A few days ago I was listening was watching a hangout that Oshay Duke Jackson was live streaming. He had Mumia Ali, Angryman, as well some other brothers from the black male YouTube sector.  During the stream, one of the black females in the live chat asked the question, “Do black women deserve protection?”

When faced with this question, Mumia Ali replied, “from what?” He raises an interesting question and certainly one that is worth exploring.  However, I’d like to raise another question. What aren’t black women protected from?

In another article that I wrote, Equality or She(quality), I discuss equality. For the benefit of those who haven’t read it, allow me to summarize. Essentially, equality in its truest form can be defined as equal responsibility and equal consequences. With that as a base line, I ask again what aren’t black women protected from?

For one, black women are protected from the consequences of their choices. There is no shortage of white knights, simps, apologists, and the like coming to the defense of any black woman or women that have displayed maladaptive behavior. It is never the fault of the black woman or women in question.  It doesn’t matter the situation. For example, let’s look at the dating market.

Any time a sister is found without a man when the music stops in the dating musical chairs game, it is invariably the men’s fault. It can’t even be hinted at, implied, nor suggested that she may be the reason. What you will undoubtedly come across is a litany of reasons to the contrary.  You know the usual suspects like colorism, fat shaming, wanting a nonblack woman, not being able to handle a strong black woman. Stop me when I come across one that you haven’t heard before. You see, brothers she is protected from the consequences of her actions.

Let me give you another example.  Let’s say a sister is out there is fucking Pookie and Ray Ray. If she gets pregnant she has the option to get an abortion. If she keeps the baby by an “ain’t shit” brother she’s going to get child support, food stamps, section 8, etc. Again, she’s insulated from the consequences of her choices.

Black women are protected from all manner of criticism. It doesn’t matter whether or not the criticism has merit or not. No one, but especially not black men, are to allowed to criticize black women. Yet, they are allowed to air their criticisms, complaints, and grievances that they levy against men with impunity. They have all manner of constructs to aid them with this endeavor. The media will downplay, shame, or flat out ignore any viewpoint that runs counter theirs.   When that doesn’t work they will try to silence you. Look no further than the current black gender wars that are occurring on YouTube as we speak. The sisterhood is trying its best to silence black male YouTube.  Why? For no other reason that have the audacity to criticize black women and say it publicly. They have no desire to debate, discuss, or anything that remotely resembles an exchange of ideas or opinions. No, the only acceptable solution to them is to completely quiet them.

Let’s circle back to the original question, “do black women deserve to be protected?” My answer is that they’re already protected in many ways. They can’t be criticized. They can’t be held accountable for their choices. No matter what, it will always be someone else’s fault. So no, they don’t need any more protection, and certainly nor from the brothers that they shit on.