Angel Reese: Arrogant or Confident?

Blog - Dr. Donna Oriowo, Sex Therapist

Some people will have clicked on the link leading to this blog either fully hoping that I will say that Angel Reese, in all her Black girl glory is being arrogant, or that you will click it waiting to lambast me for lambasting her. Well, if you are in the former camp, you will be sorely disappointed, though, if you stick around, you might learn a thing or two. If you are in the latter camp, welcome to the space where Black women and girls are very rarely in the wrong.

There is an expectation that Black people, and women especially, will humble themselves before the supposed greatness of whiteness and maleness. That we will be humble in our achievements, because we are intended to be invisible in our labor that benefits white pockets. Well, it seems those days are dead, and good riddance!

When it comes to Angel, there have been debates about if she was being confident or arrogant–though no matter what, so many had already decided she displayed a lack of sportsmanship. Well, a cursory search for the difference between confidence and arrogance yielded this result:

Confidence: confident individuals have high self-worth and therefore, is unbothered by bragging or boasting about their achievements.

Arrogance:An arrogant individual places too much importance on their self-image and is never satisfied. They feel the need to boast as they are, in actual fact, not happy with their external persona.

You see, where we get it f*cked up is in the assumption that Black people– Black women especially, were ever meant to feel a sense of confidence in who we are at all. Women are socialized to be quiet supporters of men so that men may dominate and we become the quiet supportive labor to their “greatness.” The same is true for Black people and people of color. Black people were brought to this country and enslaved to serve as the hands, legs and backs of the supposed greatness of white folk. That is to say both men and whiteness have wanted labor— without complaint, lest we are erroneously humanized and see us as something other than laborious support.

While we are a few years removed from enslavement, though those of us who are paying attention also know that the legacy has continued in “new” ways, we continue with the spirit of humbling Black folk and women to honor the traditions of white male supremacy and superiority. As such, misogynoir is running rampant in these streets, unfettered and unchecked.

Who is Defining her as arrogant?

What we are seeing is that a whole lot of white folk and a lot of men have decided that Angel’s actions were the textbook definition of arrogant. Though I think the word they would like to use is “uppity.” Because there is a perceived audacity for a Black woman– who was never intended to play a sport, to dominate in it, and to do so better than her peers who are white, and to flaunt that talent, not quietly, but aloud.

It’s not about Race?

What’s amazing to me is the number of white men who are now claiming expertise in the areas of race relations—especially when we know that the real experts are the people oppressed by it daily.

What’s amazing to me are the number of men and masculine people claiming expertise on sexism, when the real experts are the people who live under its thumb daily.

White men are saying this has nothing to do with racism or sexism, that it only has to do with being classy and displaying unsportsmanlike behavior.

Makes sense for them to say that, doesn't it?

Think about it, if it is not about race or sexism, in an obvious way, then it’s still about those things, but will be rooted in the tradition of “appropriate behavior” as has already been defined and codified by the white male supremacist delusion.

Saying something isn’t about race or sex doesn’t make it true. But it does serve to confuse the folk who are not experts in racism or sexism. And if I am not being clear, white men are not the experts on either.

What I mean here is that when you are oppressed by systems, you don’t have the privilege of not knowing everything there is to know about the phenomenon. Knowing about the ways racism and sexism work can serve to help preserve your life. You see the ways it works and who it works more harshly for. You are able to create strategies for surviving under its thumb, while still trying to make bids for freedom. In other words: you know it intimately. You see it at play in your daily life. You watch it play out in the spaces where you can only watch. You will see it over your breakfast and hear about it before you lay your head down for rest. It surrounds you on the daily.

Conversely, when the system is meant to benefit you, you barely see it. For you (the white folk, the male folk), it’s just the way of life. It makes you ignorant to the ways in which others live their lives, having to consider you, to consider who you are, to think about how you might behave, and the social power you have that can make their lives miserable– or even cease altogether.

So in the case of Angel, and other Black women who achieve and achieve OUT LOUD, saying it’s not about race or sex doesn’t make it true. It just means we end up talking around the conversation because the white, male experience is actively, but invisibly, being centered. And in this centering, what the real experts know is that women like Angel, who achieve or feel or do OUT LOUD are a threat to the status quo.

But because for so many we are post-racial (massive eyeroll), because we believe bringing up race is divisive, and because the strategy here is to make the strings on obvious centering, power, and dominance, invisible, we take what is obvious for some of us and say that the problem is not the problem. Suddenly Angel’s gesture on the court isn’t a race issue or a sexism issue, it's about “class” and sportsmanlike behavior– and being classy enough to behave in a way that men and white people would prefer, which wouldn’t threaten their self-proclaimed dominance. What we forget is that class and sportsmanship has been entirely codified and understood through the lens of the white supremacist patriarchal delusion. That Black people have been taught to behave in a way that would preserve their wellbeing where white people are present and would view them as a threat. That women have been taught to behave in a way that would preserve their wellbeing where men might see them as someone to “put in their place.”

And though many of us would never even deign to watch women play sports, suddenly out of the mouths of virtual babes, is the concern of where Angel’s sportsmanship is. Where her humble, quiet, talent is?

The desire to have her Black body perform the sport, as though a puppet, while keeping her personhood, personality and passion out of the arena.

We have not checked on our own misogynoir to begin to have commentary on how she should act. We who uplift the brash and open celebration from men on the court, field, or rink. We who glorify in the passionate displays and the “arrogance” of displayed talent – as long as the money continues to roll in.

No. Some folk became sudden experts in race relations and sexism but instead of deciding to use their voices to speak up on unequal pay, efforts to display women’s talent on screen, or to do almost anything else, they decide that this is where they would rather place their expertise.

Remember: minding your business is free and is great for your mental health. And this, like other platforms, is a great place to listen and learn instead of needing to center yourself in a conversation where your expertise is lacking.

So to answer the opening question:

No, Angel was not being arrogant, she was in her full confidence. But when you view anything from the white supremacist lens, her obvious talent and ownership of that talent, make her into something else entirely.