There is a book, “Daughters of Dignity” by Laverne McCain Gill, that you need to read. This book seeks to identify our virtues, traces our roots, and presents biblical and theological foundations to validate the experiences of the African American woman. Gill shares how figures such as historical and contemporary role models such as Sojourner Truth and Rosa Parks embody these virtues.
Finally, she gives suggestions for self-evaluation and narratives on contemporary programs to successfully reestablish an ethic of Black womanhood in the community.
How many of you are like me and change the channel when you see television programs or movies that show us in such a negative connotation? Or are you the opposite — you live in communities where you rarely, if ever, see an African American? How can you know our experiences, good or bad?
How many of our men are in prison here in America? It is a modern-day Jim Crow era. This leaves so many millions of Black women without spouses. I remember when Les Brown went to Lorton back in the mid-’90s while he was here in Washington, hosting “The Les Brown Morning Show” on Radio One. Les was my mentor, as l trained with other speakers-in-training. One day Mr. Brown invited me to co-host his morning show (yep, even before I got my own show, I served as co-host with Les Brown several times). When his partner was unable to be there, as if he could see me as a radio personality in the future, he invited me to co-host with him!
Great experience! After the show was over, Mr. Brown had a speaking engagement at Lorton Prison, in Lorton, Virginia. His Town Car came to pick us up. I was excited to ride in the limo with someone as famous as Mr. Brown, one of the world’s top motivational speakers. What stood out most for me was that when we went inside, management took me to the stage along with Mr. Brown. As I looked out into the audience, l remember seeing wonderful, good-looking African American men. They reminded me of my brothers, my uncles and my father. It was that very moment that I thought to myself “So this is where all the Black men are!” No wonder 70 percent of African American women are single.
A Dec. 16, 2017, HuffPost article, “The Black Male Incarceration Problem Is Real and Its Catastrophic,” cited the following statistic: “To give a lens for viewing this data India is a country of 1.2 billion people, the country in total only has around 380,000 prisoners. In fact, there are more African American men incarcerated in the U.S. than the total prison populations in India, Argentina, Canada, Lebanon, Japan, Germany, Finland, Israel and England combined.”
Police can lock our men and throw away the key; prison is a moneymaker for them, that’s another article I plan to write about. Yet Black women are suffering with children who mostly are from single-headed households as a result. We find these women working two or more jobs, trying to make ends meet. Yet poor African American women are portrayed in such a negative light! Wonder what would be said if the TV producers could walk a mile in our shoes!
African American women must be seen as successful, because so many of us are! We are often portrayed by the media as pregnant, promiscuous, poverty-stricken, welfare cases, or prostitutes, yet there needs to be more movies showing us as successful businesswomen, news reporters, attorneys, doctors, airplane pilots, teachers, and the list goes on and on. We are everywhere, working in “good” jobs, as they say. How do we continue to erase some of these hurtful and inaccurate stereotypes to reclaim a connection with our true selves? As a journalist, I’m doing all I can to show my sisters in a positive light, because there are so many of us!
How many of us know that we are queens and that our strength, courage and faith propels generations of our foremothers into a world supported by justice, love, faith, wisdom and perseverance? All are virtues that empower us to raise strong families and have productive careers.
Lyndia Grant is a speaker/writer living in the D.C. area. Her radio show, “Think on These Things,” airs Fridays at 6 p.m. on 1340 AM (WYCB), a Radio One station. To reach Grant, visit her website, www.lyndiagrant.com, email lyndiagrantshowdc@gmail.com or call 240-602-6295. Follow her on Twitter @LyndiaGrant and on Facebook.
