Discrediting Black Women

For the past week or so, my TikTok For You page has been somewhat flooded with women randomly being hit or assaulted while walking in New York City. There isn’t an exact known reasoning for why this is happening, not that any reason would excuse a person being assaulted. Other than I believe one of the women, all of the ones I have seen being punched are young white women.

This was until I saw a video by the username “jesslovesblueberrybagels” who had made a video discussing the horror that was going on. In her video she talks about how she had previously posted a TikTok on February 15th, 2024 saying how a man swung at her, hit her kindle, and spat at her. The majority of the responses she got were people calling her slurs, saying “the man should’ve had better aim”, or even telling her the man should have sexually assaulted her.

In the creators follow up video, she mentions how after watching the videos of the other (white) women being assaulted, she realizes one of the two men committing the acts of violence is the same one who had assaulted her. She also says how she had looked at the comments of those women’s videos and the sections are simply so DRASTICALLY different.

The 2 photos on the top were comments under a video of a blonde haired, white woman who had been the first women to gain traction on her video about being punched. The bottom 2 photos are the comments on “jesslovesblueberrybagels” original post about being assaulted.

This leads me to the topic of how people either A.) don’t care when something like this happens to Black women, or B.) don’t believe Black women. 

I would like to preface by saying absolutely NO women, no matter the color of their skin, deserve to be assaulted. This is not to discredit the experience these other women have had.

Until I saw the video of “jesslovesblueberrybagels” talking about the response she got to her posting about being assaulted, I had never watched the original video. I did however get at least 5 of the white women’s videos on my For You Page. I also saw videos from news outlets as big as CNN posting about what was happening, along with videos saying specifically white women were being attacked in New York City. The thing is though, clearly it wasn’t just white women being attacked. This young Black woman was assaulted over a month ago by the SAME MAN, and nobody cared enough to talk about it. 

A professor by the name of Ashleigh Shelby Rosette at Duke University did research on why white women are more likely to be believed over Black women and she says, “Black women are not the prototype for gender discrimination – white women are”. Even when women were fighting for equal rights, it was equal rights for WHITE women, not women of color. 

I have known for the majority of my life that I would have to be a little stronger than other girls due to the color of my skin. I knew I’d have to watch how I spoke or how I acted, and that I would always have to work a little harder than others because I will always be starting a few steps behind. However, me being strong shouldn’t be an excuse to discredit what I’ve gone through. That young Black woman shouldn’t have to be crying on the internet over the fact people would probably believe her more if she was white.

In this society, it is very easy for people to overlook or disrespect Black women. Realistically, who is going to come to their defense besides other Black women? It is always attention seeking, or lying, or the Black woman started it. When you’re Black woman in America, you’re damned if you do, and you’re damned if you don’t. How about not damning anyone at all?

It is hard enough being a woman. Then you add being a woman of color into it and things only worsen. With all of the aggression and hate towards Black women in this country, why are we as a society not doing something to look out for them more? Why are we ignoring the problem? Black women need to be protected and validated, and not only AFTER they call you out for your ignorance or insolence. 

The only people consistently defending Black women are other Black women and let me tell you, we are TIRED. I am TIRED. It is exhausting having to choose whether it’s worth it enough to make a fuss on being mistreated or not, and risking only making the issue worse for ourselves. That shouldn’t even be a choice we have to make. If a Black woman is wronged, that is how it should be. Point blank period. You can’t choose who is right or wrong based on how they look or the color of their skin. 

A lot of White people live in a bubble of privilege. A White woman can complain about something, and more than likely, there will be a change. It is time for that bubble to be popped or extended. If you can use your voice to validate someone or defend someone, then do it, and I don’t mean just for people who look like you. Black women need help, and society needs to step up.