Quote Series: Beyonce Giselle Knowles-Carter
Quote: “To be a Black woman is to constantly have to repeat yourself.”
Can you imagine being the hard-working mogul that is Beyonce and still having to repeat yourself? Being the hardworking entrepreneur that she is and still having to explain to someone that something that you asked for is available and all they have to do is close their mouths and simply look to find it instead of just saying that they can’t? A better question is: how are you in the presence of one Beyonce and you don’t even work hard enough to look for an item that she requested as part of her show? Like, a light? Really?
I digress.
In my many roles throughout my time on this spinning ball of flames, I’ve experienced this same amount of, let’s call it what it is, MISTRUST.
It’s definitely harder going through life with this inherent heir of “mistrustability” that you didn’t ask for but that the world loves to place on you. You hear it all of the time: “they didn’t believe me until someone lighter said the same thing, and even then I didn’t get the credit”. It’s that in so many words every single time. Other people have a BF (White Chicks reference… look it up) if you get their Tiktok clone coffee order incorrect, but we’re always expected to remain calm when repeating something that we shouldn’t even had to have said once. Tiring…
Also, with the rise in Karen’s there was a rise in the misunderstanding of consequences to pair with the lack in self-awareness and full-on entitlement. People have stopped seeing that there are consequences for their actions because, well, for many, there aren’t actually consequences. They’re not the ones who suffer when the authorities are called, at work or in the streets.
As a Black therapist, I am specifically requested by the Black community because this is something that I, too, understand. I don’t meet my clients with, “well, maybe if you tried saying/doing this instead… “ or “if you tried just getting along with everyone”… No! I don’t meet them with that. I meet them with understanding. I get that you’re tired. I get that it hurts. I get that always have to be strong is exhausting. I get that you have to close your eyes while they mistreat you because HR certainly won’t help. I get it.
Beyonce, in this quote, is reiterating what was said by Malcolm X in 1964 and what remains true in 2024: “The most disrespected person in America is the Black woman”. Why though? How many things do we have to invent before we have value? How trails do we have to blaze in industry after industry before you see us? How many? There’s a metric somewhere because you guys keep score, just not in the right way. So, how many? Tell one of us and she’ll let the rest of us know if you’re too afraid to face us. But, let us know!
So, yes. I completely agree with this quote: “To be a Black woman is to constantly have to repeat yourself.”