The Black Woman's Bill of Rights

by Takeallah Russell

1. You have the right to wear extensions or a relaxer,without having someone touch your hair without your permission, ask if it is real, or accuse you of denying your blackness and embracing Euro-centric beauty standards.
2. You have the right to wear your hair in natural hairstyles without having someone touch your hair without permission, ask if it is real, or accuse you of being “too black.”

3. Regardless of your hairstyle, you have the right to not be referred to as a “nappy head.”
4. You have the right to seek higher education and speak eloquently without being accused of “talking and acting white.”
5. You have the right to date and marry outside of your race without being called a “sell-out” or “gold digger.” You also have the right to reproduce with your partner of a different race without being told that your sole purpose of reproducing with this person was to make sure that your children had “good hair.”
6. You have the right to not be told that you are “pretty for a dark-skinned girl,” or be referred to as someone's “Chocolate Drop, or compared to any other confection.
7. You have the right to be frustrated with the fact that you are the poster child for abortion, welfare, and single motherhood, despite the fact that research and statistics have proven that these myths are false.
8. You have the right to express your opinions and emotions without being told that you are being “bitter” or “aggressive.”
9. You have the right to desire specific traits of potential dating partners without being told that “your standards are too high”
10.You have the right to speak and laugh in an elevated volume without being called “loud and ghetto.”
11. You have the right to have friends of different races and to not be introduced as their “black friend.”
12. You have the right to express disdain and ignore someone attempting to “holla” at you in public without being called “uppity,” or “stuck-up.”
13. You have the right to not hear someone say, “Don't make my inner Black Woman come out!” or “I can roll go from zero to bitch pretty quickly for a white girl!”You have the right to not be stereotyped as a neck-rolling, screaming banshee.
14. You have the right to sit in a classroom and discuss slavery without the instructor asking you for “the black point of view.” You have the right to not be expected to be the spokesperson for an entire race.
15.You have the right to live a happy, fulfilling, wholesome life free of white supremacy and patriarchy.