Disclaimer: I am not placing the blame completely on Black women as to why society does not take us seriously. I realize that there are some people who hate all Black women for reasons that are out of our control. I am however, implying that in some cases, our own behavior can facilitate the persona that society has of us.

Attention sistas, today I came across an example of one of the reasons why some people in our society refuse to take Black women seriously in any capacity. The disclaimer to this is that in a non judgmental world, it would not matter how you behave, what clothes you wore, how you spoke. People would still accept you for the person you are beneath that. The kicker is that we do not live in a world like that and we never will. We have to roll with the punches.

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The inspiration for this post came from another site. The site is called You Know You Dead Azz Wrong. You may or may not know it, but today, as I scrolled down my Facebook feed I noticed an atrocity that immediately made me stop in my tracks. The owner of the site had the above picture posted along with a caption: This is the reason why people don’t take Black women seriously. After spending a few seconds analyzing the picture and determining that each nail represented an accessory to breakfast cereal. I couldn’t argue with the comment. Obviously we are not to blame completely, but we are partly to blame for the demise of own image.

I have said this before and I am going to say it again. I think that Black women are some of the baddest, most beautiful, flyest, chicks on the planet hands down. However, we can simultaneously be our own worst enemy by behaving, and dressing like fools and becoming upset when people treat us accordingly.

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The picture posted above is a prime example of what I speak of. Where is this woman going to work at with those nails? An employer would take one look at her and those nails and know from that moment that she is not someone that he should respect or take seriously in any way. She limits her own growth and possibly her potential overall by even placing something like that on her body.

Stop and think sistas. These are the little things that we as Black women, do not always consider. It is not so much as trying to conform to what society says we should be or attempting to look like the “other”. It is more so knowing that there is a time and a place for everything. Also, realizing that in this world we live in, we will be judged. Part of our judgment will include how we behave, dress, speak, and our overall demeanor. Black women have already been type casted as the extra ghetto, classless, mouthy woman of all the ethnicities. Why promote that image by behaving in that way? Why perpetuate a lie by dressing like what you do not want to ever be called?

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I call those stereotypes I listed off lies not because they do not fit some Black women, but because it is not who we truly are. I mean behind the tough exterior that some of us may feel we need to exude. Behind, the stereotypical behavior that some of us indulge in. There is something there that is fearless and unique and you better believe that other races of women wishes they could capture it and bottle it in some capacity. There are so many different levels of beauty and greatness that Black women possess that become diminished when we behave in an ugly way, or when we do not think before we decide what kind of image we want to personify.

After all, we cannot always blame it on the other person for not understanding our depth. Or for them not reacting to the image of ourselves that we have on the eternally instead of the one that we feed to them. If you are walking around with cereal box nutrition facts on your nails, looking like a clown then there is chance that those who do not know you will treat you like one. If you are cool with looking like a clown and in turn, being treated like one by those around you who are feeding off of your persona then hey! What can be done? It is what it is. I don’t trust the media but even I know that we cannot continue to make excuses for ourselves. We can’t blame the media’s negative portrayal of us as the reason why people don’t “see” us as they should and then moments later turn into a walking stereotype. At some point we have to consider what do we do to contribute to some of those negative stereotypes that knock us off our pedestals.

We often want to get creative with our look to accurately express ourselves and that is fine, but it still has to be within reason. Something in your brain has to click at some point and you have to be responsible for the image you are feeding off to the world. You have to pause, and ask yourself, is this image of me what I want the world to see me as? Am I proud of this portrayal? Does this portrayal accurately reflect me as the Queen and fly woman that I am? If you doubt that the answer to the any of those questions are yes for even one second then that means you are slipping into a barrel of foolishness and you need to reevaluate yourself. I love my sistas. So, I worry about you- us the most.