Selfie Portrait Performance

 

A Collage of Black Women in my Performance

    For my performance, I chose to talk about the lack of racial and gender equality for black women. In my video, I use a fraction of the black women that have been killed from police brutality, black women artists who display their experiences, black women who have made history, and clips from my friends. Black women face race and gender oppression in America, and as a black woman, this affects who I am. In this class, we discussed how men are the targeted audience and the effects of the patriarchy. We also discussed how black women are inserting themselves into media to share their personal expiernces. Men tend to get more benefits because of their gender. Black men face the oppressions of racism, but not gender because they are male. White women face gender equality, but gain the benefits of being white. Black women are often forgotten or looked over.  

    Black men who were victims of police brutality, women do not get the same media attention for justice to be brought to them. In my search for black women victims of police brutality, I noticed their names are rarely in the title of their reports, sometimes their pictures are not in the news reports, the police who murder them receive very minimal consequences if any, and even years after their deaths, their families are still looking for justice. In our reading, “The Oppositional Gaze”, black women are taking charge and making efforts to change how their stories are represented in the media. Black women are fighting for other black women who are victims that go unnoticed. The #SayHerName was created to bring attention to the many black women who were victims of police brutality and have not received justice. Last summer, Black women had to push to get attention for Breonna Taylor, so the police that murdered her could be brought to justice. A year has passed, and no officer has been charged for her murder. This hashtag still exists in efforts of getting the officers involved charged for her murder.

    Many outsiders may view these tragic events as being uncommon occurrences, but incidents like these occur everywhere in the life of black women. Issues such as these affect many black women around the United States.  Black women being forgotten or pushed aside. These hashtags and organizations are often made by black women, for black women. Movements that are made for gender equality rarely cater to us and movements for racial equality push us to the back. Black women in the workforce are overlooked and passed over for promotions. Black women who are artists make their own spaces to portray their experience as black women. Mickalene Thomas is an example of this, “By portraying real women with their own unique history, beauty, and background, I’m working to diversify the representations of black women in art”. Actresses such as Viola Davis also acknowledged that the roles for black women are not there. If roles for black women aren't there it is hard for black actresses to find roles, get recognition, and achieve rewards like other actresses and actors. It is important to have women such as, Shonda Rhimes who is a television producer and screenwriter that has helped bring the personal experience of a black woman to television and help break stereotypes. Scripts for shows such as Scandal and How to Get Away with Murder help diversify the media's views on roles that black actresses can play. These scripts also open opportunities for black women that were not there before. We are women so we get overlooked by men because of the patriarchy and we are black so we are overlooked due to racism and prejudice. Seeing black women get mistreated and tossed to the side affects how other black women view themselves. Growing up I was always told, “You have to be twice as good as them to get half of what they have”. These events shape how many black women are raised, because it is present throughout our childhood. Our mothers, aunts, and grandmothers have all had the black woman experience and we are taught from a young age how to deal with it. The spaces that black women are creating for other black women in efforts to change the media's stereotypes can change how future generations of black women view themselves and boost them to aim for higher goals.   

    Even in major feminist movements, black women are forgotten. The concept of feminism applies mostly to white women. The Oppositional Gaze also references this, “Many feminist film critics continue to structure their discourse as though it speaks about “women” when in actuality it speaks only about white women” (123). The fight for equal gender pay applies mostly to white women, considering that black women and other women of color make less than white women. Feminist movies that are made cater mostly to a white woman audience. These feminist movements that are supposed to cater to women's rights and equality overlook many women that are not white. A black woman created the term “Womanism” for black women and other women of color who are forgotten and overlooked by white feminists. Black women create spaces so they can share their personal experience, that rejects how they are misrepresented, forgotten, and overlooked in media. Being a black woman is a unique experience, that can only be explained by black women. I have included the forgotten black women, black women who share their personal experiences, and black women who have overcome many obstacles to achieve their success and inspire many young black women around the world. 

“Although its painted images ate two-dimensional, its potential of illusionism if far greater than that of a sculpture, for it can suggest objects possessing color, texture, and temperature, filling a space and by, implication, filling the entire world” (89).

“That the poor are happy, and that the better- off are a source of hope fr the world” (104).