With the growing miscommunication between the sexes in the Black race, an event such as “Why Do Black Men Hate Black Women” seemed it would do nothing but add fuel to an already raging fire.
The event’s coordinator, Micah Perkins, Miss Omega, believes that events such as hers can offer a foundation for understanding one another as well as strengthen the Black community as a whole.
“Events like this can definitely help the Black community, but in order to do that we have to be willing to listen to one another so that we can understand each other,” said Perkins, a junior from Denver, Colorado, majoring in history.
The event was held in the Favrot Student Union theater. Despite a few other events happening on campus, the event had a healthy turnout.
Exercises such as the Step On The Line icebreaker had some in tears and others in awe. An exercise where signs plastered with derogatory remarks Black women hear every day were pinned to the back of men’s shirts and they were asked to read them aloud once removed caused an eruption of feedback from the audience. Some men could not fathom that Black women hear some of the harsh comments and a few were in agreement with several of the comments.
One comment in particular caused an uproar. “You’re pretty for a dark-skin girl” was the topic of discussion for nearly 10 minutes as a man in attendance attempted to state why he feels it is OK to say it.
His response was not very popular from the sounds of sucked teeth and appalled looks in the crowd.
“I don’t think he actually understood what he was saying or the fact that comments like that can really offend someone,” said Shelby Dickerson, a senior social work major from Baton Rouge, Louisiana.
“I could have low self-esteem and honestly, growing up I hated being a darker complexion because people would call me “Blackie” and that hurt my feelings.”
Other guys like Dylan Jackson, a junior kinesiology major from Delhi, Louisiana, disagreed completely.
“If the room wasn’t tense before, that guy surely made the air thick. We need events like this to better understand one another and to effectively communicate for a solution,” said Jackson.
“Too many people wanted to voice their opinions and that’s fine, but there wasn’t enough listening; it’s really a double-edged sword,” he said.
Tension in the room was so thick you could cut it with a knife. No one gave up on voicing their concerns. As the event resumed, a statement about “too many women out here looking for daddies” was made, which boiled the blood of several ladies. One in particular, Tiffany Lee, a senior biology major from Chicago, Illinois, was not amused at all.
“I can’t speak for the girl who grew up without a father, but I grew up in a two-parent home and father told me I was beautiful as often as possible. I don’t think a girl wanting to feel beautiful and be told she’s beautiful by the opposite sex means she’s looking for a dad, I think she’s just seeking validation,” said Lee.