Part Two:
Black & Beautiful
Are We Angry Black Women?
By Rosaland Tyler
Associate Editor
New Journal and Guide
Although the main character in the book, “Infidel,” eventually transforms her life after slipping free of the rigid do’s and don’ts that make her miserable in Somali, do some African-American women remain trapped in attitudes and behavior they’ve outgrown?
Author Bridget Amelia Herron
To understand the slash-and-burn attitude, think Omarosa Stallworth of “The Apprentice.” To understand the neck-rolling, loud-mouthed behavior, think comedian Wanda Sykes. You know the achievement-oriented, no-nonsense, exhausted, overworked black woman who is more driven than compassionate?
“But anger makes you do things you regret,” said Hampton Roads author Bridget Amelia Herron, who wrote “Baptized By Fire,” a book about “spiritual experiences with angels, visions, dead people, and demonic forces,” according to her press release.
“Now, I usually meditate and pray before I act,” said Herron, 36, a mother of two, who recently opened her own cleaning service, while working toward a degree in criminal justice at the University of Phoenix.
Herron, who has been depressed to the point that she has tried to commit suicide several times, has also checked herself into several mental-health facilities. An honor student in high school who attended weekly church services with her parents, Herron says she was angry; but she did not acknowledge it.
“I felt that my life did not turn out the way I wanted it to turn out,” Herron explained. “I never ended up married with the house, the picket fence, or a career. I was like ‘what is wrong with me?’”
“I was at the point where I hated my life. A woman in my church said—in fact a lot of people said—they’d had high hopes for me.
But when I failed, it was anger turned inwards,” said Herron, who has also written two books of poetry: “Walk on Eagle’s Wings” and “Total Blackness.”
Dr. Darlene Carlson
“But a lot of black women are on a path of suicide because they take care of everybody but them self--and oh yea, they have to have a man at any cost,” said Herron who recently founded a promotional company that markets the books of other writers’.
“We don’t care about our self, even though we have many positive role models and images of brilliant, strong, great black women,” she said. “The more frustration and abuse you’ve experienced, the more likely you are to be frustrated. You’re going to be angry.”
It’s the media’s fault-right? Television and movies often demean, criticize, or ridicule black women? Relatives are not supportive? Responsibilities weigh too heavily? The odds of having a satisfying life are too high? Alas, black women are easy targets--right?...
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