I just saw this video below, created around a speech given by Malcolm X titled "Stop Begging White Men, And Stop Apologizing To White Men." Malcolm X taught black people in this country that they needed to clean up their own act, stop engaging in the "vices" that are made available to them, engage in a critical analysis of why white men brainwash black people into believing they are stupid, dishonest, and ugly, discover their own history because it is erased by the white men, and start feeling proud of who they are.
When I was watching this, it occurred to me that every single thing he said also applied to women. Women in history are simply erased, their contributions are ignored, their art and literature and music is triviliazed, they are excluded from the "official" version of everything that has happened, other than when the woman is the femme fatale, and two men decide to go to war because they each want her. But for all the rest, the women who hold up half the world, make half the sacrifices, do well-more than half the work, they are eliminated from history. It is as if they never existed.
Today's modern woman spends much of her time begging for opportunity, working twice as hard and getting half the money, settling for crumbs, and apologizing for not being a Playboy centerfold. The attacks are constant: get breast implants, carve up your nose, get a bigger or smaller butt, work out more, don't eat, smile smile smile. While putting in a 60-hour week. And be obedient: the first commandment. Be obedient to your father, husband, pastor, boss, all men.
No wonder young girls have no self-confidence, no sense of self-esteem. For all they know, no other women has ever accomplished, ever achieved, ever done anything of merit or worth, so the hill seems quite steep, almost impossible to climb.
Of course Malcolm X was assassinated for speaking these truths. Maybe that's exactly why we should go back and give a listen.
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