One sure way to raise the hackles of both black and white misogynists — not to mention a substantial percentage of men who wear their collars turned backwards — is to give the American black woman the due praise she so roundly deserves. Indeed, the trials, troubles and tribulations she has suffered these past 400 years (and done so with a magnificent dignity and erectness, I might add) has annealed her soul, yet she has emerged — perhaps bruised, battered and scarred — unbowed and unbroken.
This is not to denigrate the role of black men in the uplifting of the race, but to simply acknowledge the biological truths discovered by Charles Darwin and set forth in his seminal work, The Origins of Species. To wit: While it’s the role of the male of the species — be they lions, tigers or bears (and also humans) — to spread their seed as far and wide as possible in order to propagate said species and to aid in providing food and protection to their mate and offspring, nature leaves the nest or lair and tending to the offspring to the female.
Enslavement, however, turned the natural order of things on its head. The most damning aspect of the diabolical institution was that it only allowed the black male to sow the seed, and prevented him from carrying out the other duties of fatherhood. Indeed, how could a man teach his son to be a man when he had to bow down and scrape in front of another man with a whip in his hand?
This artificial construct of family that was enforced for hundreds of years forced the black woman into a role she neither asked for nor desired. She too, like all other living, breathing species, wanted and needed the help and assistance of her mate, but was summarily denied such comfort, in large part due to many slavemasters considering it was their right to have sexual congress with the enslaved black woman whenever he so desired. To do he had to keep her mate completely subjugated.
Faced with this set of daunting and unfamiliar circumstances (since virtually all African cultures are patriarchal not matriarchal), the black woman instinctively knew that if her people were going to survive this ordeal not of their making, she was going to have to lift the race upon her broad shoulders and carry it for. She didn’t know for how long, but for forever if necessary. Know this: no matter how hard the challenges, how dark the path, how deep the despair … the proud black woman was going to be equal to whatever was put on her strong back. Failure was never an option.
So if she’s sometimes comes off “angry” she damn sure has a right to be!
Nonetheless, some black men are upset at black women, often accusing them of being domineering and of reveling in the fact white society often give them access to resources and opportunities denied to the males of the race. And while it can’t be denied that a few black women are confused by the power dynamic and become overbearing, even those are simply testing, attempting to find a truly strong black male for a mate.
The black woman is tired, and rightly so. She has shouldered this burden — oftentimes completely alone — for too long now. I believe that what she is looking for is a strong black man to make her his Queen, and in return she’ll gladly make him her King.
From CoolCleveland correspondent Mansfield B. Frazier mansfieldfATgmail.com. Frazier’s From Behind The Wall: Commentary on Crime, Punishment, Race and the Underclass by a Prison Inmate is available in hardback. Snag your copy and have it signed by the author at http://NeighborhoodSolutionsIn