category> <category><![CDATA[relationships]]></category> <category><![CDATA[sexism]]></category> <category><![CDATA[sisters]]></category> <category><![CDATA[solution]]></category> <category><![CDATA[Steve Harvey]]></category> <category><![CDATA[success]]></category> <guid isPermaLink="false">http://www.dcdistrictdiva.com/?p=1639</guid> <description><![CDATA[When the conversation is focused solely on Black women’s issues, half of our community is neglected. A few weeks ago, I wrote “No Love: The Ramifications of the Pseudo ‘Good Man Shortage,'” in which I focused on how the good man shortage myth negatively impacts the way women treat each]]></description> <content:encoded><![CDATA[<p style="text-align: center"><em>When the conversation is focused solely on Black women’s issues, half of our community is neglected.</em></p> <p>A few weeks ago, I wrote “<a href="http://www.dcdistrictdiva.com/?p=1494">No Love: The Ramifications of the Pseudo ‘Good Man Shortage</a>,'” in which I focused on how the good man shortage myth negatively impacts the way women treat each other and ourselves. But after reading the latest “if- Black-women-would-only-change-we’d-all-be-better-off” male critiques, I’ve really had enough. I’ve provided the solution for my sisters in my last post,”‘<a href="http://www.dcdistrictdiva.com/?p=1624">I Will Wait for You,’ The Answer to the <em>Sweet Nothings </em>of Steve Harveyism</a>.” But now, it’s time to talk to my good brothers.</p> <p>I have heard many different men who provide relationship advice — from Steve Harvey to male bloggers– say that women buy the books, women comment on blogs, and women are the ones involved in relationship discussions, therefore, men who provide relationship advice are more likely to tailor it to women. I am asking you, my brothers, to not see the absence of men in these discussions as a call to cater to basically, the insecurities of women that patriarchy created in them in the first place. Instead, this can be your challenge: to use your platform to engage men and draw them into not only the discussions, but also the responsibility of maintaining relationships and achieving success in life. It is no longer acceptable to say that women are “socialized” to care about marriage and relationships more than men are — it’s time for men to reprogram themselves and each other to care about what’s going on with men, and what impact that is having on the community as a whole.</p> <p>Because, statistically, women are not the (only) problem! Black women are graduating from college at higher rates, are more financially stable, and are less likely to have criminal records. Without dismissing the systems that are in place that target Black men for failure, (which must be addressed through policy reform), Black men <em>must</em> step up and take responsibility for their role in the break down of relationships, family, and community. Perhaps due in large part to our acceptance of the fallacy that being “strong” (read: unhealthy) is our badge of honor, Black women have been unnecessarily shouldering the burden of the discussions and the fault for resulting community problems for far too long (i.e. “they’re <em>strong</em>, they can take it”). But as brothers who have dodged the traps set up to ensnare you, this is your opportunity to not only show the rest of your brothers the way, but to be introspective about the issues that you have in relationships and why they fail. Instead of dismissing relationship problems as the fault of “crazy women,” ask yourselves: why aren’t <em>we</em> marriage material? What are <em>we </em>doing wrong to break apart our unions, and to inject insurmountable levels of distrust in our relationships? How can <em>we </em>better communicate with our female counterparts to avoid the problems that arise as a result of men and women simply communicating in different ways?</p> <p>It would be easy to dismiss the idea of Black men willingly shedding their birthright of male privilege as nothing more than utopian fantasy. After all — like the token Black guy in upper-management — you derive great personal benefit from being seen as the “only one.” Let’s face it: this image of the Black college-educated man as a fleeting oasis in the desert allows you a false sense of superiority which is quite comforting. In your mind, you have the pick of the litter, with little to no Black male competition in both jobs and women. Why give that up? Instead, why not continue to perpetuate these harmful myths to women about what’s wrong with them, thereby: 1) keeping them chasing their tails trying to become “good enough,” “desirable enough,” and “acceptable enough,” to the Black men they desire who are making absolutely no changes in their own lives; and 2) solidifying the position of the college-educated Black man with no rap-sheet as a saint amongst men, instead of a person satisfying bare-minimum requirements.</p> <p>It is a lot to ask you to give these benefits up — but I don’t believe this is asking too much of you. In fact, if not for the extremely low standards society has set for you, we wouldn’t <em>need</em> to be having this discussion. So my standard for you is high. I believe you to be as good as you claim, and wise enough to understand that giving up your personal privilege will benefit you so much more in the end, because your community will benefit. Because you know that when your community thrives, <em>you </em>thrive, and when it is failing, <em>you </em>are failing. And in 2011, we are <a href="http://atlantapost.com/2011/02/09/8-important-statistics-that-black-america-should-pay-attention-to-now/"><em>all failing</em></a>:</p> <p style="padding-left: 30px"><span style="color: #888888">“Although blacks make up only 13.6 percent of the U.S. population, they account for 50.3 percent of all diagnosed cases of HIV….</span></p> <p style="padding-left: 30px"><span style="color: #888888">“The wealth disparity between white and black households has more than quadrupled, regardless of income bracket.” …<br /> </span></p> <p style="padding-left: 30px"><span style="color: #888888">“72 percent of black mothers are unwed which eclipses that of most other groups: 17 percent of Asians, 29 percent of whites, 53 percent of Hispanics and 66 percent of Native Americans.” </span></p> <p style="padding-left: 30px"><span style="color: #888888">“Nearly half of the nation’s African American students attend high schools in low-income areas with dropout rates that hover in the 40-50% range.” </span></p> <p style="padding-left: 30px"><span style="color: #888888">“Fewer than half of the black students who enroll in college graduate from four-year institutions within six years…”</span></p> <p style="padding-left: 30px"><span style="color: #888888">“The racial composition of the US prison and jail population as of 2008 was <strong>60.21% (African American (non-Hispanic)</strong>…”</span></p> <p style="padding-left: 30px"><span style="color: #888888"><strong>24.7% of all African-Americans live in poverty</strong> in comparison to 8.6% of all non-Hispanic White, 11.8% of all Asian-American and 23.2% of all Hispanic.” </span></p> <p style="padding-left: 30px"><span style="color: #888888">“The current unemployment rate among blacks hovering around<strong> 16 percent</strong>, although the economy as a whole has shown some improvement.</span></p> <p>These are <em>our</em> problems. This is <em>our</em> community that is suffering, and we each need to take ownership of these issues.</p> <p>To be clear, I’m not saying that men should be absent from women’s discussions entirely. Just like every child, we need the voice, love, and guidance of both mama and daddy. What I <em>am</em> saying, is that you should not be dominating conversations about Black women and shaping the narrative of who we are and who we ought to be. Not when there is so much of your influence that is needed for our brothers.</p> <p>I know that there are many of you out here already dedicating your lives to working with our young brothers. I’ve just profiled such a brother– <a href="http://www.dcdistrictdiva.com/?p=1512">Wes Moore</a> — aptly as “The Archetype” for doing just that. But we need even more brothers to champion this cause and to advocate for our young brothers. Prove me right, that there is no “good man” shortage. Put down your swords that cut up the Black woman into who you think we ought to be. Instead, let it plunge deep into your souls to cut out the cancer of sexism, paternalism, and privilege that is killing your introspection and stifling your growth as individuals and our healing as a community.</p> <p>And as we have throughout history, you know your sisters will have your back.</p> <p><a href="http://www.dcdistrictdiva.com/wp-content/uploads/2011/03/back.jpg"><img class="alignleft size-full wp-image-1647" title="back" alt="" src="http://www.dcdistrictdiva.com/wp-content/uploads/2011/03/back.jpg" width="261" height="393" /></a></p> <p style="text-align: left"><a href="http://www.dcdistrictdiva.com/wp-content/uploads/2011/03/barack_michelle-back.jpg"><img class="size-full wp-image-1641 aligncenter" title="barack_michelle back" alt="" src="http://www.dcdistrictdiva.com/wp-content/uploads/2011/03/barack_michelle-back.jpg" width="405" height="364" /></a>Agape,</p> <p style="text-align: left">DC District Diva</p> <p style="text-align: left"><strong><em>Follow DCDistrictDiva on <a href="http://www.twitter.com/dcdistrictdiva">Twitter</a>. Become a fan of “The Dithering of a District Diva” on <a href="http://www.facebook.com/pages/Washington-DC/The-Dithering-of-a-District-Diva/278238466531?ref=ts">Facebook</a>.</em></strong></p> ]]></content:encoded> <wfw:commentRss>http://www.brookeobie.com/districtdiva/for-my-good-brothers-the-ramifications-of-the-pseudo-good-man-shortage-pt-2/feed/</wfw:commentRss> <slash:comments>3</slash:comments> </item> </channel> </rss>