Source: Joseph Okpako / Getty
James Duncan and Fuhad Dawodu were welcomed on
Andrew Schultz’s Flagrant podcast recently where he proceeded to characterize Black women as whiny, difficult, and violent right in their faces while they laughed. If you think the duo behind the popular
UK podcast ShxtsNGigs piped up to defend Black women from these harmful
stereotypes , that’s cute and I love that for you.
ShxtsNGigs issued an apology but only after being criticized online.
Silent ShxtsNGigs
If you know that these Black men kept it cute while he dragged us congrats you might just be used to life as a Black woman. They chuckled while he lobbed insult after insult at Black women.
This occurred while the trio was commenting on the so-called “Black wife effect.” The “Black wife effect” theory has been trending on social media recently. It presumes that the presence of a Black woman can correct one’s ashy knuckles and inspire the development of a beard that connects.
Duncan and Dawodu were discussing the potential “glow-up” associated with being loved by a Black women when Schultz jumped in.
https://twitter.com/Kennedy56859927/status/1836492408357364052
“They shave their hair because they start losing it,” Schultz said about men whose appearance changes after they get involved with Black women. “Because he’s so stressed to be around this Black girl complaining all the time,” he added.
Schultz went on to playfully accuse Black women of putting hands on their romantic partners. “They grow their beard because they need a cushion when they get slapped,” he said.
“I think the black girlfriend effect, it might be a protective instinct.”
Shocked And Screwed: ShxtsNGigs Apology
Source: Karwai Tang / Getty
They blamed their hesitancy to challenge his racist rhetoric on shock. They said they were in “fight or flight” mode. This apparently lasted beyond filming and long after because the clip came out.
Much of the online discourse has focused on Schultz but there’s nothing unique about his comments. This man is not alone in an ecosystem of White entertainers who are more Black famous than the alternative. They kick their feet up in our spaces, click up with our creators, and eventually cultivate spaces of their own where tangential connections to Blackness become cultural currency. Along the way they throw shots at Black women (sometimes this even includes the ones they date) and frequently become unchallenged by the Black people they interact with.
His comments are expected and sadly so is the lack of resistance to them.
Black women are constantly catching strays and it is exhausting. But it is worse when Black men are not deliberate about protecting us.
Stilted Shock
To their credit, Duncan and Dawodu made a clear apology following the release of the podcast. They admitted their mistake. “Andrew was making a joke, frankly a racist joke, and we were laughing at it,” said Duncan. “There’s literally no excuse.”
They dubbed his jokes “incredibly inappropriate.”
But a better mea culpa might have been denouncing these jokes before they hit the internet. This is supposed to explain their inaction but it seems like a half-hearted defense.
They only got serious about denouncing their inaction to their audience AFTER they had gotten dragged. Yahoo News reported they thousand thousands of followers after the podcast clip circulated.
I first discovered Duncan and Dawodu in a clip from their show where they were trading information about their favorite Black girl hairstyles. They waxed poetic about the swoop motion Black girls do when they want to gather their box braids, and I thought it was nice to have someone express fondness for an innate action that is so intimate to who many of us are. It seemed like they really understood and valued the nuances of being a Black woman. But that appreciation is hollow without a commitment to their protection.
Saying how much you love Black women does not excuse folding in the face of disrespect towards them.
Scrambling and Pandering
As our society starts to -slightly- punish people for their misogynoir Black men are scrambling to align themselves with the protection and appreciation of Black women, on the surface. They’re posting #ProtectBlackWomen but they are not actively working to protect them. Men are standing by and allowing Black women to be treated like shit.
It is not enough not to be racist you need to be anti-racist. It is also not enough not to disparage Black women. You need to stick up for them in the moment, after the moment, and whenever they are under attack.
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The post Black Women Are Not For ShxtsNGigs, We Deserve More Than Being Podcast Punchlines appeared first on HelloBeautiful – Fashion, Beauty, Lifestyle and Hair Care for Black Women .
The post Black Women Are Not For ShxtsNGigs, We Deserve More Than Being Podcast Punchlines appeared first on 92 Q .
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