Angry

By Leah Hazelwood

I am not allowed to be angry

I cannot perpetuate that trope

I am not allowed to be angry

My emotions must walk along a tightrope

I am not allowed to be angry

But I am

You see, this stereotype of the “angry black woman” has existed since the Jim Crow era and persist today. Characteristics attached to black womanhood that were formulated to further marginalize a population post slavery. I have been tiptoeing around this trope for as long as I can remember and to this day, I act in a certain matter to avoid being labelled “the angry black woman” but I am angry, and I have every right to be

I am angry that you think you can touch my hair without my permission

I am angry that you call gentrification “urban renewal”

I am angry that you belittle my accomplishments by acting as if I am just filling a quota

I am angry that I am not allowed to say no

I am angry that I am looked to as the sole representative for blackness and black womanhood

I am angry that my passion is seen as “too intense” but the equal passion of my peers is seen as “zeal”

I am angry because the rhetoric that exist in the media continues to promote this narrative

And most of all, I am angry that I am scared to write this

Leah Hazelwood is a McConnell Scholar in the Class of 2022. She is studying political science, marketing, race and gender studies, and Spanish at the University of Louisville.