How dare Leslie Jones jump out of her place

Credit: Amelia Robinson

Credit: Amelia Robinson

Here is the thing about the racist bullying against Leslie Jones: it makes perfect sense.

I will bring you up to speed on the controversy:

— Someone hacked the black “Saturday Night Live” cast member page Wednesday and posted photos — some of them nude — and a video of deceased Cincinnati Zoo gorilla Harambe.

— The “Ghostbusters” actress quit Twitter a month ago after facing racial bullying, obscene photos and comments about her appearance.

— Twitter eventually banned conservative writer Milo Yiannopoulos, the technology editor of the right-wing site Breitbart News, and several other users, according to the Associated Press.

The scrutiny Jones faces is what many black women face on overdrive.

Those in the public eye even a little bit know it very well.

Around the same time Jones was fighting Twitter trolls, I was being called everything but “nice lady” while doing my job covering the Republican National Convention on Facebook Live.

One man even took it as far as to send me a personal message calling me a stupid N-word and saying I should burn like the rest.

That’s far from the worst thing some cyber racist has said to me and is chocolate milk compared to the hate Jones’ faces just for doing her job.

Jones is becoming a big star, but more attention is being paid to the racists who attack her for what she looks like than her acting or comedic skills.

Of course they are going to notice Jones.

She doesn’t want to be missed.

I remember being a little shocked the first time I saw her on SNL.

Credit: Amelia Robinson

Credit: Amelia Robinson

She’s loud, tall, sexy and dark-skinned — far from the “typical black woman” you see on TV not that those “typical black women” aren’t beautiful.

More than any of that, Jones is confident.

She is proud to be loud, tall and dark.

It is that pride in who she is and what she does that draws the racists and the sexists.

How dare this woman, this black woman, stand up for herself.

How dare she think she is sexy.

How dare she wear lipstick that draws attention to those lips.

How dare she slip on heels and jump out of “her place.”

The racists and the sexists are up-in-arms because Jones’ success proves that black women don’t have one single place, and beauty is not one single thing.

In Ghostbusters, Jones towered above her costars Kristen Wiig, Melissa McCarthy and Kate McKinnon, but she was as beautiful and funny as they.

Credit: Amelia Robinson

Credit: Amelia Robinson

Her success and audacity destroys the script the racists build their whole drama around.
Jones is the target, but there are a lot of women like Leslie Jones of all shapes and races.
It is time their talents are noticed and embraced, but it doesn’t matter if the haters hate.
These women are too much to be silenced.

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