It's not just clothes. It's not just hair. It's not just music and words.
Okay, I have a new blog to just vent into. What's the first thing I'm gonna do? Oh yeah, dump a rant on it just so we know where we're going. Don't worry, don't fret. This isn't going to be the only thing on this blog. I'm just feeling something that I want to get off my chest.
Let me start by saying this: I'm a young black woman. I see things and I know things and I've experienced things that have shaped me into the woman I am today. Any black woman will tell you the same. I've had my natural hair texture insulted, I've been subject to colorism, and I've dealt with racism in multiple forms. So I react to certain things because I can see where it comes from and it affects me. It's a vicseral feeling. I feel it in my soul.
Just like I feel it in my soul when a non black person uses our slang or jocks our style and calls it their own. Gets plastic surgery to get big lips and somehow gets credit for starting the "Full lip trend". Yeah, features that we've been ridiculed for, for YEARS is a trend. A trend. That's a slap in the face.
I feel it in my soul when a white girl twerks and sticks her tongue out, uses a group of black women in her video and is credited as the innovator of twerking. A dance black women and other women of color have been doing for decades. But when we did, it was ghetto, it was nasty and inappropriate.
I feel it in my soul when the hairstyles we use to protect and preserve our curly, kinky hair is stolen and called a "Edgy Coachella style". It's only "edgy" and "boho chic" on a nonblack person but on us it's unprofessional and unkempt. We're made to feel so self conscious and self hating that we put harmful chemicals in our hair to straighten it. Then we pass those same ideals onto our children and the cycle continues. Listen, I'm not putting down black women who do straighten their hair and wear weaves. It's their choice and I want them to have that choice. It should be a choice, not a requirement.
I feel it in my soul when the music, the art we created to express our frustrations and sadness at being killed and beaten is taken and turned into a quick cash grab but when it was our cry for help it was put down as angry and militant. Rebellious and just noise. No, when groups like NWA and Public Enemy came out and spoke about the issues going on the black community they were giving you a glimpse into our strife. Our personal warzone that's almost impossible to get out of. Even now as the country likes to pat itself on the back for affirmative action and civil rights, you still give us piss poor education, pump drugs into our neighborhoods and allow the police to put a bullet in our brains. You say we're free but from where I'm standing, we're just wearing a different pair of shackles.
I feel it in my soul when you steal our slang, our language and pretty much butcher it. But before that you tell us we're butchering the english language. That we don't know how to speak correctly. Plenty of us can speak just fine, thank you. We're just not acknowledged for that. When we were brought over here from Africa we were stripped of our native language and identities so excuse us if we're trying to gain something of our own. Not that you'll let us keep it for long.
Next time you want to tell a black person, "It's just hair/words/music/clothing!", make the decision not to. Because you're wrong. It's a little piece of us that we can say we own and be proud of. You know, until it's taken away from us and stripped of it's original meaning and signifigance.
Let me start by saying this: I'm a young black woman. I see things and I know things and I've experienced things that have shaped me into the woman I am today. Any black woman will tell you the same. I've had my natural hair texture insulted, I've been subject to colorism, and I've dealt with racism in multiple forms. So I react to certain things because I can see where it comes from and it affects me. It's a vicseral feeling. I feel it in my soul.
Just like I feel it in my soul when a non black person uses our slang or jocks our style and calls it their own. Gets plastic surgery to get big lips and somehow gets credit for starting the "Full lip trend". Yeah, features that we've been ridiculed for, for YEARS is a trend. A trend. That's a slap in the face.
I feel it in my soul when a white girl twerks and sticks her tongue out, uses a group of black women in her video and is credited as the innovator of twerking. A dance black women and other women of color have been doing for decades. But when we did, it was ghetto, it was nasty and inappropriate.
I feel it in my soul when the hairstyles we use to protect and preserve our curly, kinky hair is stolen and called a "Edgy Coachella style". It's only "edgy" and "boho chic" on a nonblack person but on us it's unprofessional and unkempt. We're made to feel so self conscious and self hating that we put harmful chemicals in our hair to straighten it. Then we pass those same ideals onto our children and the cycle continues. Listen, I'm not putting down black women who do straighten their hair and wear weaves. It's their choice and I want them to have that choice. It should be a choice, not a requirement.
I feel it in my soul when the music, the art we created to express our frustrations and sadness at being killed and beaten is taken and turned into a quick cash grab but when it was our cry for help it was put down as angry and militant. Rebellious and just noise. No, when groups like NWA and Public Enemy came out and spoke about the issues going on the black community they were giving you a glimpse into our strife. Our personal warzone that's almost impossible to get out of. Even now as the country likes to pat itself on the back for affirmative action and civil rights, you still give us piss poor education, pump drugs into our neighborhoods and allow the police to put a bullet in our brains. You say we're free but from where I'm standing, we're just wearing a different pair of shackles.
I feel it in my soul when you steal our slang, our language and pretty much butcher it. But before that you tell us we're butchering the english language. That we don't know how to speak correctly. Plenty of us can speak just fine, thank you. We're just not acknowledged for that. When we were brought over here from Africa we were stripped of our native language and identities so excuse us if we're trying to gain something of our own. Not that you'll let us keep it for long.
Next time you want to tell a black person, "It's just hair/words/music/clothing!", make the decision not to. Because you're wrong. It's a little piece of us that we can say we own and be proud of. You know, until it's taken away from us and stripped of it's original meaning and signifigance.
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