It is now the 21st Century, where things have changed drastically from music, technology, living cost but black women are still facing issues. The everyday lives of African American women are misrepresented and misconstrued. There are four issues that may affect other black women and are currently weighing on my mind daily for myself. These issues are health, financial freedom, education, and pro-black women leadership and political representations.

1. Health: Sometimes it is not just about watching your diet and going to the gym. There are black women that are dying from preventable diseases, social ills, and other causes. Black women are suffering from stress, mental exhaustion, spiritual loss, depression, low self-esteem, and self-doubt. How is it that black women seek help in a society that has the idea that African American women are indestructible superwomen, expecting us to move on heavenly and earthly to solve every problem alone. You may think that the health risk would have stopped from how it was in the ’60s but no it has not! History repeats and some things will always stay the same until everyone sees that black women are not so “superwomen” as they think they are.
2. Education: More African American women are earning college degrees whether it is an undergrad or a graduate but there are still way too many black girls and women without high school diplomas. For those women who are earning undergraduates or above are in the same fields of humanities such as education, history, law, or sociology. There are not many sisters that are earning any degrees in science, computer science, business, math or engineering. Some of my greatest joys and my greatest disappointments have come with my computer science and math experience. It really disappoints me that some black women can be uninformed and oblivious to some information. There are free libraries and reading for black people is no longer a crime. Being said there should NOT be an excuse to why black women do not know things.
3. Pro-Black Women Leadership & Political Representations: I would love to see more African American leadership and political positions. Which mean these black men leaders such as Will Smith, Spike Lee, Russell Simmons, and Barack to all need to get out of the way! Where are all the girls at? More sisters need to run for office and challenge for leadership in some of these established organizations. According to the Center for American Women and Politics, there seems to be a huge jump for black women in 2018 politics there are about 535 women of color that are members of Congress. This makes me so proud to hear because out of all those women there is a likelihood that one or two of them would become the first black governor for a state or even run for president, I want to see more people that are in power that know and care about these black women so there can be a change.
4. Financial Freedom: There are so many black women out here regardless of their education or employment status are living paycheck to paycheck. Neither less, there are way more black women who are overwhelmed with a credit card or student loan debt, perhaps both! Being a college student, I am so worried about going out into the real world after graduation as black women. What if I do not get enough money from a job to pay off my loans, or what if I cannot get a great home on my own. It will be extremely hard to live paycheck to paycheck let alone I am already a broke college student this trying to survive a semester of school. Having financial freedom is one thing that is on my list to check off, with that I would be debt free, could buy my dream house and even would be able to pay my parents medical bills if any.

This information I have provided was kind of lengthy, but I want to know what you think. What are your top four issues or concerns as a black woman in the 21st century? My issues are my issues, but I would love to hear what your thoughts are telling me your own top four, maybe we can find some common ground or a few starting points to improve our lives.