Former first lady Michelle Obama spoke out about the internalized stress and emotional burden that Black people experience, claiming that she is “probably less light than many of her ] white women friends.” Her remarks, made during a discussion about emotional health and the problem of silence, touched on the myth of the “angry Black lady” and how it frequently reflects deeper political issues of frustration, identity, and personal restraint.
” We are angry,” Obama said as the first brand they gave to Black women. Ironically, I am probably less light than many of my bright friends,” and the sarcasm is, yeah.”
Obama addressed the myth that Black women are inherently enraged, highlighting the intergenerational pattern of emotional segregation in Black communities. You’ve always heard these women complain, she said, referring to the quiet resilience that her grandmothers and mothers have been taught to have.” You’ve always heard these women complain. She continued,” Nobody always gave us permission to do that,” so Black people “never” express their pain.
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Additionally, the conversation explored Black communities ‘ absence of visible mental health help. Obama remarked,” We started looking at the figures, and only about 7 % of the professionals, professionals, and doctors were of color. Our kids are unsure of what to do with this profession.
In response to the lack of Black professionals, artist Taraji P. Henson discussed her personal struggles to find mental health support for herself and her child during the conversation. In honor of my dad, I founded the Boris Lawrence Henson Foundation, she said. In her reflection on her troubles in helping her brother deal with the loss of community members, Henson emphasized the value of having professionals who looked like them.
Obama also discussed how the notion of the “angry Black girl” was further bolstered by public attention during the course of Barack Obama’s presidency. She recalled that” some feminine journalists said that I was bitter at first.” ” I was emasculating him only by kind of trying to tell the truth about life, right”?
She compared her own experiences to those of her white contemporaries. She said,” I see a softness and skill to be in the world and see what’s going on, but still not as burdened about it as I think I am. What I see in the information is seen as injustice, and I believe it strikes me differently.
Obama and Henson both stressed the value of open dialogue regarding mental health, no as a problem but as a required shift in perspective. Obama remarked,” We have to speak about our stresses openly.” We must change that routine around.
Michelle Obama contends that Black people have been taught that they don’t deserve better.
Michelle Obama discussed how Black women are frequently socialized to anticipate suffering and not to question it in the same discussion. She claimed that Black women are taught that they don’t receive much from an early age.
As Black girls, Obama pointed out that there is an underlying belief that we as Black women don’t need any better. She reflected on her own culture, which was merely expected pain. She said,” I grew up just expecting it, you know, I did,” citing this desire in Black populations as having a greater sense of emotional tenacity.
Obama shared individual accounts of the hardships faced by her family. Even though they lived in a humble house and only had a second income, her mother made sacrifices to be home with her and her nephew. We reside in a modest residence and merely make ends meet. But that was unusual, she said.
She noted that while the females in her home worked hard, they hardly ever expressed their difficulties. Because of how life was, “you’ve never heard these ladies complain,” Obama said. People assume you may like this when you make things look effortless.
The problems of expressing anguish was even addressed in the conversation. We don’t express as Black ladies our problems because it’s almost like no one ever gave us that authorization,” she said.
Michelle Obama asserts that for Black communities like hers, treatments was never an option.
Michelle Obama even touched on the social stigma that surrounds mental health in Black families, stating that therapy was not viewed as a viable option because of both a lack of representation and stigma. Simply put,” we don’t talk about mental health.” We don’t, Obama said. ” We are chastised, where it’s seen as weak because we are demonized,” he said.
She considered the social practices that frequently obliterated treatment in Black people. We give it to God, they say. And that’s crucial. However, God made people to serve as therapists for different people. So it goes hand in hand. You need both, Obama asserted.
Taraji P. Henson joined the conversation, sharing her own experiences with therapy. She spoke about struggling to find Black clinicians for herself and her son. “It was time to look for therapy… And when I couldn’t find anyone who looked like us, because now I got to get my son to open up to someone and he’s not going to feel right if the person doesn’t feel familiar,” Henson said.
Henson founded the Boris Lawrence Henson Foundation, which aims to increase access to mental health care in Black communities as a result of her own activities. In honor of my father, I founded the Boris Lawrence Henson Foundation in honor of him. We began to look at the statistics and discovered that only about 7 % of the professionals, professionals, and psychiatrists were of color, she said.
Obama even made a note of her own struggle with personal well-being, claiming that she only began confronting it later in life. When I began my work in the field of emotional wellbeing, that’s when. She said,” I start it by checking myself at that point.”
Both Obama and Henson stressed the value of breaking the silence regarding mental wellness. Obama remarked,” We have to speak about our stresses openly.” No because we are complaining, but because we need to change. We must reverse that pattern.
