A close friend of mine (of non-black decent) asked me; why isn’t it titled ALL HUMANS ARE BEAUTIFUL? I paused at first, as I shared her same feelings. Then, unlike her, I began to think about the harshness and racism I experienced as a child and as an adult. Racism from people who are not black, and racism from people who ARE black. As much as I wanted to say racism and the color of ones skin is a thing of the past, I couldn’t ignore the cries of help from a world sick with it. From the Donald Sterling situation, to Oprah’s Dark Girls documentary, to my own multi-cultural family, the world still have not found the antidote for racism.
So what did I say to her? How did I respond? “Have you ever been terrified to play in the sun?”, “Have you ever asked your mom to put brown dye in your bath water?” I asked. “No!”, she exclaimed, “that’s absurd!”. I agreed then proceeded to say “young black girls still ask for Clorox in their bath water, and are afraid to go out in the sun”. Part of this is due to society’s failed community responsibility to produce a wide range of positive representation of women of color. Additionally in the black culture, darker women (for the most part) are not viewed as beautiful.
“My Black is Beautiful is a community of black women that celebrates everything that makes them beautiful” – MBIB
I don’t see the My Black Is Beautiful as a separation of blacks from other races, I see it as spreading self love to our younger generation in an attempt to nip the poison in the bud. Also, it serves as a re-education to love ones-self from the inside out. For example, people who experience tragic accidents are sometimes disfigured. As a result, self-esteem and confidence can fall to an all time low. They have to learn how to love themselves again and realize that beauty is not synonymous with color, facial features, weight, body image, etc. That is what the MBIB platform is used for.
This year, for the first time ever, My Black Is Beautiful went on a nationwide search for six empowering women who can help us inspire black women and girls to become their best selves. Out of thousands that partook of the April 11 auditions, 400 were chosen (100 each from Atlanta, Chicago, Dallas, DC/Maryland) as semi-finalist. It was an honor to be 1 of the 400 semi-finalist. See my footage below:
To learn more about My Black Is Beautiful, Visit: myblackisbeautiful.com
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