Oops, I Did It Again: Why Black Women and Girls Continue to be Erased from the Narrative

On May 31^st musical giants Kirk Franklin and Fred Hammond participated in a Verzuz Instagram Live battle. Verzuz, the quarantined brainchild of super producers Swizz Beatz and Timbaland, pits two music titans against each other who battle song for song on Instagram Live.  Franklin vs. Hammond, titled “THE HEALING,” was billed as the battle to uplift the nation.  Dressed in their ‘I Can’t Breathe,’ and ‘I Can’t Breathe, again’ T-shirts, Franklin and Hammond promised to provide a holistic night of inspiration. And they did.

However, at the onset of the battle’s second hour, Hammond decided to say the names of Black victims of police brutality. Looking at his phone and conceding there was a lengthy list, he opted to name a few. Trayvon Martin, Tamir Rice, Michael Brown, Eric Garner, Botham Jean, and Terence Crutcher. Franklin added the names of Ahmaud Arbery and George Floyd, before dedicating his inspirational anthem, “Revolution,” to the victims.

Instantly, the names of Breonna Taylor, Wakeisha Wilson, Sandra Bland, Korryn Gaines, and #sayhername lit up the comments from Amber Riley, Kerry Washington, Alicia Keys, Johnta Austin, and others. Lena Waithe commented, “Black and trans women are being killed as well.”

A few songs later Hammond, perhaps after reading the comments and realizing their faux pas, offered a mea culpa of sorts, saying, “Ladies, you know that list earlier, I kind of wish that would be one thing you were left out on, unfortunately it’s not.”

He then said the names of Sandra Bland, Atatiana Jefferson, and Breonna Taylor, before apologizing for their misstep.

The minimization of women and girls who are victims of police violence has been widely reported. This neglect prompted the African American Policy Forum and Center for Intersectionality and Social Policy Studies in 2014 to launch the #SayHerName campaign, a movement aimed at magnifying the names and stories of Black women and girls otherwise forgotten.

The death of Breonna Taylor, the EMT shot and killed in March by Louisville police in her home while sleeping, caused outrage.  However, the provocation to protest on her behalf, outside of Kentucky, was fueled after the death of George Floyd. Floyd died at the hands of Minneapolis police as the world watched the horrific video causing a nationwide uprising.

Dr. Brittney Cooper surmised in the Time magazine article, “Why Are Black Women and Girls Still an Afterthought in Our Outrage Over Police Violence?,” that the initial lack of public focus surrounding Taylor’s death could be the result of the absence of a video. 

“One argument is that the spectacle of video makes our outrage easier to access,” said Dr. Cooper.

Was Hammond and Franklin’s oversight intentional? I don’t believe so. Nevertheless, the glaring exclusion happened during a nationwide uproar, unlike any other in recent memory, regarding the wrongful deaths of Black people at the hands of police officers. That it didn’t occur to either of them to say the name of one Black woman, let alone multiple Black women affected by police violence, speaks volumes to how women are least thought of in this justice movement.

Dr. Cooper contends, “…when Black women and girls like Aiyana Stanley-Jones, Tanisha Anderson, Atatiana Jefferson and Charleena Lyles are killed, it is often out of the public eye. And in a world where the pains and traumas that Black women and girls experience as a consequence of both racism and sexism remain structurally invisible and impermeable to broad empathy, these killings recede from the foreground quietly.”

It’s hard to erase the memory of the videos of George Floyd or Ahmaud Arbery, or Rayshard Brooks killed at the hands of racist oppressors. One cannot forget the Facebook live stream by Diamond Reynolds, Philando Castile’s girlfriend, after he was shot and killed by Minnesota police. The video showing Michael Brown’s body lying in the middle of Canfield Drive in Ferguson, Missouri, for four hours after being killed by a Ferguson police officer will forever embed our minds.

But, I didn’t have to see a video of Breonna Taylor shot while sleeping, or Sandra Bland hanging in her jail cell, or Atatiana Jefferson killed after playing video games with her nephew. Or Riah Milton’s death, or Dominique Fells’, or Toyin’s for my outrage to equal the killings of my brothers. The women’s deaths are etched in my memory, video or not.

Jamal Harrison Bryant, Senior Pastor of New Birth Missionary Baptist Church in Atlanta, on June 11th, posted on his Instagram page, “Black men are the only endangered species in America that doesn’t get federal protection.”

Several people commented, acknowledging the endangerment of Black women as well, to which Bryant replied to one commenter, “can’t forget sister.”

Well, you did.

Bryant’s post referred to a sermon he’d preached about God’s anointment on Black men. Several commenters came to Bryant’s defense.

I get it. We’re living in a time when Black men are hunted as prey and treated as target practice.  When speaking about the erasure of Black women in violent narratives, advocates are often accused of making much ado about nothing, or being anti (Black) man, or divisive. The focus to eradicate and reform policies regarding systemic racism is critical.  Ensuring Black women victims are not forgotten in this movement should be equally important.

Actor and author Hill Harper made news on May 29^th when he misgendered Zaya Wade, the daughter of Siohvaughn Bunches and Dwyane Wade, on her 13^th birthday. Gabrielle Union-Wade, Zaya’s stepmother, wished Zaya a happy birthday on Instagram. Harper commented, “Happy Birthday young man,” then encouraged Zaya to read his book Letters to a Young Brother, explaining Union had written something in it.

Zaya Wade’s coming out as transgender was widely publicized, and Harper had to be living under a rock not to have known.

After mounting criticism, Harper apologized, calling the misgendering a “horrible error.”  There was no bodily harm, or victims of shots fired, but it was an erasure of a 13-year-old existing as her authentic self.

I cannot speak on the intentions of Harper’s gaffe. But like Kirk Franklin, Fred Hammond, and Jamal Harrison Bryant, it’s another “oops, I did it again,” blunder at the expense of Black women and girls.  Another moment in which Black women are delegated as postscripts in the main storyline.  Still, we will continue to demand accountability, pull coattails, and call brothers and others on their B.S.

Only to have our names said.