“Black Is Beautiful.” As a person who is African American. I often hear this a lot. I’ve been told this as a child and has heard this phrase used repeatedly as an adult. “Black Is Beautiful.” As an adolescent I was proud to hear these words. I truly believed it and I still do. However as I became an adult I started pondering something. Why do we have to say, “Black Is Beautiful?” Shouldn’t that be something that is already known. Why does it seem like Blacks are the only race that has to do this? We have to continuously put ourselves on a pedestal.
Light Skinned, Dark Skinned Brown Skinned.
The answer is quite simple however. For all of our strength and for all our Beauty for all of the great qualities we have. We are still viewed in a negative light. Not only from people on the outside but also from our own inner circle. Light skin blacks, Brown skin blacks, and Dark skin blacks. What other race judges themselves from just their skin tone alone . Dark skin people are consciously and subconsciously taught that they are inferior while Light skins are taught that they are superior. Darkskin women are painted out to be angry, bitter loud and argumentative. The Pam to Martin’s Gina. Light Skin men are depicted as soft, overly emotion and crybabies you know the Drake type. “Black is Beautiful” that’s what we say but it’s obviously a divide in our community.
Gender Wars
Not only is there divison by skin tone but by gender. Our culture promotes disrespect between each other. Refering to our women as “Bitches” or “Hoes” even “Thots”. And Refering to our Men as “Niggas” and “Pimps”. Not only that but we treat each other like property rather than someone to love. As men we treat our black women as trophys. Something to say that we conquered. We listen to some rap songs that brain wash us into thinking that black women are only useful for sex.
Instead of glorifying her strength, her smarts, her wisdom. The music glorifys her body. Which in turn dictates how we look at women. If she doesn’t have a big booty or even big tits she’s instantly disregarded in our minds. Not only that but she grows up and gains that same mindset thinking because she doesn’t have those that she’s inferior to other women who do. It effects her self esteem. She’s questions her self worth. Sometimes even leading to surgeries. Just to boost her self estem. “Black Is Beautiful”.
For us black men our value in our black society is determined by how much we have in our pockets. However this can be said for almost anyone. The difference is our culture as a whole celebrates not only what you have in your pockets but also what you have on your body.
Our value is determined by brands. Timberland, Nike, Jordan, Polo, Versace, Louis Vuitton. No matter what your income level is. Whether we can afford it or not. As black men we feel we have to have these material things to show our value or to show we have style. As I said before our music praises brands and material things which conditions us to think we need them.
We’ll spend our last on a pair of Jordan’s to keep up with the guys around us. We brag about how much we spend instead of how much we saved or earned. Our black women are then conditioned to believe that that’s what a man is. She values a guy that has swag. She wants the brand rather than the man. The guy that’s balling. She wants the guy with the Jordans on his feet. The chains the jewelry and the watch. Someone like the guy she been crushing on while watching a music video. If he doesn’t have these things he could be disregarded and seen as not worth her time.
Our Perception
“Black Is Beautiful”. When I look at the perception of blacks mainly African Americans I realized something. When you look at us minorities and think about the stereotypes between all of us. You see something. A typical Asian stereotype is that they are good at math. That they are smart and get good grades, Respectful. A typical Latino or Mexican stereotype is that they are very hard workers.
But when you get to Blacks you don’t hear sterotypes like that. It’s more based on how high we can jump. How athletic we are. How good at sex we are. How well we can dance or sing. When you compare them you can see a difference. Rather than being looked at as people who could change the world for the better.
We are seen as entertainers. Someone who can jump high and slam a rubber ball in a net better than anyone. People that can rhyme words together and dance to a beat. And don’t get me wrong. I love sports. I listen to rap and RnB. But when you look at other minoritiy groups you see the difference in perception. The difference widens once you look at negative sterotypes. While other minority groups are looked at as hard workers, disciplined, and smart.
We are seen as lazy, dumb, and undisciplined. Our men are looked as horrible fathers, thugs and fornicaters, while our women are seen as angry, aggressive, confrontational. The crazy thing is this perception is not just on us from other races but we also perceive ourselves this way. And sometimes we act out in a way that we subconsciously believe that we are supposed to act. It’s a cycle of self hatred and self hurt that we as a culture has to change.
Black Is Beautiful?
Earlier I asked the question. Why do we have to say “Black Is Beautiful”? Well I have an answer. We have to tell ourselves “Black is Beautiful” because we have to remind everyone that we aren’t just sports athletes, musicians and rappers. We have to remind them that our black women aren’t just sex symbols and they are just as strong and important as our black men.
We have to show them that we are intelligent, hardworkers and that we can change the world. We have to show everyone that we aren’t the bad sterotypes that the media and movies potray us to be. That’s why we say “Black Is Beautiful”. However saying it is and all but before we can do that. We have to show them why “Black Is Beautiful”.
But it all starts with us. We have to convice ourselves first. This generational cycle and culture of self depreciation and self hate has to stop. How can anyone believe that Black Is Beautiful if we don’t truthfully believe it ourselves. We have to show each other love. This silly, light skin, dark skin and brown skin shit has to stop we are on the same team! These gender wars has to stop. You treat her as a king and she treats you as a king.
As far as our perception it will take time but if we change our culture maybe one day we won’t have to say “Black Is Beautiful” cause it will already be known to everyone. But until that day………”BLACK IS BEAUTIFUL!” Like, Share and Subscribe and remember “Love Is Confusing But We’ll Get Through It Together.”