âThis one is very serious, guys:
I came upon these two on the sidewalk. They were having a conversation. âExcuse me,â I said, addressing the girl: âIâm sorry to interrupt, but is there anyway I can take your photo?â
âWhy would you want my photo?â she asked.
âBecause you look beautiful,â I said. And she did. She was Sudanese. There is a very distinct beauty among people from the Sudan, and she was filled up with it. Suddenly the man cut in:Â
âI was just telling her she was beautiful,â he said.Â
Naively, I assumed I had just walked up on one stranger giving a compliment to another. I wanted to capture the moment. âLet me take your photograph together,â I said. The man seemed reluctant, he started smiling nervously and inching away. But the girl called him back.Â
âCome take a picture with me,â she said. Encouraged by her attention, he returned. She put her arm around him, and I took the photo.
As I examined the photos on my camera, the man started whispering to the girl. She answered him in a loud voice: âI told you! Iâm not that kind of girl.â She seemed agitated now. Finally sensing that I had misread the situation, I stepped between them. The man began hurrying down the sidewalk.
When the man left, the girlâs demeanor changed completely. She seemed shaken. Her eyes were tearing up. âHe just offered me five hundred dollars to go out with him,â she said. âAnd then when I said âno,â he offered me one thousand. Why does this always happen to me?â
âIt happens a lot?â I asked.
âAll the time,â she said. âIâm sorry Iâm getting emotional. I just canât go out of my house without this kind of thing happening. I have a son. Iâm a mother. I would never degrade myself like that. I just donât understand why this keeps happening.â
âDo you mind if I tell this story?â I asked.
âPlease,â she said. âTell it.â
Letâs hope this man, and all men, realize the emotional damage they are inflicting on the women they try to buy. In the meantime, feel free to SHARE.*
Dear Tumblr, fuck you for trying to erase this.Â
[Image: A picture of a tall, very thin Black woman with her shoulder over a shorter, older white man wearing traditional Orthodox Jewish clothing on a New York sideway.]
Iâm saving this post because as many times as Tumblr tries to erase this womanâs story and act like anything about this was okay, thatâs as many times as Iâm reposting it. They can either cut me off or stop being assnuggets about this. whichEVER.Â
i will always reblog this. because if this woman were white, the mass-erasure of this image and story would not be happening. and that just speaks volumes to me. the bigotry that contributes to this womanâs constant harassment is the same bigotry that led to the erasure of this story in order to âprotectâ this man. they are COMPLETELY connected. this is a vicious cycle that perpetuates anti-blackness and the degradation and silencing of black women and women of color as a whole.
oh look trubr0wn just deployed more truth bombs.
i am the truth bomb terrorist.
FUCK YOU TUMBLR. I will reblog this every god damn twelve hours. You will NOT erase this womanâs story just because HONY is a bigot who is full of shit. Tumblr staff is full of shit. They are ALL full of shit. And fuck every single one of you shitty people for thinking that youâre going to win. You will NOT.
Hey this disappeared off my tumblr how strange
anyway, here it is again, supporting this lovely lady who has to put up with this crap just because she exists and goes outside, and to call shame on a society that would actually force her to put her arm around the creep who just upped his price after she told him that she wouldnât whore for him
Here it is, calling attention to the FACT that the aggressor, the perpetrator of this outrage was the one protected, and the victim is just supposed to disappear
To that I say no
no
Open season on Black women is OVER.
Iâm going to back up my Tumblr.
But I just want to see if Tumblr will ignore the e-mail I just wrote to them getting unwanted messages by users Iâve told to leave me alone and will send me another e-mail about âviolating copyright,â if not try to delete my blog for reblogging this picture and story that needs to be seen and heard.
Iâm not claiming ownership of anything, BTW. Picture, story behind the picture, and the erasure of the picture copyrighted2012 by humansofnewyork.tumblr.com . And reblogging this picture has an educational reason behind it â to show how black women are dehumanized, and then silenced if they ever speak out.
Tumblr deleted this post from everyoneâs blog. Here it is again. And people have saved copies to their computers, including me. Storyâs not going away. The internet is forever.
-Jess
