Creatively Resist
Respectability is killing people of color. Respectability is killing women of color. Respectability is killing queer people of color. Respectability is killing disabled people of color. Respectability is killing poor people of color. And the way we suffer to conform to the image of someone or something we will never be is not, and never will be, redemptive.
Read MoreBoth men and women of color experience racial hostility in the workplace. So, many black and brown men will probably relate to much of what I will say in the forthcoming paragraphs. I hope that men of color will confidently share your experiences in the workplace after you read this post! However, women of color suffer a double portion of that hostility because of our race and gender.
Read MoreIn this first part of my respectability series, I will talk about the power of language and the type of words I refuse to reclaim or accept. As a black woman, I fail to understand why I must change fundamental parts of who I am to conform to society while society makes no attempts to receive me.
Read MoreThis month, the I Am Free Agent blog will focus on the concept of Respectability Politics and the impact of Respectability Politics on black women in America. Respectability politics are about regulating life to the standards of the most privileged people in white America. The Politics of Respectability regulate sexual practices, family planning, cleanliness and order, education level, and public decorum. No group can avoid the scrutiny. The Politics of Respectability make life restrictive for women, regardless of race, but they make life doubly difficult for women of color. And, they make life triply, perhaps even quadruply difficult for women if they are, say, disabled or have non-normative sexual preferences.
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