You Have to Be Twice as Good as Them: a Preview

NOTE: this piece is part of a series featuring black writers & artists for Black History Month. This is a preview of a piece that will be published in early March.

“You have to be twice as good as them.”

Those nine words were told to me almost every day by my proud black mother, followed by “to get half of what they have.” My mother always made me believe that I could do anything in the world if I just followed those words. She knew the fight that I was born into as a black woman. I surely believe all black mothers whisper these words into the ears of their brown and black daughters in the face of defeat, when the heat of tears are setting upon their golden cheeks. Our mothers instilled a spirit of resilience and endurance. We will be heard, and we will get the respect we deserve, as women and especially as BLACK women.

“The most disrespected person in America is the Black woman, the most unprotected person in America is the Black woman, the most neglected person in America is the Black woman.”

- Malcolm X.

As women, we are told that we shouldn’t be too bold or be too loud; we are encouraged to sit pretty and go with the flow. We have often been marginalized, and our opinions regarded as non-important. Now as women of color, not only do we have to deal with a society that has misogynistic tendencies but also racist tendencies. We have to deal with misogynoir (misogyny directed towards black women) within our community, low self-esteem due to colorism, and not being considered as smart enough. We are disadvantaged with education that is not equal (ex. Schooling in Brookline High School vs. Madison Park High School), unsafe neighbors and the consequences of “redlining,” and sexism and the lack of an opportunity of having a childhood (growing up “fast”; R. Kelly’s Victims). But still, we rise above all this and kick and fight to claim what we believe is “ours.” Not just “ours” because we believe so, but also because it is a Constitutional right (thanks to the white boys club a.k.a. our Founding Fathers) to pursue our happiness.

So it is so powerful for us as women, and especially for women of color, to possess the ability  to break up this boys club—the Founding Fathers could not fathom the idea of women in politics. It would seem crazy that a woman could win and then represent a body of people; we were “irrational,” “emotional,” “weak” and unable to understand the complexity of the political world. Now add on the horrible stereotypes black women or other women of color face: “ghetto,” “poor,” “uneducated,” “illegal,” etc. We can start to imagine to understand the hurdles that these women must face to reach elected office.

by ERIN NOËL. Erin attended Minuteman High School in Lexington, graduating in 2018. She is a Environmental Studies and Political Science major at UMass Amherst.