Black Men & Women's Plight

Who has it harder, black men or women? Ask this question of any black person and you'll get varied answers. Some will say black women have it harder and others will say black men have it harder. I think BOTH have it hard in this country because during slavery times, black men were sold into slavery while black women were forced to watch their men being hauled off to perform backbreaking labor with little to no rest. Watching your loved ones being sold into slavery eats at you just as much, if not more than you going into slavery because you hate to see your loved ones suffer. I hope I never have to go through the experience of watching a loved one go into slavery because I don't think I could take it. I wouldn't be sad, but I would be upset. While the men were in slavery, black women were holding the household down by cooking & cleaning, plus taking care of the children. They get my respect for that. When I hear this question, I think it's a battle of the sexes to see who has it worse. It does seem like black men have it worse because many of them come out of the womb with the odds stacked: Expected to be dead or in jail before 18, highest severe disability rate, chronic unemployment, least likely to go to college (even though recent trends do show the gap is closing between black men who end up in jail as opposed to going to college), black on black murder, etc. It's really painful. Black Men and Women are fighting some sort of battle so they need to start working together on the issues.This response was posted by a FB friend: "A huge part of reparing the damage is black men ACKNOWLEDGING the struggles that many of their women are facing. It can't just be "oh, pity the black man" 24/7. It's far too lop-sided IMO. For example, anytime a high-profile case involving a black male is going on (like Trayvon Martin) BOTH sexes jump to the man's rescue in OUTRAGE. However, if the media is coming down unfairly on a black woman, most of the outrage is seen from FELLOW black women...with support and back-up from black men rarely found. Now what's up with THAT?? I'm in no way denying that many black men face horrible things, but it isn't right how many of them overlook the pain of their fellow women. When the media unfairly comes down on a black woman, most of the outrage is from fellow black women with support from black men rarely, if ever found." I do admit it's not right that many black men ignore black women's pain instead of trying to protect them from these things. Many black men feel since black women are so strong/tough, they don't need their men's help. Let them deal with it. Considering many black women have been forced to be strong, I can see where many black men are reluctant to help. Best believe if it was his sister, mother or niece, these same black men would be on the front lines fighting for this, that and the third but since it's some random black woman on the street, many black men turn a blind eye to her struggle. I feel for the challenges many black women face because a black woman is like my tag-team partner, she struggles, I struggle with her. That goes double if she was a loved one.