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Image via The Black Youth Project of Rekia Boyd

Dear Black media why are Black males deaths more worthy of coverage than Black females? Aren’t all acts of violence equally egregious? Do Black women need to once again prove our loyalty to a group that has never had to prove theirs?

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Image via henriettavintondavis.wordpress.com of Laura Nelson

Recorded Cases of Black Female Lynching Victims 1886-1957: More on Black Women Who Were Lynched from ~ Henriettavintondavis.wordpress.com
I ask, haven’t Black women hung from trees next to Black men? Haven’t Black women been brutally killed by racists along with Black men? Haven’t Black women been beaten and or even killed by the police? Haven’t Black women been brutally raped and molested?

Read more about Duanna Johnson here.

In every single struggle, Black women have endured the same oppression Black men have. In fact, Black women suffer from sexism and lack of protection from Black organizations that Black men are afforded. And in every single struggle Black women have fought along side Black men for causes that benefit Black men while receiving little to no return on our investment.

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Hadiya Pendleton image via wgntv

Read more about Hadyia Pendleton here.

There is history of ignoring the needs of Black women except when it comes to our hairline, pantyline, waist line or our ability to marry. Black women have been always told to put our needs on hold for “the movement.” That movement, coincidentally, largely benefited Black men. During the abolitionist movement black women were told work and to wait for our chance. And we did. During the Civil Rights Movement Black women were to told to march, work, die and wait for our chance. And we did. Today, Black women are being told you are the sole backbone of the community. You must raise the family alone. You must march for “our men.” You must organize and work alone. You must remain silent to protect a brother that may have committed a crime against you to avoid putting him in the criminal justice system. You must die on the brutal streets because Black gangs are fighting over street corners. You must be sexually harassed by Black men while walking in the street and accept it. You must look a certain way. You must act a certain way. You must be submissive while being strong. You must be called bitch and hoe in the media and accept it.

So no Ebony, I am not Trayvon. I am the nameless and faceless Black women you don’t see on your magazine covers or in the Black media except when she is twerking, telling Black women we “are out of order”, being told by comedians to “think like a man” or playing a maid, a mammy, a video girl or a reality show actress.

I know there will be no marches for me. My case won’t be a measure in race relations. President Obama wouldn’t say I could be his daughter. No one will question the high rate of domestic violence, the prevalency of molestation, sexual exploitation, misogyny or sexism committed against Black women. There will be no Twitter hashtags or Facebook protests done in my name. I am the forgotten. The person you want to forget except when you need something. My life and death will be ignored because I was killed by the wrong person who happened to share my hue. Even worse, I am the wrong victim because I am a Black woman. I am one of the missing Black women found underneath two different homes in Cleveland, OH here and here. I am the Black woman who was been beaten and murdered by her abusive boyfriend. I am Rekia Boyd. I am Marrisa Alexander. I am Duanna Johnson. I am the sexually molested or raped girl that adults blame because obviously I was fast while my Black male athletically gifted perpetrator receives sympathy and a scholarship. I am who you remind me I will always be. I am invisible to you. Since I am invisible to you, you are invisible to me.