- [Narrator] Something that Jane said
about the angry black woman,
and who are the black women you see
on the local news at night in cities all over the country?
They're usually angry about something.
(mournful dramatic music)
- [Woman] The most disrespected person in America
is the black woman.
The most unprotected person in America is the black woman.
The most neglected person in America is the black woman.
- I think about all that black women do for society
and how the thank you that we get
is just constant disrespect, how we're not protected,
how we're sexualized and fetishized in the media,
how it's kind of like we're abandoned.
- Society does not have a black woman's back.
Like she didn't even do anything.
She just was being black.
- When you're born and you're born a woman,
you already have one thing stacked against you.
You're born, you're a black woman,
you have both of those things stacked against you?
You just have to work hard as fuck
and there's no system in place to help you thrive.
- It's really sad to think about how young it is
that we all internalize those things.
I may not have had the words for it,
but I knew that I wasn't going to be accepted
being a 4C, dark-skinned, thick black girl.
Like, I just knew that.
- People in elementary school who would
call me a monkey or something like that,
and it's sad that we like to think
that we've come so far but we haven't.
- It's mind boggling, the fact that black people in general,
and then also black women are
still being compared to animals.
- I feel like I'm a very strong person,
but I'm always afraid to show that I am too strong
because I'm always afraid that
it will play into that stereotype
and, all of a sudden, I'll be looked at as masculine
because of these stereotypes that are put upon black women.
- Black women should be quiet and to themselves
and sort of have their heads down
and just like kind of try and blend in.
You are not allowed to be a bigger woman,
tall and also stand up tall and be confident.
It's just not allowed.
The thing that makes me most angry is the fact that
I feel like no one really has my back
except other black women.
It's really tough to feel alone
in a fight to be seen as equal and just as successful
and just as amazing as anyone else.
- The variety of black women is really important in media
because we are seen as only one thing,
and that's sassy or we have too much attitude
and we can never be anything else without that.
There's no such thing as an angry black woman
but a black woman who happens to be angry.
- I'm gonna do everything that I can to then channel
that very deep pit of anger that I have into something
to show you that that's not who I am,
that's not who I've ever been,
that's not who Leslie is, that's not who Michelle Obama is.
Like, I get that that bullshit is out there,
so I'm like what can I do with my work,
with my art to change that, to change the narrative,
to tell people that we're more than this.
- For the young black girl out there,
I would say think about all the things
that we contribute everyday to society
and how we built this country on our backs.
Like, we did it, so think about how,
even though that's a tragedy,
think about how awesome we are.
Like, all the shit that we have gone through,
we still win the gold medal.
I mean, come on. (laughs)
- You are worthy, you are beautiful,
and no one gets to take that away from you.
Like, the minute that you let somebody else dictate
who you are and your beauty,
you've already given that to them.
You don't get my worth, it's my worth. (laughs)
- Just because someone lays down rules of what is beautiful,
that doesn't mean that you have to agree with that.
- I think that it is important though
that when you are feeling that intensely
about any kind of injustice or some kind of, you know,
people belittling you for something
that you don't deserve to be belittled for,
it is important to be in that moment when you feel it,
but then I don't wanna live in it.