I bet you didn't know that the role of Annalise Keating in How To Get Away With Murder was originally written for a white actress, but Viola Davis went and took what was hers, having us anxious every Thursday.
Viola is starring in the new film, Widows, directed by Oscar-winner Steve McQueen who also directed the hit film 12 Years A Slave. Davis' track record will assure you that whatever the direction this new film blows in, as long as she is playing the lead role, you are in for one hell of a performance. The widespread acclaim of her acting skills is what landed Viola yet another role written for a white woman, a role that directors compromised their stance on because they did not want to risk losing such a profound talent. A victory? Hell yes!
But that makes me wonder, how many Black actresses blow out the competition in auditions but do not land the part because the role was never intended to be played by a woman of color? Would the Titanic have been a little more lit if Rose had kinky twists? Would The Devil Wears Prada have starred timeless beauty Angela Basset in waist-length braids? All jokes aside, show business is a power struggle between talent, money, and politics for all actresses, where until you reach a certain level of success, you have to take what you can get. Davis told NPR in a recent interview:
"It is a business that until you are on my level or even at my level, your power, and your choices are limited. If anyone says anything else they're lying to you."
The plot thickens for Black actresses just as in every walk of life for us where we are a double minority, Black and female in a society where Eurocentric standards of beauty and femininity reign strong. Davis recounts her experience as she bears the weight of being highly successful and socially conscious:
"I always say that if I were not a celebrity, I would be invisible. It's a larger question about how Black women are treated, how our femininity and beauty is appreciated, our mess, our complexity...But that's because we haven't felt supported. And we have never felt adored."
Black women have to be twice as smart, three times as strong, have a great sense of humor, and about five times the talent to get half as far as our white counterparts in this world. Many of us are learning this as we leave the campfire communities of college and navigate through the workforce where you agonize whether or not wearing your natural hair to work is professional, meanwhile, your white manager walks around with visible tattoos and piercings… but I digress.
The whole experience is exhausting, however, Viola Davis deserves much praise for taking steps to tackle Hollywood with her platform.
Directors like Steve McQueen use their brilliant eyes to continuously bring extremely talented Black actresses to the big screen:
"I felt that adoration from Steve McQueen. I felt that he saw all the things everyone else sees. I mean, I have a deep voice. I'm not a size 2. You know people feel like I'm take-charge — that's how I come off. You know, I'm a leader. All of those things, that's how people see me. But then he sees my shyness. He sees the part of me that is very feminine and fragile."
Not only do we see you Viola, but we see bits and pieces of ourselves in each and every one of your roles. Representation matters!
Listen to Viola's Interview here and check out the trailer for Widowsbelow!
Widows | Official Trailer [HD] | 20th Century FOXwww.youtube.com
Feature image by Emma McIntyre/Getty Images
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Since it’s Stress Awareness Month, we caught up with Keanne Owens, LCSW, founder of Journey To Harmony Therapy Center, to talk about these triggers and what Black women can do to manage and cope.
Owens is an experienced South Florida-based counselor and social worker who offers her services via Grow Therapy, a therapy and medication management platform. She has worked with Black women professionals to unpack issues related to workplace stressors. “One is the pressure to perform–having to meet deadlines and deliverables. And a lot of times, these subtle stressors from performance are put upon ourselves as Black women. We want to make sure we’re doing our best. We don’t want to be critiqued in certain ways.”
Excessive micromanagement leading to fear of overly critical bosses is another subtle trigger that can negatively impact Black women in the workplace.
“Whenever something is done wrong, or we experience some type of injustice and have to report it, it’s the fear of retaliation–[fear that] we won’t be taken seriously or [our words] will be taken out of context because of being deemed as the ‘angry Black woman,’” she said.
Black Women And Workplace Stress Triggers
Her sentiments are backed by research. A recent report by Coqual found that 28% of Black women (compared to 17% of White men) say their supervisor uses “excessive control or attention to detail” when managing them. There’s more: A survey by the National Employment Law Project found that Black workers were “more likely to have concerns (80 percent) and twice as likely as white workers (18 percent) to have unresolved concerns at work, with 39 percent reporting they were “not satisfied with the employer’s response or did not raise concerns for fear of retaliation.”
The survey also found that 14 percent of Black respondents said they “avoided raising concerns to their employer for fear of retaliation—more than twice the average rate of 6 percent for all survey respondents.”
Owens pointed to the fact that these subtle stress triggers can negatively impact our physical health and our career advancement. “A lot of time it’ll affect our productivity,” Owens added. “We start to have negative thoughts of ourselves. The stressors can also cause fatigue. We’re no longer meeting or working up to our desired potential.” Other challenges as a result include insomnia and increased insolation, withdrawal, and lack of motivation to apply for jobs or promotions even when qualified.
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How To Manage Subtle Stress Triggers
While there are systemic issues at play for Black women at work that has less to do with us and more to do with major overhauls that must be addressed by the powers that be, there are steps we can take for the betterment of ourselves and our mental health. Owens offered the following tips:
Tap into a support system, whether it’s a coworker you trust, a family member, an organization, or an outlet like a hobby.
Create a good work-life balance before burnout even starts. “Having certain boundaries [is the goal] such as, for example, if you get off at 5, you get off at 5. If your job description is this, you don’t go above and beyond because that brings you to a lot of burnout,” Owens said.
Prioritize self-care, whatever that means for you. “If you don’t have a routine, create one. Practice mindfulness and even some meditation,” she added.
Create structure in your life outside of work. “Even if you have a family, applying some structure in your routine helps relieve stress,” she said.
Get into grounding techniques. “Do a real quick square breathing exercise, that’s literally 30 seconds, or you can do a grounding technique that’s less than two minutes, right there where you are. You don’t need any other materials. That’s something you can do with just yourself and your body.”
Ask for help. “As Black women, we don’t ask for help enough,” she said. “Find where you need to ask for help. A lot of times, people think that’s indicative of weakness, but we need to rewrite that narrative. It’s okay to ask for help where you see fit. [If] you’re a mom, [it could be] every Wednesday from 5 to 6, your children are with the dad. You have to carve out that time.”
For more information on Grow Therapy, visit their website. You can also find out more about Keanne Owens, LCSW, via BeginYourJourneyToHarmony.com.
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