MadameNoire Featured Video

Getty

The Hotep crowd have a few patented phrases they like to trot out for various occasions. For Black women it’s sister or Queen if you’re behaving according to their rules.

But when you start doing something contrarian to their agenda—like dating or marrying a person of another race, particularly a White man, then the names change, drastically. You’re likely to be hit with one of their favorites: “Negro Bedwench.”

If you thought this was a term retired after slavery, you thought wrong. When a modern day Black woman finds herself dating a White man, she’s still likely to encounter the term, mostly on the internet. It comes from the fingertips of Black men who seem to reserve their ire about interracial dating for Black women specifically. No word on the Black men who date and marry White women. I guess there’s no term for that. 

And it’s not just reserved for the everyday woman. Famous Black women can get it too. Ask singer Michelle Williams.

In promotion of their new show on OWN, “Chad Loves Michelle,” the couple talked about the harassment they’ve endured online. Thankfully, neither one of them seemed to be overly pressed by the comments.

See what they had to say below.

“We have not experienced that being out in public. Social media is whole other thing. I’ve been called a Bedwench. Someone said that I am running the legacy of my African bloodline. He’s been called all kinds of…it’s been so many untruths out there. AKA lies. As Aretha Franklin said, ‘Lies, lies and more lies.’

I think it has enabled Chad to learn more about me and it’s enabled me to learn more about him and where he comes from. Just as long as I can say that I’m still learning and he’s still learning, it’s a great thing.”

Play

“Chad Loves Michelle,” premieres tomorrow, November 3 at 9/8c on OWN.

 

Comment Disclaimer: Comments that contain profane or derogatory language, video links or exceed 200 words will require approval by a moderator before appearing in the comment section. XOXO-MN