Say it ain’t so Joe.

At a time when many people are saying, “new year, new me,” some folks are keeping the old narrative going by continuing to police how Black women respond to slander. As previously reported Ari Lennox took to Twitter to respond to a troll who gave the “Shea Butter Baby” songstress and Teyana Taylor a backhanded compliment, by comparing the two women to dogs.

“Ari Lennox and Teyana Taylor’s ability to have dangerously high sex appeal while simultaneously looking like rottweilers will always amaze me,” the troll wrote.

Ari responded by cautioning parents to love on their children and teach them to love their features.

“People hate blackness so bad,” Lennox wrote in a retweet caption featuring the offending tweet. She followed the missive with, “Moms and Dads please love on your beautiful black children. Tell them they’re beautiful constantly. Tell them Black people are beautiful. Tell them black features are beautiful.”

While many championed Ari Lennox for her reaction, Joe Budden decided to use the incident on his show, Joe Budden Podcast, to insist that the Dreamville artist’s response came from a  place of insecurity rather than confidence.

“Does anything about the Ari Lennox thing scream insecurity to you?” Joe said. “Insecurity. How you feel about you versus how what people feel about you versus how what people feel about you does to how you feel about you. Insecurity.  And while there may be variations of it or different reasons of why it stems, insecurity is insecurity.”

He also questioned if Ari actually feels like “black is beautiful” for feeling the need to respond to the troll at all.

“So when I hear you reply to people like whoever this pawn dude is, it’s like, are you telling me how beautiful the blackness is, or are you telling you, because if you truly feel like that, if you truly believe that black is beautiful, as beautiful as it is, and you embody that, you will not use your energy, your platform, your power… when you negate that power or misuse it by replying to just whatever [this person] has anything to say, then what we really doing here? How do you really feel about you?”

While I’m sure Joe Budden thought he was kicking knowledge, he seems to forget about two things, one—he wore leather vests in the summer and was wilding out on anyone who whispered his name via Twitter; and two—no one asked him.

Listen, this is not a Black man versus Black woman piece, but it is saying that it’s time to stop telling Black women how to respond to people who are intentionally trying to inflict emotional pain. Earlier this week after continuous bullying from trolls , Lizzo announced she was quitting Twitter after constantly being attacked for her weight.

”Yeah I can’t do this Twitter shit no more.. too many trolls,” Lizzo wrote. “I’ll be back when I feel like it.”

Although the art of trolling is a topic within itself, we can’t overlook how many times the social media site has been used to demean Black women. From Blue Ivy to Lizzo, trolls have continuously attacked Black women and our features without much being said by our male counterparts. Please note I am not saying Black men do not take up for Black women, but what I am saying is we need more Black men to be vocal about being against Black women slander as they are about dragging Black women for speaking up for themselves.

When Marc Lamont Hill used his voice to speak out against the bullying that Lizzo faced from plus sized vlogger Boyce Watkins, instead of a barrage of men rallying behind to stop the nonsense they added him to the dragging.

Joe Budden’s tactic of using the pain of Black women to push his narrative not only erases her voice, but elevates him to be the topic of conversation versus keeping the focus on the real issue—the abhorrent treatment of Black women.

While I could go on and on about the need for Black men and women to stick together to fight against the outside forces of racism and bigotry that continue to try to tear down our houses, I won’t because I know it will be ignored and I will be dismissed as just another angry Black woman.

Check out the episode below.

Source: HipHopWired.com

Click Here to Discuss in the Forums