Oct 31, 2022
3 min read
Every Month is Male Discomfort Awareness Month
Domestic Violence Awareness & Breast Cancer Awareness are in October But….
There are calls in various segments of communities of all colors to rally around Kanye West. To take on the consequences that he is facing for his consistent disregard for others over the years as a social justice cause.
This call being made to Black women and Black girls is never late. Even with my entire family & friend circle being fully aware of my experiences with violence & rape going back to my childhood AND the work I’ve been dedicated to for nearly 30 years now. I get this “call” too. Probably always will.
FACT: There are still statues and memorials to confederate soldiers and other people who tortured entire groups of people.
This is true. This is wrong. This is still violent and abusive, especially to the Black and brown people that have been most impacted.
Hate stays on repeat in our societal playlist. AND, lack of empathy, disregard, silencing and ignoring victims of hate, abuse, and violence stays on repeat too.
When R. Kelly finally faced consequences, people tried to push women and girls into making him a “cause.” He got away with raping kids for 20 years!
“But, the music.”
When Bill Cosby finally faced consequences, people tried to push women and girls to make his consequences for decades of rape a “cause”.
“Think about his “legacy”. “He was about to purchase a network and they wanted to take him down” “Other men in Hollywood have been getting away with it.
“We ‘grew up with this man”. (on television)
This isn’t to say that Kanye West is a rapist. BUT, his name is being floated around alongside these other men in an effort to bring awareness to how Black men doing wrong will face harsher penalties than white males doing the same or worse.
Now, there is a great deal of truth to this. And, there are facts, statistics, images, recordings, writings, other media and more proof of history to support my view.
Noted: Roman Polanski, Woody Allen, Donald Trump (people VOTED for him), and soooo many others have thrived. Thomas Jefferson, Benjamin Franklin, + +++ continue to be quoted as a source of wisdom & morality to this day. I get that too. I hate that too. With a passion.
STILL, I will not leave, ignore, or silence women and children because racism, bias, & discrimination impacts males using their power to cause harm to others in unequal ways.
Waste of time. Waste of energy. Waste of breath. Waste of blessings.
I have been done trying to reconfigure my energy to care about males whining like toddlers because they “don’t get to be bad like other bad men.” The protest ought to be against society intentionally impeding males of color & males who don’t fit other so-called “norms” from being GREAT men. Males ought to be protesting against how racism keeps them from doing more for communities and society. Keeps them from securing safety, provision, and health for the masses.
As 2022 #DomesticViolenceAwarenessmonth comes to an end….
This entire month we’ve watched timeless truths play out. It is *too easy* for society to turn what discomforts males into a cause for a “social justice movement” …as women are *expected* to suffer.
Quietly.
Males have proven that they are capable of sorting out their own issues. They do not need women and girls to do it. They do not need women and girls to ignore our own suffering & safety concerns because they are uncomfortable. (Life and death danger? my ears will always be open to, of course.)
This practice of males seeking sex, attention, spaces, shelter, comfort, activism, & labor from women and girls every time they experience discomfort is earth years old.
Anyway…..meanwhile, here are just a tiny number of the atrocities that we are ignoring while the world is consumed with a male’s self-imposed discomfort…………………..
500,000 people were reported missing in 2020, still 90K missing at the end of the year and 45% of those were minoritized persons.
Note: Emmett Till was a teen from Chicago. The family supported film, about his mother, Mamie Till Mobley “Till” was released this past month.
