May 21, 2025 • 9 mins
We don’t need to prove shit. A fake narrative doesn't make us "somebody" we always have been.
PeriodT.
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Transcript
Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
SPEAKER_00 (00:00):
All right, I have to come talk about this one because
it's pissing me off, especiallywhen it's being propagated and
regurgitated and amplified bypeople who should know better.
And I normally don't use theword should because I don't like
to should on people, but theyshould know better.
We have these influencers withthis narrative that black women
(00:21):
are like the most educateddemographic in the US and it's
just fucking not true.
This is people's inability toeither read research and
understand it and understand itsnuance and or people cherry
picking information from aarticle or research and just
(00:43):
fucking running with it and orpeople not doing their due
diligence and doing theirresearch that heard something
that sounded good rightespecially as a black woman
right because it makes us quoteunquote look good you heard
something that looked good thatmakes you specifically look good
and you ran with it and it doesus a disservice because it's not
the fucking truth.
(01:03):
We can just look at what isactually being done, what is
actually happening.
Y'all can probably hear all thetrains, planes, and automobiles
in the background.
It is what it is.
It's ambiance.
It's ambient noise.
But anyway, so here's what itactually fucking is.
This originates from amisinterpretation of a 2011.
(01:24):
2011.
It is 2025.
So I don't even know what thecurrent statistics is.
I'm going to look it up afterthis.
So a 2011 report from theNational Center for Education
Statistics, NCES, and it hasbeen amplified all over the
place because what it wasshowing was that among U.S.
(01:47):
college students, Black womenwere enrolling and graduating at
higher rates than Black men andhad made substantial gains in
higher education over the years.
Now, it specifically highlightedthat Black women were earning
associates, bachelor's andmaster's degrees at higher rates
than black men.
Among black Americans, womenwere leading in educational
(02:09):
attainment.
Black women were enrolling incollege at higher rates relative
to their demographic groupcompared to other women.
That's the kicker.
Black women were enrolling incollege at higher rates relative
to their demographic groupcompared to other women.
So basically, black women weregoing to college college in
(02:30):
higher rates than black mencompared to women in other
racial groups going to collegeto the men in their specific
demographic, right?
What it did not say was thatblack women were more educated
than all other racial or gendergroups.
What it did not say is thatblack women held the highest
overall levels of degrees in thecountry.
(02:53):
So what is true?
Let's get into it.
What is true is that AsianAmericans, both men and women,
and of course, we are using thebinary because that's just how
it goes.
So we're just going to have towork with that.
Asian Americans, both men andwomen have the highest rates of
bachelor's and advanced degreesattainment, period.
(03:14):
I'm going to say that again.
Asian Americans, both men andwomen have the highest rates of
bachelor's and advanced degreeattainment, period.
Next is white Americans.
Next is white Americans.
Then we have black women havemade significant gains, but on
average, they are not the mosteducated.
group in America when we arelooking at absolute numbers or
percentage attainment bypopulation.
(03:37):
Now, this doesn't dismiss orminimize the fact that Black
women are doing their damn thingand they are out here getting
degrees.
With that being said, a lot oftimes Black women do this as a
survival strategy.
This is their way of combatingsystemic barriers to employment,
mobility, respectability, and isoften tied to racialized and
(03:57):
gendered expectations of, we gotto prove our than fucking self,
right?
We gotta be twice as hard to gethalf as fucking far as everybody
else.
So we gonna stack them degreesbecause it makes it feel like we
somebody.
And I say this as a woman withmultiple fucking degrees.
I got my bachelor's degree and Ihad two majors, criminal justice
and psychology.
(04:17):
I got my master's degree.
I got one in educationalleadership.
I got another one in counseling.
Then I got my doctorate inclinical sexology.
And guess what?
I am not the smartestmotherfucker or am I the one
with the most got in the fuckingU.S.
It's just not true.
And why is this harmful?
Because it keeps this whole ideaof us being this fucking magical
(04:40):
unicorn that we can do all thegoddamn things, that we can go
to work, take care of thegoddamn kids, and we can get all
these damn degrees, and itdehumanizes us.
Okay?
It makes us as if we are fuckingrobots, and we are not.
We don't have to use thisnarrative to prove ourselves.
We don't have to be the ones...
with the most degrees in thegoddamn country in order to be
(05:02):
worthy and valuable, period.
It makes it seem like we'veovercome some shit when we are
still at the bottom of thegoddamn totem pole, no matter
how many fucking degrees we'vegotten.
When it comes to this goddamnsociety, we are still at the
bottom with all our goddamndegrees.
And for some people, they'remaking it seem really latest,
(05:23):
right?
Like you somebody, you are.
However, you've taken a falsenarrative and kind of got this
little arrogance aboutthemselves, right?
That's not cute because that'shappening.
People are throwing this falseass narrative around and using
it to make it seem like blackwomen are a pedestal because of
(05:43):
this.
No, we're on a pedestal becausewe exist, period.
We are defiant.
We don't need any other extrareason in order to big up
ourselves, right?
We are worthy and beautiful andvaluable because we exist.
And this just continues toperpetuate the narrative that we
(06:04):
got to do more, be more, achievemore in order to be seen as
worthy and valuable.
And it just keeps setting usback because we are helping to
perpetuate this narrative withthis false fucking statistic.
I know personally, I did not getall these multiple degrees
because I just wanted to go toschool.
I did it because it was a copingskill when I couldn't do
(06:26):
anything else, when I could notdo anything with my anger, my
resentment, my trauma, my fear,my sadness, because there was
nowhere to give it and no one tohold it, I went and got another
fucking degree because I could,because for me, that was an
escape.
I did not do it because it mademe feel good.
(06:47):
As a matter of fact, every timeI achieved something, I felt
fucking worse because it was,now what?
What's next?
Because even though I achievedthat, I still didn't don't feel
fucking worthy because myworthiness is attached to
something outside of me.
Please let's stop propagatingthis false as narrative.
Black women are needed, valuableand worthy because period.
(07:14):
Oh wait, I almost forgot.
So I went back and I pulled somemore recent stats and this is
from the 2022 to 2024 andlooking at young adults, 25 to
34 for bachelor's degreeattainment, we still got Asian
and Americans at the top, whiteAmericans second, then black
women, black men, Hispanicwomen, then Hispanic men.
(07:34):
So when we're looking at blackmen versus black women, though,
that's where we see thediscrepancy.
And that's where we see blackwomen, quote unquote, shine.
That's where we see black womengetting 64.1% of bachelor's
degrees when compared to men,black men specifically.
And we see them at 71.5% ofmaster's degrees compared to
black men.
(07:55):
Okay.
And 65.9% of doctoral, medical,and dental degrees.
So black women are doing theirthing in relationship to black
men.
And then that just makes methink like, what's really going
on right there?
What's happening with our blackmen that they are not attaining
the same level of typical, I'llsay typical education.
(08:17):
So I'm wondering, are they doingother things?
Are they doing the entrepreneurroute?
Are they going into trades,which are all super valid.
So we don't want these numbersto make it seem like black man
just ain't doing shit.
They just ain't on shit.
Is it that they're notinterested in college?
Is it that there are morebarriers or is it something
else?
Maybe they aren't getting intoit because there are some other
things going on.
(08:37):
We don't know.
I haven't looked into that.
So what I don't want people todo is look at numbers and create
a narrative without doing thefucking research to back it up.
So again, like I was endingbefore, before I and valuable
(08:58):
simply because we exist.
We ain't got to do shit elseextra to prove that we are
worthy.
And that's on period.
All right, I have to come talk about this one because
it's pissing me off, especiallywhen it's being propagated and
regurgitated and amplified bypeople who should know better.
And I normally don't use theword should because I don't like
to should on people, but theyshould know better.
We have these influencers withthis narrative that black women
(00:21):
are like the most educateddemographic in the US and it's
just fucking not true.
This is people's inability toeither read research and
understand it and understand itsnuance and or people cherry
picking information from aarticle or research and just
(00:43):
fucking running with it and orpeople not doing their due
diligence and doing theirresearch that heard something
that sounded good rightespecially as a black woman
right because it makes us quoteunquote look good you heard
something that looked good thatmakes you specifically look good
and you ran with it and it doesus a disservice because it's not
the fucking truth.
(01:03):
We can just look at what isactually being done, what is
actually happening.
Y'all can probably hear all thetrains, planes, and automobiles
in the background.
It is what it is.
It's ambiance.
It's ambient noise.
But anyway, so here's what itactually fucking is.
This originates from amisinterpretation of a 2011.
(01:24):
2011.
It is 2025.
So I don't even know what thecurrent statistics is.
I'm going to look it up afterthis.
So a 2011 report from theNational Center for Education
Statistics, NCES, and it hasbeen amplified all over the
place because what it wasshowing was that among U.S.
(01:47):
college students, Black womenwere enrolling and graduating at
higher rates than Black men andhad made substantial gains in
higher education over the years.
Now, it specifically highlightedthat Black women were earning
associates, bachelor's andmaster's degrees at higher rates
than black men.
Among black Americans, womenwere leading in educational
(02:09):
attainment.
Black women were enrolling incollege at higher rates relative
to their demographic groupcompared to other women.
That's the kicker.
Black women were enrolling incollege at higher rates relative
to their demographic groupcompared to other women.
So basically, black women weregoing to college college in
(02:30):
higher rates than black mencompared to women in other
racial groups going to collegeto the men in their specific
demographic, right?
What it did not say was thatblack women were more educated
than all other racial or gendergroups.
What it did not say is thatblack women held the highest
overall levels of degrees in thecountry.
(02:53):
So what is true?
Let's get into it.
What is true is that AsianAmericans, both men and women,
and of course, we are using thebinary because that's just how
it goes.
So we're just going to have towork with that.
Asian Americans, both men andwomen have the highest rates of
bachelor's and advanced degreesattainment, period.
(03:14):
I'm going to say that again.
Asian Americans, both men andwomen have the highest rates of
bachelor's and advanced degreeattainment, period.
Next is white Americans.
Next is white Americans.
Then we have black women havemade significant gains, but on
average, they are not the mosteducated.
group in America when we arelooking at absolute numbers or
percentage attainment bypopulation.
(03:37):
Now, this doesn't dismiss orminimize the fact that Black
women are doing their damn thingand they are out here getting
degrees.
With that being said, a lot oftimes Black women do this as a
survival strategy.
This is their way of combatingsystemic barriers to employment,
mobility, respectability, and isoften tied to racialized and
(03:57):
gendered expectations of, we gotto prove our than fucking self,
right?
We gotta be twice as hard to gethalf as fucking far as everybody
else.
So we gonna stack them degreesbecause it makes it feel like we
somebody.
And I say this as a woman withmultiple fucking degrees.
I got my bachelor's degree and Ihad two majors, criminal justice
and psychology.
(04:17):
I got my master's degree.
I got one in educationalleadership.
I got another one in counseling.
Then I got my doctorate inclinical sexology.
And guess what?
I am not the smartestmotherfucker or am I the one
with the most got in the fuckingU.S.
It's just not true.
And why is this harmful?
Because it keeps this whole ideaof us being this fucking magical
(04:40):
unicorn that we can do all thegoddamn things, that we can go
to work, take care of thegoddamn kids, and we can get all
these damn degrees, and itdehumanizes us.
Okay?
It makes us as if we are fuckingrobots, and we are not.
We don't have to use thisnarrative to prove ourselves.
We don't have to be the ones...
with the most degrees in thegoddamn country in order to be
(05:02):
worthy and valuable, period.
It makes it seem like we'veovercome some shit when we are
still at the bottom of thegoddamn totem pole, no matter
how many fucking degrees we'vegotten.
When it comes to this goddamnsociety, we are still at the
bottom with all our goddamndegrees.
And for some people, they'remaking it seem really latest,
(05:23):
right?
Like you somebody, you are.
However, you've taken a falsenarrative and kind of got this
little arrogance aboutthemselves, right?
That's not cute because that'shappening.
People are throwing this falseass narrative around and using
it to make it seem like blackwomen are a pedestal because of
(05:43):
this.
No, we're on a pedestal becausewe exist, period.
We are defiant.
We don't need any other extrareason in order to big up
ourselves, right?
We are worthy and beautiful andvaluable because we exist.
And this just continues toperpetuate the narrative that we
(06:04):
got to do more, be more, achievemore in order to be seen as
worthy and valuable.
And it just keeps setting usback because we are helping to
perpetuate this narrative withthis false fucking statistic.
I know personally, I did not getall these multiple degrees
because I just wanted to go toschool.
I did it because it was a copingskill when I couldn't do
(06:26):
anything else, when I could notdo anything with my anger, my
resentment, my trauma, my fear,my sadness, because there was
nowhere to give it and no one tohold it, I went and got another
fucking degree because I could,because for me, that was an
escape.
I did not do it because it mademe feel good.
(06:47):
As a matter of fact, every timeI achieved something, I felt
fucking worse because it was,now what?
What's next?
Because even though I achievedthat, I still didn't don't feel
fucking worthy because myworthiness is attached to
something outside of me.
Please let's stop propagatingthis false as narrative.
Black women are needed, valuableand worthy because period.
(07:14):
Oh wait, I almost forgot.
So I went back and I pulled somemore recent stats and this is
from the 2022 to 2024 andlooking at young adults, 25 to
34 for bachelor's degreeattainment, we still got Asian
and Americans at the top, whiteAmericans second, then black
women, black men, Hispanicwomen, then Hispanic men.
(07:34):
So when we're looking at blackmen versus black women, though,
that's where we see thediscrepancy.
And that's where we see blackwomen, quote unquote, shine.
That's where we see black womengetting 64.1% of bachelor's
degrees when compared to men,black men specifically.
And we see them at 71.5% ofmaster's degrees compared to
black men.
(07:55):
Okay.
And 65.9% of doctoral, medical,and dental degrees.
So black women are doing theirthing in relationship to black
men.
And then that just makes methink like, what's really going
on right there?
What's happening with our blackmen that they are not attaining
the same level of typical, I'llsay typical education.
(08:17):
So I'm wondering, are they doingother things?
Are they doing the entrepreneurroute?
Are they going into trades,which are all super valid.
So we don't want these numbersto make it seem like black man
just ain't doing shit.
They just ain't on shit.
Is it that they're notinterested in college?
Is it that there are morebarriers or is it something
else?
Maybe they aren't getting intoit because there are some other
things going on.
(08:37):
We don't know.
I haven't looked into that.
So what I don't want people todo is look at numbers and create
a narrative without doing thefucking research to back it up.
So again, like I was endingbefore, before I and valuable
(08:58):
simply because we exist.
We ain't got to do shit elseextra to prove that we are
worthy.
And that's on period.
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