Viral Photos Show Black Women Are Stronger Than Police Intimidation
Ain’t nobody got time for that!
Twitter user and former NFL wide receiver Matthew A. Cherry recently posted a collage of pictures on twitter in honor of Black History Month titled, Black Women unbothered by the police: A Photo Series. The collage features 4 images of black women throughout history CLEARLY being uninterested by the police and authority figures. In these images the women are doing what black women have perfected over the years; a simple yet effective glance.
The most recent picture is of Iesha Evans, who was a peaceful protestor in a Black Lives Matter protest in Baton Rogue, Lousiana. The image went viral in the summer of 2016 shortly after the deaths of Philando Castile and Alton Sterling. Evans is pictured holding flowers, standing her ground peacefully yet firmly while two officers seem to be running towards her. It’s easy to see that she isn’t a threat but is being treated as one.
Amother image shows a woman who is smoking a cigarette, giving a heavily armed white officer in front of her a look of “BOY, if you don’t get out mah face.” Iconic.
The third and fourth images shows Gloria Richardson in 1964. Richardson was protesting then Alabama governor, George Wallace’s visit to Cambridge University.
George Wallace was a conservative and was known to have Jim Crow viewpoints during the Civil Rights Era. Richardson and other protestors were demonstrating peacefully when they were tear gassed out of a building. At that point the officers starting ramming through the crowd with bayonets. Richardson gave those officers a dose of that Black Girl Magic and pushed her way past the bayonet, all while giving him a taste of side eye.
Twitter users instantly starting sharing the post as it racked up more than 42k retweets and 77k likes. Matthew Cherry even threw in another photo he found into the mix, with the captions: "Add this image to the hall of fame as well."
The picture depicts a woman burning sage in front of many shielded officers. Burning sage is believed to absorb any conflict, anger or evil by the smoke. This woman is not checking for anyone! She is just trying to cleanse everyone’s spirit!
Many users praised the women in the photos, but of course many trolled as well. They were promptly put back in place.
We've always known that black women march to the beat of their own drum and these photos show that the side eye is a black woman staple no matter the times.
