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Black Women Are For Grown-Ups!
Being born a black woman is like being born into one of the most exclusive clubs on Earth. We create the style, non-blacks make it "trendy." We create an entire race, and society wants to tear it down, and don't let us speak up on things. We're labeled as bossy, rude, aggressive, and those are the nice verbs they use to describe us. Imagine being a black woman...if you are, then CONGRATULATIONS, and HEY SIS!!! If not, are you okay? Sucks to be you because black women are HIGH KEY lit, but I digress...
Photo by Clarke Sanders on Unsplash
“The most disrespected person in America is the black woman. The most unprotected person in America is the black woman. The most neglected person in America is the black woman.” -- Malcolm X
Let's be honest though, there isn't a person on the planet that has style quite like a black woman. We've innovated, inspired, and created most of the things you deem as trendy. I remember being a child and being teased about my hair. They called me nappy-headed, even though my hair was long, and flowed down my back. Now even white women get extensions to make their hair appear longer. I was teased for my lips, and even though they weren't very full, and now you can't walk through downtown or uptown Dallas without seeing a white woman without lip fillers. I was even teased for the size of my breast in high school because I was a D cup by the time I was a freshman, and now plastic surgeons make most of their annual salaries from our non-black counterparts. Basically, black women are teased and chastised, and then they go and get surgeries and injections to look like us. They even tan to be our shade and they tell us, "I'm almost your color when I tan in the summer." Save it Savannah, you can't fake this shade of melanin, baby girl. GTFOH!
Photo by Clarke Sanders on Unsplash
“Imitation is the sincerest form of flattery that mediocrity can pay to greatness.” --Oscar Wilde
Black women are sacred hunni, and we should be treated as such. Most of us are leaders, in our work spaces, sometimes in the faces of our managers. We are taking names, giving orders, and there's no stop in sight. At times, we're seen as the angry black woman," though. Where others would be looked at as passionate or dedicated, we are seen as angry, bitchy, or my personal favorite, GHETTO. I remember being in cosmetology school (enter black and white flashback lol), and my classmate told me I was being a bitch because I told her earlier that day that I was fine studying by myself. I'm a tough cookie, so I brushed it off. Then she spread a rumor that I was trashy, rude, and ghetto. I approached sis and said, "I am 'from' the hood, but I am not 'of the hood.' You better be glad I'm not the latter." Did I mention she was a white girl? Yep, her name was Shelby and as bad as I wanted to knock her off her rocker, I had to remember the bigger picture. She was a child, and I am GROWN!
Photo by Jovaughn Stephens on Unsplash
Black women have also started to embrace ourselves as it pertains to our natural side. Natural curves. Natural curls, or locs if that's your style. Natural skin. Natural everything. We're even getting in tuned to our roots and where life began. We are socially and culturally aware of most everything going on around us, and we are the ONLY women, looking out for our race, as a whole. Being a black woman can also be stressful at times. With the state of the U.S, and the world right now, we have to worry about being a target, raising our children, and making sure our men make it home safely. We literally are carrying the weight of the world on our backs right now and it's exhausting AF, but we do it, not because it's expected, but because culturally, who else is going to hold down an entire race of people, and look as fly as us doing it? The answer is nobody folks!
So today, we celebrate you black woman. If you're tired, I see you. If you're loved, I love you too. If you're a creative, let's collab. If you're striving for greatness, I'm rooting for you. I ask that you celebrate black women, today and everyday! Lift us up, even when we're on a high. Stand up for us when we're being mistreated at work. Believe us when we enter hospitals and tell you we're in pain. Stop breaking our families apart and STOP KILLING our men/boys. We are dope by ourselves, but when our girl gangs link up, there will be no stopping us! Black women are really dope man! If you don't get that from all of this, you're truly a HATER! There is no other culture like ours and I'm just happy to be in the club.
Be sure to head over to Pinterest to see my featured board Black Women Are For Grown-Ups. Also, leave a comment below and tell me about your favorite black woman, even if its yourself. I know I'm my favorite black woman. Until next time...
