|
esskay
Digital storyteller, Photographic narrator, Hogwarts alum. In real life, I write things. I speak fluent sarcasm. I'm unintentionally funny. My favorite thing is food. Guac is life. I'm a fountain of the most random information. I'm pretty, only because it's weird to call oneself beautiful. I'm weird in all the good ways. I live in the greatest city on Earth. I was Sasha before Beyonce was schizophrenic. My life is stranger than fiction. But please, don't take my word for it. My pen is mightier than my sword. Instagram
agenda
musings
twitter
Tweets by @SaKePi
Banners
 blogwalk
|Alex|
|DS|
|Zoella|
|Meghan|
|CurlBox|
|Cass|
|TiKeDi|
|The Read|
|Infatuation|
|Negin| |
Friday, March 4, 2016 || 8:24 PM
On the heels of the most lit Black History Month in my memory and only days into Women's History Month, I had an interesting thought. I say interesting because I can't quite put my finger on the word that would properly describe it. But here's the thought: At one point in every little black girl's life, she wishes she were white. Now maybe this doesn't hold true for every young black girl. Maybe there are black girls out there who have been woke since birth and I envy them because the vast majority of black girls, myself included, aren't lucky enough to be born knowing just how beautiful our blackness is. Now obviously, this is a direct result of the lack of representation in the media. Little black girls aren't used to seeing beautiful black women on tv. The black girl doesn't get the guy. She isn't the head cheerleader or the most popular girl in school. Nine times out of ten, she doesn't even get to be the geek in the endearing coming of age story who gets a makeover and turns out to be hot. She's just that girl in the corner that the camera rolls past. An extra. An "other." Or worse, she's the angry black girl. Just another stereotype. But I'm not here to talk about what we already know. I'm just making an observation. I remember when it happened to me. I remember watching Lizzie McGuire with her cool clothes and her great friends and her straight blonde hair and wondering why that couldn't be me. And that year, I dyed my hair blonde(ish), cut a bang and wore a scarf as a belt. I'm not proud of it. Trust me, it's pretty embarrassing to admit. But necessary to make my point. Because after all that, I still wasn't happy. And not only that, I felt like people didn't get me. Just thinking about it makes me glad I'm not a kid anymore. The angst and being SO misunderstood? The drama that wasn't really drama? Junior High School? Lord knows I don't miss any of it. But it's easy to forget the struggles that young girls go through. I was 13 when it happened to me. And by the time I got to high school, I was over it. But to hear someone as young as my five year old niece say "I wish I was white" is heartbreaking. It's so easy for young girls to be swayed into thinking that their blackness is something they need to cast aside to be trendy or cool. Because dark skin isn't cool and curly hair isn't cool. It isn't the norm. Here's the thing though. Being black, especially being a black girl, is everything. I really believe black girl magic is a thing. We continue to accomplish so much because of, not in spite of the obstacles in our way and I think that makes all the difference.Labels: babble and rant, personals, pop of culture |