yeah I want us all to think about the
power of celebrating aspects of
ourselves which are commonly seen as
undesirable essentially I wanted to
explore the magnitude in power of self
pride as an active resistance for an
extensive period of my life my
conception and notion of pride were
driven by the limits imposed upon me by
the big bad wolf we all know us society
I grew up believing that there were
things worth embracing and others
appropriately shamed which in turn
shapes what I chose to celebrate or
press about myself though my struggle
with pride is appearance in many areas
of my life it has been most significant
in my battle with being a young black
woman brought up in a country where
colorism
the preferential or prejudicial
treatment of same race people based
solely on their skin color and growing
up in a society which shames and
degrades anything or anyone outside of
what we know as the so called
lords made me reject deny and disregard
all my innate physical attributes which
made me feel as though I was not meeting
up to the ludicrous societal
expectations imposed upon me basically I
learned that dark skin was bad light
skin was good my exposure to colorism
began in my childhood at the age of
eight or nine I had grasped that in my
environment
fair skin straighter hair and lighter
eyes were the epitome of
beauty in addition it was very apparent
that those who fit that profile were
treated with higher regard than say
someone with darker skin or kinkier hair
standing before you today as a young
adults I must admit that that reality is
hard to swallow and that racial complex
can be tremendously difficult to
overcome i explicitly remember the day
one of my relatives came home from
school and related story in which she
stated that the kids in her class told
her that her darkness was the result of
her mother’s sexual encounter with a
gorilla comments as gruesome as these at
the time made me feel relieved that I
was in some way given a free pass my
caramel complexion saved me from similar
taunts and mockery but it did not save
me from desiring to be lighter and from
there a sense of shame and discomfort
about my appearance was born I saw my
fake called curly hair and skin tone as
restrictions which would never allow for
me to be seen as beautiful or acceptable
enough therefore I begged my mother for
a perm and I refused to play out in the
Sun for too long as I feared becoming
darker
this was my attempts are trying to get
rid of my undesirable traits as if my
inferiority complex was not deeply
rooted enough the internet and
international media outlets overexposure
of the Caucasian woman as being the
ideal woman reinforced my insecurities
as a result when I was told that I was
you’re so pretty for a black girl or
that my hair was so much better than the
typical black girls my heart exploded
joy smile spread from ear to ear even
though these compliments if we can even
call them back we’re back hand
and I was a victim of passive racism I
was also happy to conform to it and
therefore reinforce it I am no longer
that person however and you’re probably
wondering how I got here
I watched my three-year-old cousin
compared to other cousins she believed
that one was more attractive than the
other and when asked why she stated that
it was because one skin tone was more
yellow I imagined my cousin avoiding the
Sun when her date should be spent
cleaning it and avoiding swimming
because she had just firmed the life out
of her kinks and curls I saw myself in
that little girl and through her I saw
how pervasive and restrictive the
mentality was and at that moment I
realized that I did not one for my
cousin to grow up as I had measuring the
density of her melanin or the bossiness
of her curls instead I wanted more than
anything for my cousin to grow without
having to question the beauty of her
complexion or curls and I realized that
if I wanted her to do so I had to start
with myself though my journey may not
resemble yours we are all confined to
rigorous regulations with rigorous
regulations within our society based on
race sex and class the restrictions you
encounter on a daily basis have probably
subjected you to moments in which you
have judged or suppressed aspects of
yourselves because you have deemed them
as undesirable and let’s be honest you
have probably judged to others or false
a sense of superiority within yourself
as a result to these standards but let
me reassure you that it is not because
you are a bad person and it is not
because we are bad people
it is rather because this pervasive
eyetality has been ingrained in us and
so my question to you is what do you
plan to do about it and before I allow
for you to formulate your response I
want you to go to this one simple truth
if we as a majority learn to embrace the
aspects of ourselves deems as
unacceptable it will be the start of a
powerful new dominant ideology and that
ladies and gentlemen in itself is a
revolutionary act and so with this
knowledge I asked him again what do you
plan to do about it
power of celebrating aspects of
ourselves which are commonly seen as
undesirable essentially I wanted to
explore the magnitude in power of self
pride as an active resistance for an
extensive period of my life my
conception and notion of pride were
driven by the limits imposed upon me by
the big bad wolf we all know us society
I grew up believing that there were
things worth embracing and others
appropriately shamed which in turn
shapes what I chose to celebrate or
press about myself though my struggle
with pride is appearance in many areas
of my life it has been most significant
in my battle with being a young black
woman brought up in a country where
colorism
the preferential or prejudicial
treatment of same race people based
solely on their skin color and growing
up in a society which shames and
degrades anything or anyone outside of
what we know as the so called
lords made me reject deny and disregard
all my innate physical attributes which
made me feel as though I was not meeting
up to the ludicrous societal
expectations imposed upon me basically I
learned that dark skin was bad light
skin was good my exposure to colorism
began in my childhood at the age of
eight or nine I had grasped that in my
environment
fair skin straighter hair and lighter
eyes were the epitome of
beauty in addition it was very apparent
that those who fit that profile were
treated with higher regard than say
someone with darker skin or kinkier hair
standing before you today as a young
adults I must admit that that reality is
hard to swallow and that racial complex
can be tremendously difficult to
overcome i explicitly remember the day
one of my relatives came home from
school and related story in which she
stated that the kids in her class told
her that her darkness was the result of
her mother’s sexual encounter with a
gorilla comments as gruesome as these at
the time made me feel relieved that I
was in some way given a free pass my
caramel complexion saved me from similar
taunts and mockery but it did not save
me from desiring to be lighter and from
there a sense of shame and discomfort
about my appearance was born I saw my
fake called curly hair and skin tone as
restrictions which would never allow for
me to be seen as beautiful or acceptable
enough therefore I begged my mother for
a perm and I refused to play out in the
Sun for too long as I feared becoming
darker
this was my attempts are trying to get
rid of my undesirable traits as if my
inferiority complex was not deeply
rooted enough the internet and
international media outlets overexposure
of the Caucasian woman as being the
ideal woman reinforced my insecurities
as a result when I was told that I was
you’re so pretty for a black girl or
that my hair was so much better than the
typical black girls my heart exploded
joy smile spread from ear to ear even
though these compliments if we can even
call them back we’re back hand
and I was a victim of passive racism I
was also happy to conform to it and
therefore reinforce it I am no longer
that person however and you’re probably
wondering how I got here
I watched my three-year-old cousin
compared to other cousins she believed
that one was more attractive than the
other and when asked why she stated that
it was because one skin tone was more
yellow I imagined my cousin avoiding the
Sun when her date should be spent
cleaning it and avoiding swimming
because she had just firmed the life out
of her kinks and curls I saw myself in
that little girl and through her I saw
how pervasive and restrictive the
mentality was and at that moment I
realized that I did not one for my
cousin to grow up as I had measuring the
density of her melanin or the bossiness
of her curls instead I wanted more than
anything for my cousin to grow without
having to question the beauty of her
complexion or curls and I realized that
if I wanted her to do so I had to start
with myself though my journey may not
resemble yours we are all confined to
rigorous regulations with rigorous
regulations within our society based on
race sex and class the restrictions you
encounter on a daily basis have probably
subjected you to moments in which you
have judged or suppressed aspects of
yourselves because you have deemed them
as undesirable and let’s be honest you
have probably judged to others or false
a sense of superiority within yourself
as a result to these standards but let
me reassure you that it is not because
you are a bad person and it is not
because we are bad people
it is rather because this pervasive
eyetality has been ingrained in us and
so my question to you is what do you
plan to do about it and before I allow
for you to formulate your response I
want you to go to this one simple truth
if we as a majority learn to embrace the
aspects of ourselves deems as
unacceptable it will be the start of a
powerful new dominant ideology and that
ladies and gentlemen in itself is a
revolutionary act and so with this
knowledge I asked him again what do you
plan to do about it
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