Taraji P Henson voices out against ‘dehumanizing’ Black girl labels

Taraji P Henson has had a large impact on Hollywood over the years, with successful roles like Hidden Figures, Proud Mary and even Empire she has taken the industry by storm.

However, during her time in the spotlight, she has come to detest the "strong black woman" and "black girl magic" labels thrown onto the black community because she has numerous "issues with titles like that.”

During her interview with Essence, Taraji began by saying, "It started as an empowerment saying: Because Black women are always neglected, we're always at the bottom of the totem pole. We're the least respected on the planet."

"And so, it came as a saying to empower us. But then, as years went on, we've been ignored because of that very statement. It dehumanizes us. It dehumanizes our pain. It belittles our tears!"

Clarifying her stance, she claimed, "We're supposed to be able to watch our brothers and sons, and fathers get murdered in the street, but we can take it because we're strong. We can deal with it, we can handle it. And that's just not true.”

"I have issues with titles like that, and Black girl magic because we're not fairies. We don't magically rebound from pain. We hurt and suffer just like others.”

She added, "I just always felt some kind of way about those titles, once I became aware of what they were doing to us. The damage that it was creating for us and the stigma around Black women to implement that we are strong enough to get over anything.”