64.1% Have Degrees, 0% Are Your Animals: The Truth About Black Women

Welcome to this week’s Indie Artist Music Hustle with Blonde Intelligence. I am your host Ms. Roni and I always seek to give you exquisite cranial repertoire. What happens when media representation collides with the lived reality of Black women in America? In this powerful exploration, we dive deep into the damaging disconnect between how Black women are portrayed and who they truly are.

The recent controversies surrounding Tyler Perry's comments about relationship standards and the shocking use of monkey imagery on Love & Hip Hop serve as our starting points. We unpack why these incidents matter deeply and how they fit into a broader pattern of disrespect toward Black women. When Beverly Bond founded Black Girls Rock in 2006, she recognized a crucial need to counter negative stereotypes with empowering images of Black women—a mission that remains urgently relevant today.

The statistics tell a story rarely reflected on screen: 64.1% of Black women hold bachelor's degrees, 71.5% have earned master's degrees, and 63.8% possess PhDs. Beyond academia, Black women have pioneered medical technologies, contributed significantly to internet development, built successful businesses, and patented groundbreaking software. As one powerful quote reminds us, "To be Black and a woman is to wake up every day in your body to be policed about your skin, about your gender and even your own existence—and that loving yourself is a protest."

We challenge the notion that Black women should accept being called dehumanizing names or settle for partners who contribute minimally while expecting maximum appreciation. The reality shows and music videos frequently shaping public perception represent only a fraction of Black womanhood, not the accomplished, educated leaders who deserve full respect and equal partnership. Join us as we advocate for authentic representation and recognition of Black women's true brilliance and contributions. How will you help change the narrative?

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Episode Transcript

Speaker 1 (00:07):
Hello everyone, welcome to this week's Indie
Artist Music Hustle with BlindIntelligence.
I'm your host, ms Ronnie, whereI always seek to give you
exquisite cranial repertoire.
This week I am going to talkabout a couple of things that
kind of well, not kind of thattie in together.
One is about the image of Blackwomen is not the reality of who

(00:36):
Black women are, and I wantedto talk about the Love Hip Hop
Town Hall that MTV had, the loveand hip-hop town hall that MTV
had.
So I'm going to be reading somenotes and you'll see me looking
down a lot or, you know,looking at paper or whatever,
because I did take some notes totalk about this.

(00:57):
So I read an article by a ladynamed I want to say her name is
Jeannie Asterhilt.
She wrote this article inDecember of 2021.
And it was talking about BlackGirl Magic.
So Black Girl Magic is a Blackgirl or a woman known for her
realness, love and the way theyrally around each other.

(01:19):
When she sees a Black woman,she sees a revolution, a
fundamental change inorganization.
To be black and a woman is towake up every day in your body
to be policed about your skin,about your gender and even your
own existence and that lovingyourself is a protest.

(01:41):
And so I thought about thatwhen I read that.
And with all that has beengoing on in the media, with the
Tyler Perry thing, the twerkingon the red carpet, the monkey

(02:04):
situation, it's just been a lot.
So who can say that lovingyourself is a protest?
Only a black woman can say that, and it seems these days that a
lot of other people are stilltrying to speak for the black
woman.
Tyler Perry, ply, and certainlynot funky Donnieville can speak

(02:30):
for black women.
So I was reading this articleand it pointed out some things
that black women are survivors,black women are killed at a rate
is almost three times as ourwhite counterpart.
Yet when we are missing amurder, there are no calls for

(02:55):
our safety.
We are more likely to diegiving birth Even more than that
.
I commented on.
I love to watch.
This is the rapper.
His name is Plies.
I love to watch him.
He's so funny.
But he had something on about.

(03:18):
If something about it, the manhave enough money, then the
woman shouldn't complain.
I don't know where thisideology came from, but I
commented and I said no, I don'tkiss anybody's ass to get along
with their face.
And just that quick, anotherdude came in caping for me I

(03:41):
guess I don't, I'm just sayingwhat I was saying.
And he said, well, you don'thave to worry about that because
he's rich and he wouldn't talkto anybody like you anyway.
I said, oh well, I said I stillwon't kiss anybody's ass to get
along with their face.
And I put a smiley face and Isaid, said you have a good day

(04:04):
because you're dismissed.
You're dismissed, baby, becausehow are you going to say what a
black woman should have?
Because the man have money.
So Beverly Bond owns Black GirlRock started in 2006 to showcase

(04:26):
empowering images of Blackwomen of color.
So I remember watching BlackGirls Rock on BET.
They had an award ceremony andthey was like we just need to
let the young girls know thatBlack Girl Rock.
And I was like, well, yeah, andit never, I guess, occurred to

(04:49):
me that people did notunderstand that how brilliant
black women are, I don't know.
According to the AmericanAssociation of University Women,
64.1% of black women havebachelor's degrees, 71.5% have

(05:15):
master's and 63.8% have PhDs in2021.
Which brings me to the Spiceand Erica Mina love and hip hop
town hall situation.
As successful as black womenare and all the accomplishments

(05:37):
that they have made, people willstill try and reduce successful
black women to a black, bluemonkey.
Now, a lot of people.
Because I watched the blogs andhow people was reporting and I
decided that I wanted to waitand see what was going to happen

(06:00):
and everything.
And what I want to say is Iappreciate the fact that Yandy
was like well, if you don't know, let me try to educate you on
this.
So I think that aspect rightthere cleared up the people who
were saying well, she might nothave known or she might have

(06:23):
thought this or whatever.
I feel like that, as a friendcoming to you, telling you
something like that, that youshould be receptive to hearing
what they're trying to say andhow you have offended people.
And I feel like that wasn't.
It is not that I and I feellike that wasn't.
It's not that I don't feel likeit wasn't the case.

(06:45):
No, I do appreciate MTV forbringing the town hall to the
forefront.
People needed to be educated onthe history of the slur calling
black people a monkey, that isjust, oh, it is okay and they

(07:06):
need to be educated about theemotions that evoke behind using
that, those particular words.
So these are my thoughts theapology should be as loud as the
disrespect.
The apology should have been asquick as a response to a post.

(07:28):
The apology should have hadgrammatical errors, as the
response post did, as theresponse post did.
So that brings up another thingthat people were like.
Well, the publicist wrote thatit's not sincere, it's not that
Okay.
In that long post there were alot of misspelled words,

(07:50):
grammatical errors, and therewere none in the apology for
which it could have been editedand proofread by somebody.
But it's just, it don't havethe same temperature.
So I want to say this, despitethe history of oppression and
exclusion, because not only Ithought about watching the Color

(08:14):
Purple one time, about watchingthe Color Purple one time and
the character Mister that wasplayed by Danny Glover when what
was her name?
Not with Sophia.
What was Whoopi Goldberg'scharacter name?
I can't remember right now.
I can't remember right now, butwhen she was leaving, because

(08:36):
she was like Silk, I'm goingwith you and she was leaving and
he was like what you going todo?
You black, you ugly and you awoman?
And I was like what does hemean?

Speaker 2 (08:50):
by that Because I was a little girl.
What does he mean?

Speaker 1 (08:52):
by that you black and you a woman and you ugly.
What is he talking about?
So I just want to say just tobe clear do not refer to black
people as monkeys.
We are not animals, especiallyblack women, and I don't think

(09:16):
that the network had beenportraying black people as
animals Maybe some ignorance butnot animals.
So that right there in thatpost, I mean that was shoot
yourself in the foot, the toeand the other one, because your

(09:36):
step now is beyond the Blackwomen and you're fighting
against your own bad.
Let me tell you what Black womenare.
Black women are the ones thatdesigned the device that refined

(09:57):
the laser cataract surgery.
We are the ones that played anenormous role in internet
technologies.
We are millionaires by creatingcosmetics and hair products and
designing clothes and makingmusic and graphic designs and

(10:19):
beats and all kinds of things.
But they say stop, like peanutbutter.
I mean so many things.
We are the ones that patentedthe software that assisted with
equal employment opportunities.
So no, we are not monkeys andblack women deserve more than an

(10:45):
electric bill being paid, mrTyler.
The Bible said equally yoked,and that the woman is supposed
to be the helpmate.
So on top of being called amonkey, then you're supposed to
accept that this man only canpay an electric bill and take

(11:12):
you out to eat every now andthen, and it's supposed to be
baby.
It's okay if I cover themortgage, if I cover the car
notes, if I cover the insurance,if I cover the gas bill, the
water bill, the groceries, thehealth insurance, all of that,
as long as you treat me right.
Where is that?

(11:36):
Equally yoked in being thehelpmate, where is that at?
Because, mr Tyler, you do allof these movies and plays and
everything, and your theme issupposed to be something that's
supposed to empower the blackpeople, but yet it's supposed to
be okay.

(11:57):
The electric bill comes once amonth.
How often is this man supposedto be getting paid?
Where are we supposed to beliving at?
What kind of car are we goingto be driving?
Is it going to stop down thestreet or am I going to be able
to make it to work from out oftown?
If something goes wrong and Ilose my job, it's going to be

(12:18):
like I lost my job and he'sgoing to be like oh baby, I lost
my job today.
I lost my job and he going tobe like, oh baby, I lost my job
today, mm-mm-mm-mm.
It is far time over.
Black women have provedthemselves Educated, beautiful,
have their own.
They deserve the best, the best, not an electric bill being

(12:42):
paid, not to be called a monkeybecause these men I don't know
what they are wanting, butobviously the black man is
giving these other women, theseother men and even black men the

(13:03):
leeway to disrespect blackwomen.
Stop it, because we are all ofthat.
And the coleslaw flavored Lay'spotato chips that Lay's hadn't
got back with me yet on All ofthat.
So I am going to leave it atthat.

(13:23):
I think that as long as thatpost was, the apology should
have been as quick as when thepost was released and as long as
the response was.
And then, on top of that, Icaught this when the agent was

(13:48):
talking to Miss Mina and said,oh, we got you a, basically
saying well, we got you aplacement here or whatever.
And she's like oh, I'm anactress now, okay, but then when
they showed you the footage, Ifeel like because I'm also very

(14:25):
intuitive that the surprise orthe disgust didn't seem.
I'm not going to say that it'snot, it did not seem genuine and
I think that I have, you know Iweighed it and I think that I
have such a strong opinion on itbecause in one of my other
lives there's still a presentlife, but one of my other lives
I do have an undergrad insociology and a master's in
counseling.
So just the study of people andthe evolution of people, and to

(14:51):
steal with all theaccomplishments that have been
made, that when somebody get madthat they want to refer to a
person as an animal after all,the accomplishment to me is like
a slap in the face.
So I don't know how people isgonna gonna react, gonna feel

(15:13):
hey.
But those are my thoughts andopinion on it.
I think that men I don't carewhat kind of men you are, men
should not try to speak on women.
They don't need to get in.
Men, get in women's business.

(15:34):
Now, when it comes to parenting, yes, but I'm going to leave it
at that.
At any time, any black man, anywhite man, any, anybody, feel
like they have somethingderogatory to say about black
women and they're talking aboutthe twerkers and the people who

(15:56):
rap about this.
Remember, let me go back.
This is in the US.
Out of all the black women inthe United States 64.1, which is
more than half, and if you weregetting a grade, even though

(16:21):
it's poor, it's passing has abachelor's degree.
71.5, which means it's averageif you was looking at it.
Five, which means it's averageif you was looking at it, have
master's degrees and 63.8% hasPhD.

(16:43):
So the Black women that you seeportrayed on these reality
shows, in music, in these musicvideos, that is not the average
Black woman.
These numbers show that theaverage Black woman is way more

(17:04):
than you are giving her creditfor and it's time for the.
Respect the Queen, because weare the queens.
Respect the queen.
Remember, you can find us.
Let me back up.
Let me back up.
You used to find me streaming onall these social media

(17:24):
platforms and my next show isgoing to be about this, about
being dependent on social media.
There's a social media platformthat is just off the chain and
people were saying, when Boosielost his page, you should just
do you another page.
But I'm gonna get into that.
But you can find us streaminglive on social media.

(17:47):
You can find us on allpodcasting platforms and you can
because you know, once youstream live most places you know
they lose the event or theevent has ended or whatever.
You can find all my replays onPatreon.
So look up Indie Artist MusicHustle with Blonde Intelligence
or the tag Blonde Intelligenceon Patreon.

(18:07):
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