In American media black women are most often painted as angry black women. This stereotype has its roots in the slave stereotype Sapphire. The Sapphire stereotype was made to disempower and belittle black women. Sapphire is loud, obnoxious, immasculating, volatile, rude, and angry. This story persists in many different ways in today's media and harms black women in a multitude of ways. Not only does it increase fear of black people by showcasing black women as angry and unbalanced but it takes away the voice of black women. By seeing black women as perpetually angry we ignore the righteous cause behind real anger. Black women's indignation is effectively disregarded. We see this in today's media all the time and Nicki Minaj is a prime example. After the MTV VMA nominations were released Nicki Minaj voiced her opinion on the way black women were not receiving the recognition that they deserve. Many white celebrities had different things to say about Nicki's tweets but Miley Cyrus in particular commented that Nicki ought not be so angry about it. The problem with this comment is it is based in the idea that a person who is being oppressed ought to appeal to their oppressors sensibilities in order to be heard. If this were true black people wouldn't have been slaves so long. The idea that if people were just nice when they were angry about oppression is not only privileged and insulting but it devalues the feelings of those facing oppression. Nicki Minaj and other black women have every right to be angry about systemic oppression. Black women do not need other people telling them to be kind when they are upset, rather their anger ought to be recognized and valued and this cannot happen if we see black women's anger as trivial.
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