As black women in America what has been said to be our #1 priority?
PROTECTING BLACK MEN
As black women, everyone expects us to be responsible for making sure our black men prosper ahead of us. They expect us to be such “strong black women”. No, I am not telling you this is right, but this is the truth. Some women are even told to look at black men as kings, heads of the house, and sometimes even gods. I have a younger brother and I remember even at the age of 10 I was told to always make sure my younger brother was safe, protected, etc. Yet, he was never told this when it came to me and we’re only 2 years apart. So our black men haven’t been flourishing and prospering when it comes to their health. Black women, is this really our fault?
Dr. Jerry Kennard is a psychologist and associate fellow of the British Psychological Society. He recently wrote an article on ‘Verywellhealth’ titled “Health Statistics for Black American Men”. Dr.Kennard says “Black men in the United States suffer worse health than any other racial group in America.” Which a lot of us know to be true, but a question always asked is WHY?
Black men have the highest death rate and lowest life expectancy (72.9 years old) in the world! This is not only due to crime, drugs, but most importantly health care. Black men have always been violated when it comes to health care. Starting with the Tuskegee Experiment where The U.S. Public Health Service tricked 600 low-income, black men, into a study and gave them syphilis where most of the men and their family members who the disease was passed on to died.
10 Leading causes of death of black men (2019)
https://www.verywellhealth.com/black-american-mens-health-2328772
- Heart disease (23.7% of total deaths)
- Cancer (20.2%)
- Unintentional injuries (7.9%)
- Homicide (5.0%)
- Stroke (4.9%)
- Diabetes (4.3%)
- Chronic lower respiratory diseases (3.2%)
- Kidney disease (2.6%)
- Septicemia (1.8%)
- Hypertension (1.6%)
To this day Black men do not trust the health care system in America, but could you blame them? Austin Frakt, an associate professor at Boston University’s School of Public Health suggests that “one-third of the black-white gap in male life expectancy in the immediate aftermath of the study could be attributed to the legacy of distrust connected to the Tuskegee study.”. Personally, I’ve rarely seen black men around me even attempt to go to the hospital, or doctor, or even take a lick of medicine. Some people will put the fault on black women and say we aren’t “taking care of black men as we should” or “Black women are too independent”. . I’ve seen this excuse plenty of times online. Black men claim this is why they date outside of their race.
@FaitthB on Twitter: “Pull up for Black women not just when you need us. Show us respect, love, and adoration. Stop saying we are too ghetto, not submissive enough, too independent, etc. You are just missing out and showing your ignorance.”
Black men are often intimidated by us or were seen as “too serious” and not fun. Who has time for fun though when we’re constantly fighting to make a name for ourselves, protect ourselves, or take care of our responsibilities? Even as young as 5 years old young black girls are raised to be so mature and submissive while young black boys are taught to “just be boys”. Yet, we as women are pushed to take care of black men.
Has anyone ever thought of who’s going to take care of us?
ShoutOut! James Madison University 