Trump's Government wants to punish people who speak out against him, especially if they're black women

When a white Miss America contestant criticised Trump she was praised; when a black ESPN hosts called out his racism the Government said she should be fired. We need to stop silencing black women in America

Jemele Hill has had to apologise for speaking the truth about Trump's attitude towards people of colour (Getty)

ESPN host Jemele Hill didn't mince her words on Monday when she told the truth about Donald Trump. There were no frills, qualifiers, or reductions when she tweeted that he is a white supremacist who rose to power as the clear result of these views.

It came as no surprise to me that on Wednesday, Trump’s press secretary Sarah Huckabee Sanders utilised the people's podium to call for Hill's firing, deeming her claims "outrageous". Black women's truth-telling has always provoked outrage in those dependant on false narratives to function.

There's a running joke in my family that I became "evil" when I turned five. Five is when I began furrowing my brow, crossing my arms, and "talking back." It's when I developed a sense of justice, when I began challenging those around me to confront their inconsistencies and wrongdoings. It's when I first experienced someone plugging their ears, digging in their heels, and scorning me instead. It's when I got my first lessons in the repercussions of being black and female with an opinion no one wanted to hear.

I'm unwavering in my dedication to language. Black women committed to truth-telling have to form an intimate relationship with words. We must master, curate, dilute, manipulate, and soften them. We train ourselves to turn harsh truths into something palatable, lest we be punished. Our right to free speech has always been contingent upon our restraint.

This is why the Administration’s comments hit such a raw nerve for those of us who value our supposed right to free speech in America. The United States Government utilising its platform to suggest that a company fire an employee on the basis of criticising the President is an inappropriate – and terrifying – abuse of power. And yet, those staunch protectors of the right to free speech were largely silent this week, despite the noise they make when people perpetrating hate speech or bias are held accountable. They didn't come to her defence despite the vast implications of Sanders' statements. They didn't see themselves in her silencing. They quietly condoned it.

This is not an accident; black women are the difficult daughters of America. Our truths are dismissed as "too much." Our existence holds a mirror to the meaning of society's disdain for us. Our struggles are a call to action. Our realities are too tangled to tackle. Hill's truth doesn't implicate Trump alone, it implicates everyone doing nothing about the glaring hypocrisy in his reign as the head of a country whose brand is freedom and equality.

Because of this, Jemele Hill is not met with the enthusiastic applause that boomed through Boardwalk Hall when Miss Texas lambasted Trump's under reaction to the white supremacist rallies in Charlottesville. Miss Texas is young, white, traditionally beautiful, and a little rebellious. Her calls to justice couldn't be more on-brand.

But Hill is the manifestation of an ideal that America falls short of, so she's met instead with condemnation on the national stage. The press secretary wants her to be punished for speaking the truth so many non-white Americans know to be true. In fact, Hill will keep her job, but ESPN’s public statement that they “accept her apologies” reinforce the idea that black women should not speak out of turn, and certainly not dare criticise the most powerful man in the country.

I understand why Hill felt the need to apologise for breaking the unspoken rule of restraint. A lot of black women grew up like I did, learning to live inside a sequence of sorries to survive. Those of us who refuse are made to suffer, and Hill is simply sparing herself as much as she can in the aftermath. I support her in that.

But when this all blows over and our outrage moves on to even more destructive remarks – or even worse, actual legislation – coming from the White House, let’s not stop asking who rallies behind America's difficult daughters? In Trump's America and all Americas preceding, the answer is largely no one. And America will never be what it says it is until it does.