One thing the internet has given us has been countless think pieces on race - and that is not a bad thing. The internet has opened up the conversation around race, blackness, racial stereotypes and more in a way that has been overdue. When I write overdue, I mean that black writers and critical thinkers have been able to own this conversation like never before. For far too long, white academics have made up the majority of authority figures, experts and respected voices on racial matters. Black writers entering the conversation about race has given the discourse a depth like never before.

If you rewind to 2017, I was one of those freelance journalists who wrote about race, in particular the marriage of race and gender. Yet like most writers, it is one thing to write about something, but it is something else to live it. When writing about race of course I’ve had to and wanted to write about the angry black woman stereotype and its limitations. Like most black women reading this, I approach many situations with caution as to not be labelled the angry black woman. Like many of you, I have been self conscious in conversations, ensured I was extra polite just so no one could whisper those three words.