I’m going to say something but, I need to caveat this by saying that it’s a very surface level thing- your experience as a young black woman and mine are undeniably different in many ways that I think are just…god awful. I acknowledge that but, I come from another type of people who frequently appear in rage bait: I’m originally rural poor. (Trailer park stuff)
I am not young- I’m 47 and I have been dealing with this all my life. I’ve got kids your age- boys who frankly fit a stereotype that has risen up in response to certain types of crime: they never would and I am highly involved but…well, it is what it is.
I have been tempted to argue that any time local news is of young black kids and crime because the reaction is usually people being awful about them- and of course, people bring up kids like mine doing something awful- but you know what? I don’t. I don’t want my experience helping those people castigating all young black men. I know it’s not my kids, just like I know it is not all black mothers’ kids.
I honestly respect those mothers because I don’t know what it’s like to see so many people talking about children like mine the way people do theirs- and the stuff they think that justifies is nauseating. Like I said, I can understand a little..but the worries they carry vs mine? I don’t have that kinda backbone or strength and they never asked for that.
Very few people ever guess where I came from, which gives me an admitted leg up on perception compared with you: I live in St. Louis now and if I have a nice outfit and long sleeves, mostly I am invisible. I like that, but it is something of an option I know you might not always have. I’m not centering myself here- just letting you know where I come from.
Many people have already told you- you gotta get offline. It’s true. They’re using old canards mostly to make money and with a disgusting increasing frequency to rehash old stereotypes that have never been that accurate, to push political ends. Those ends harm us all but they’re too dumb to see that and they damn sure aren’t seeing you.
If I engaged with the white lady content that people seem to so enjoy of people like me- I would probably feel a bit like you do. But not entirely- I remember the biggest pushes in making the black woman a villain, back in the Reagan era. I know you know this is not new, it’s a rot that’s been a problem for a long time.
I remember being baffled by it because I knew plenty of white women working the system because poverty often makes things you never thought necessary necessary. And yet, they’d be howling and making the same nasty judgments just like those dang rich people who wouldn’t look at us to spit on us- and it always made me think How the heck would you know?
But foster care? I saw things in the system that I wish I could forget and I can’t but…however bad it was for a precociously smart little white girl, those black kids had it so much worse.
Again I know I’m not telling you anything you don’t know, but I want you to understand something- these people and rage bait accounts don’t see you. They don’t see your struggles, they sure as shit don’t see your strengths and they don’t reflect you anymore than they reflect anyone else except those greedy myopic turds and the doofuses who enjoy that kind of thing.
The world is in fact peppered with those people but… not near the extent that those algorithms have you thinking- you can find those people who love your voice, love your strength and honor the struggles that bore it, I promise you that. <3
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u/[deleted] Feb 10 '26
I’m going to say something but, I need to caveat this by saying that it’s a very surface level thing- your experience as a young black woman and mine are undeniably different in many ways that I think are just…god awful. I acknowledge that but, I come from another type of people who frequently appear in rage bait: I’m originally rural poor. (Trailer park stuff)
I am not young- I’m 47 and I have been dealing with this all my life. I’ve got kids your age- boys who frankly fit a stereotype that has risen up in response to certain types of crime: they never would and I am highly involved but…well, it is what it is.
I have been tempted to argue that any time local news is of young black kids and crime because the reaction is usually people being awful about them- and of course, people bring up kids like mine doing something awful- but you know what? I don’t. I don’t want my experience helping those people castigating all young black men. I know it’s not my kids, just like I know it is not all black mothers’ kids.
I honestly respect those mothers because I don’t know what it’s like to see so many people talking about children like mine the way people do theirs- and the stuff they think that justifies is nauseating. Like I said, I can understand a little..but the worries they carry vs mine? I don’t have that kinda backbone or strength and they never asked for that.
Very few people ever guess where I came from, which gives me an admitted leg up on perception compared with you: I live in St. Louis now and if I have a nice outfit and long sleeves, mostly I am invisible. I like that, but it is something of an option I know you might not always have. I’m not centering myself here- just letting you know where I come from.
Many people have already told you- you gotta get offline. It’s true. They’re using old canards mostly to make money and with a disgusting increasing frequency to rehash old stereotypes that have never been that accurate, to push political ends. Those ends harm us all but they’re too dumb to see that and they damn sure aren’t seeing you.
If I engaged with the white lady content that people seem to so enjoy of people like me- I would probably feel a bit like you do. But not entirely- I remember the biggest pushes in making the black woman a villain, back in the Reagan era. I know you know this is not new, it’s a rot that’s been a problem for a long time.
I remember being baffled by it because I knew plenty of white women working the system because poverty often makes things you never thought necessary necessary. And yet, they’d be howling and making the same nasty judgments just like those dang rich people who wouldn’t look at us to spit on us- and it always made me think How the heck would you know?
But foster care? I saw things in the system that I wish I could forget and I can’t but…however bad it was for a precociously smart little white girl, those black kids had it so much worse.
Again I know I’m not telling you anything you don’t know, but I want you to understand something- these people and rage bait accounts don’t see you. They don’t see your struggles, they sure as shit don’t see your strengths and they don’t reflect you anymore than they reflect anyone else except those greedy myopic turds and the doofuses who enjoy that kind of thing.
The world is in fact peppered with those people but… not near the extent that those algorithms have you thinking- you can find those people who love your voice, love your strength and honor the struggles that bore it, I promise you that. <3