Meg Thee Stallion has risen to fame quickly and is using her newfound platform to advocate for Black women who deserve better. In an op-ed published by the New York Times on Oct. 13, she re-asserted Malcolm X’s words that said: 

“The most disrespected person is the Black Woman.” 

In a short video attached to the article, Meg addressed what women of color are expected to be. She shared sentiments that many can relate to, from being sexualized and abused while simultaneously expected to be submissive. 

However, above all, women of color are also responsible for being strong in the face of adversity, without an if, and, or but.

Meg opens the dialogue with a penetrating sentence considering the upcoming presidential election: 

“In the weeks leading up to the election, Black women are expected once again to deliver victory for Democratic candidates.”

It’s true. 

Biden nominating Senator Kamala Harris moved him up in polls and looks to have helped garner both the Black and Women’s vote. This also came in addition to a year of civil unrest and demands for justice in a government defined by systemic racism. 

Meg is not a stranger to disrespect as a Black woman. Recently, she was shot twice in the foot by rapper Tory Lanez and kept silent for fear of critique and being doubted. 

Even with the silence, those fears turned out to be true. The assailant later tried to justify his act of violence on a Black woman in the same week Breonna Taylor’s case saw no justice after two of three cops had their charges dropped and the third now faces three counts of wanton endangerment — a class D felony. 

“Many of us begin to put too much value to how we are seen by others. That’s if we are seen at all,” Meg writes, adding that this issue is even deeper for Black women who struggle with the stereotypes reinforced by society.

On Saturday Night Live, she challenged the Kentucky Attorney General Daniel Cameron after the ruling on Breonna Taylor, for which, she expected backlash and would gladly welcome if it meant to protect Black women. 

Despite what certain elected officials may find controversial about the statement, the fact is what she led her op-ed with: the Black woman is the most disrespected in America, and deserves to be protected as a human being. 

That same sentiment extends beyond the U.S. borders. 

Black women in Latin America are also constantly threatened. Dash Harris, a voice for the Afro-Latinx community often speaks out about the attacks on Afro-Latinx women, both in and outside of the United States. AL DÍA spoke with her back in August.

Recently, she wrote a piece for Refinery29 about her being Black, and not Latina. Though she’s also a victim of racism and blatant disrespect, Harris educates those interested in Négritud and her Blackness, in spite of Latinidad or what a book called The Cosmic Race, says. 

While The Cosmic Race aims to push the “we are all equal,” agenda, the reality is that in every aspect of life, Black women are disproportionately disadvantaged. 

In her New York Times op-ed, Meg highlights just one of the disadvantages as the maternal mortality rates being three times higher for Black mothers over those who are white.

It goes on to communicate the message that women, specifically Black women are objectified, put up against each other, and then torn apart for their image. Instead of the negative image Black women learn from a young age, the rapper expresses she would’ve liked to learn as a young girl about all the accomplishments Black women have contributed to society. 

While Kamala Harris’ vice-presidential candidacy will push the Democratic win, making history as Black women, Meg closed that it will then go back to business as usual.
“Black women are not naïve. We know that after the last ballot is cast and the vote is tallied, we are likely to go back to fighting for ourselves. Because at least for now, that’s all we have,” she wrote.