The Shame of Not Fitting Into the ‘Strong Black Woman’ Archetype
Personal essay from the July launch of Noirella
All my life I’ve been quiet. Like the textbook introvert, I only felt comfortable to fully express myself around people I was close to. My mode of operation is to just sit here and eat my food, observing until something piques my interest.
But as I got older, I found myself in situations that most Black people do. Having grown up in exclusively suburban areas, I faced racism in the form of microaggressions rather than outright violence or hatred. When I was younger, I understood that these things made me feel awkward and uncomfortable, but I didn’t have the language to express to my white and non-black peers that what they were saying and doing was in fact racist.
High school and college, however, were the times in my life when I became more active on social media, and thus encountered talking points and discussions about racism and microaggressions for the first time.
