On July 22, 2020, Tory Lorenz shot Megan Thee Stallion twice in the foot while she was exiting his car. This is a Black Man shooting bullets into a Black Woman’s body. Megan dances. Her feet are as important to her livelihood as a surgeon’s hands.
Black Men hurting Black Women, beating, raping, shooting—even killing us didn’t just start. It’s been here since Reconstruction.
Violence against Black Women has been tolerated due to social systems that have kept Black Women dependent on Black Men in a myriad of ways: financially, familial/racial/cultural loyalty, and low self-value. We have been trained to forgive.
We’ve been rewarded for being able to “take a hit.
We’ve been socially punished for speaking up with being ostracized, shamed, or told we brought it on our selves.
All of this positioning to justify violence against Black Women is the same justification used during Slavery to justify it. Black Masculinity in North America was born in the rotten belly of White Supremacy. Simply put: Black Men do you as what White Supremacy did him.