We all know there are names that put many women up in arms…the B word and the word that should start with W but in today’s term starts with H…many women, not all take exception to those words and will not allow themselves to be called that..uh uh…
And of course the N word is totally inflammatory, though many have embraced it and feel it is a tool of empowerment, if the wrong person utters it, chances are they will end up in intensive care…
Then there are the ones we love, baby, sweetie, honey…you know…
However those are not the words I plan to embrace today, these words are more subtle but used in the wrong context, just as insulting…
This weekend I was at the Jacksonville African-American Arts Festival and there were these senior citizen dancers…all AA, after it was done a much younger, Caucasian man made the statement, ‘Those girls…yada yada…I knew that while those women loved being youthful and had a lot of fun, they would take exception to being called ‘girls’ by a white man thirty years their junior, though they probably said, ‘Girl…to each other more times than they could count…’ It felt too intimate to my ears and a tad condescending…I made a point of saying, ‘All those WOMEN are over seventy…’
Not a day passed and I was sitting in church and someone flipped through Re-Rambled and noted that I used Havarti cheese in one of my recipes…she made a point of saying, ‘Umm, I don’t mean you but my friend who is so BOUGIE…always talks about using special cheeses…” I smiled, saying…”there are those who have probably named me bougie and worse’…she quickly said, ‘I didn’t mean you…’ But my thing is this, why even part your lips to say a thing to a person if you aren’t trying to name call…”
Here is the deal, you can think anything about me or anyone else that you feel, but if you bring it to me, I am going to call you on it…if you aren’t familiar with a person don’t act familiar and if you have issue with any of my ways then say it straight and let’s have a conversation…
Check this out, if starting to work at 13 and getting myself educated and working a job, while having my own businesses, so that I can have the things that I want make me, Bougie, or any other thing, then so be…call me all the names you want to…I can live with it…
Be PEACE~
Angelia