(ThyBlackMan.com) If you Google the phrase “black girl fights”, you will come up with literally hundreds if not thousands of videos detailing brawls, vicious attacks and overall violence perpetrated between black, mostly young, girls. Many are maimed and injured as a result and, tragically, some are killed. In April of 2016, 17-year-old Ta’jae Warner was found unconscious outside her apartment building in New York City, the victim of an attack by an 18-year-old in the same city. Warner died as a result of her injuries. Her attacker was charged with second-degree murder while two other girls who joined in the attack were arrested with lesser charges. They reportedly bragged on the beating on social media.
What is going on here? Why are black girls – and fully-grown women – resorting to fisticuffs at such an astonishing level and with such a degree of brutal violence? Is this phenomenon limited to a certain socio-economic class of black females? Or is it happening across our community?
Let’s back up a second. We are all aware of the term “black on black violence”, so I will not belabor the issue by citing the statistics which suggest that black people commit more crime against each other than against other ethnic groups (as if Whites don’t commit crimes against Whites, Latinos against Latinos etc.). But we must not be afraid to analyze the issue from a purely racial perspective.
What is the source of animus between black females and why is it so virulent? To the first question we can probably point to a lack of positive female role models as an answer. Let’s be clear. Girls who end up fighting likely grew up fighting, or at least observing other females in the family domain fight. Many of the women in the ‘fight videos’ are fully mature (chronologically-speaking). As for class, many of the fights take place in urban, economically-deprived areas (although any fights between more economically-advantaged girls probably just don’t make the rounds on WorldStarHipHop.com).
Take a cursory look at the most-watched black cable programming and you will see the “models” that black young girls likely take their cues from: Love and Hip Hop. The Real Housewives of Atlanta (among other cities). Love thy Sister (which, though I have not seen an episode, the title alone sounds oxymoronic).
While we cannot ‘blame” cable television, we can point to the ramifications that the aforementioned programs usher in due to the lack of role models in our immediate communities.
What youngsters see they tend to emulate and replicate. Cable programming alone is not the sole factor, though. Lack of positive role models extend to missing fathers, as well. Would the presence of a positive male deter the black girl fight culture? Would fathers raise their little girls to resolve conflict with their fists? I’m going to lean toward the positive and suggest most men would not.
Perhaps the biggest factor in black girl fight culture is the influence of social media. Most of the young girls who meet other girls to fight begin their beef on social sites such as Facebook and Instagram. It could something as silly a compliment being taken the wrong way or hearing that such and such was trying to sleep with my man etc.
Are we really going to suggest that “girls will be girls” like we say “boys will be boys” and look the other way as our young black women pummel each other with reckless abandon? I hope not. What we can do, though, is begin to foster positive conflict resolution skills among our female tween and teen populations.
There are several organizations that can help this effort, among them Sister Keeper and Afro Puffs and Ponytails, both online organizations. They exist to help young black girls who are constantly facing and giving in to online and real-time violence via social networks.
I’m going to write about this more often, because I think it’s important we do something about this dangerous trend.
Far too many of our young black girls are lacking basic conflict resolution skills and, as cited above, more tragic consequences await us if we do nothing about it.
Let’s teach our young girls to raise awareness rather raise a fist.
Staff Writer; W. Eric Croomes
This talented brother is a holistic lifestyle exercise expert and founder and executive coach of Infinite Strategies LLC, a multi-level coaching firm that develops and executes strategies for fitness training, youth achievement and lifestyle management. Eric is an author, fitness professional, holistic life coach and motivational speaker.
In October 2015, Eric released Life’s A Gym: Seven Fitness Principles to Get the Best of Both, which shows readers how to use exercise to attract a feeling of wellness, success and freedom (Infinite Strategies Coaching LLC, 2015) – http://www.infinitestrategiescoaching.com.
