Jezebels, Sapphires, and Mammys

So which one are you? You've got three to choose from: you can either be Sapphire the rude overbearing bitchy, loud and malicious black woman or you can be Jezebel an over sexualized promiscuous whore and last but not least you have the choice of being Mammy, a domesticated and nurturing "yes-a-mam" woman. Jezebel, Mammy and Sapphire once prominent caricatures since the time of slavery are now real life breathing characters within our society. Despite being an age old topic of discussion within the black community; if ever the discussion was needed along with a solution to the problem, now is the time.

After reading a blurb on  Coco and Creme's online magazine about the depiction of black women’s bodies and sharing the link on facebook, a friends response was that the article was a little too vague, which I had to agree with. I'd like to give the writer the benefit of the doubt (it is an age old issue) however with a topic such as this its not to be taken lightly and have the surface of it just touched. Thinking about the state of black women today it dawned on me that despite trying to disprove these stereotypes about us we have in fact brought into and now embody the abovementioned caricatures. For each of the three caricatures I can give many examples of black women who have in fact materialized into these caricatures.

Thank You Aaron McGruder

In light of all the propaganda relating to black women from being lazy, obese and prone to disease and allegedly the last to get married, I was more than thrilled to watch the latest episode of Aaron McGruder's "The Boondocks". Tending to step on toes and as some would say airing our dirty laundry while having his audience in an uproar at times, McGruder brought justice to the soiled reputation of black women in America. Disregarding Americas doctrines as it pertains to black women, McGruder spoke for the women who are tired of the ill fortuned promulgations through his depiction of Ebony Brown. McGruder brought life to what the media chooses not to barrage its audience members with, the exact opposite in fact- hard working, healthy, educated black women who play an active role in their community yet are not independent of good quality men. Thank You Aaron McGruder.