Blog 4: I Am The Girl Behind Bars.
What does “innocence” really mean? Is it the absence of guilt? Childlike naivety? A person’s chastity? Or is it racism in disguise, a microaggression where Black and brown people are blatantly cast into the role of “guilty” or “impure” before we’ve had the chance to speak? I am used to being cast as the villain, onstage and off, because of my outspoken nature. Whether I’m performing or simply existing, the “angry Black woman” stereotype hangs on me like a chain I never agreed to wear. And though I recognize I carry a boldness that others covet, I cannot help but feel, ever since I was a little girl, that I will never get to be the “innocent” victim or the pure-hearted heroine. After all, even when giving the world its first animated Black princess, Disney relegated Tiana to life as a green frog for the majority of her film. Black women are always the sassy sister, the wise grandmother, or the fierce executive; never the girl-next-door, the damsel in distress, or the “pure” love intere...