I'll start by saying it is completely mind boggling that in 2017 , after all the blood , sweat , tears, protest , activist ...etc that has been going on for forever that things like this is still happening. I hate to make an assumption but in big companies such as Dove , there is a TEAM of people marketing for them HOW DOES THIS HAPPEN? Furthermore, is there not one BLACK person on the team that was like , "hmm? nah." Shit , was there not one person with common sense that said ,"nah this isn't a good look " ?
I named the blog identity crisis because unfortunately I know a lot of people who go through this in some way . I know people who wish they could simply wash the black away. I know people and even have family members that struggle with loving their BLACKness. Not in an insecure I just hate how I look sort of way but in a why was I born black way? I have a cousin who I love & I won't say his name just yet but he specifically told me that he is not a black man, but he's a human. In some ways I get it, we are all human at the end of the day and that's the only race that really matters I guess. But I will say though that his reasoning for saying this was because in short, if being black is such a negative thing why should he want to be that?
That actually hurt my heart and part of me was offended.
I was raised in a black school where they taught us what slavery , assassinations against activists were, and just the struggle of being black was at a very young age. I am grateful for that experience because let's be real, there's not too many schools like that around right now that I know of. {{If you know of anything let me know but again I have searched and the programs I come across are a Black History Month , let's learn about Martin Luther King situation).In short, though they taught us the struggles they also taught us to celebrate our blackness. If WE don't celebrate us , who will? That's kind of what was instilled in my brain.
I know that everyone does not have this experience but what I don't understand is how are we so okay with our peers not being proud of who they are? Yes, I know there is a life long dilemma and controversy of simply being black. I keep saying this and people think I'm joking or don't have the facts to back it up but black people are illegal in America. So I understand where the pain comes from and why being proud to be black is a distant thought but I feel like even if I wasn't black I would still fight for this shit.
I sometimes struggle with trying to show other black people who aren't proud that it is okay to be black. I struggle with not judging those people and trying to help them .Let's be honest , the people that I know that are scared or ashamed to proudly celebrate or fully accept what they are, aren't really trying to listen to what I have to say. Half of them don't even understand or realize what they are doing to themselves to even grasp what I mean to begin with. The others just have been so whitewashed from birth that they think being something other than themselves is a problem. They think doing anything even partially cultural is instantly ghetto or inappropriate.
Being proud to "talk white" is self-hate. Why aren't you just happy to be able to talk properly? Not loving your hair for what it is is self-hate as well. Feeling like you have to be lighter to be beautiful is self hate . Feeling like you have to be silent with your thoughts about the issues YOUR people deal with is also self hate . Now I'm not saying that we shouldn't alter things to make us feel better but you have to love who you are first and foremost. If you struggle with that you need to do the research or whatever it takes to fix it, not just hate it because at the end of the day who you are is who you are.
I am happy to see that some black people are "woke" but some of them are only woke for the purpose of social media. I know people personally who are conscious online but hate themselves as soon as they log out of a site . Instantly they're back to wanting to be something other than the BLACK person they really are and instead of helping the community in some way would rather shun it. There's some other black people who won't even talk about topics that might bother them in fear of bothering the people of other races. I don't think everyone should be like me and not really care what someone has to say ,but dawg .
Anyways I think the point of this post is to simply ACCEPT WHO YOU ARE . You can not change the race or ethnicity that you are . Instead of hating that , you may as well embrace it . Be the change you wish to see in all ways.
That actually hurt my heart and part of me was offended.
I was raised in a black school where they taught us what slavery , assassinations against activists were, and just the struggle of being black was at a very young age. I am grateful for that experience because let's be real, there's not too many schools like that around right now that I know of. {{If you know of anything let me know but again I have searched and the programs I come across are a Black History Month , let's learn about Martin Luther King situation).In short, though they taught us the struggles they also taught us to celebrate our blackness. If WE don't celebrate us , who will? That's kind of what was instilled in my brain.
I know that everyone does not have this experience but what I don't understand is how are we so okay with our peers not being proud of who they are? Yes, I know there is a life long dilemma and controversy of simply being black. I keep saying this and people think I'm joking or don't have the facts to back it up but black people are illegal in America. So I understand where the pain comes from and why being proud to be black is a distant thought but I feel like even if I wasn't black I would still fight for this shit.
I sometimes struggle with trying to show other black people who aren't proud that it is okay to be black. I struggle with not judging those people and trying to help them .Let's be honest , the people that I know that are scared or ashamed to proudly celebrate or fully accept what they are, aren't really trying to listen to what I have to say. Half of them don't even understand or realize what they are doing to themselves to even grasp what I mean to begin with. The others just have been so whitewashed from birth that they think being something other than themselves is a problem. They think doing anything even partially cultural is instantly ghetto or inappropriate.
Being proud to "talk white" is self-hate. Why aren't you just happy to be able to talk properly? Not loving your hair for what it is is self-hate as well. Feeling like you have to be lighter to be beautiful is self hate . Feeling like you have to be silent with your thoughts about the issues YOUR people deal with is also self hate . Now I'm not saying that we shouldn't alter things to make us feel better but you have to love who you are first and foremost. If you struggle with that you need to do the research or whatever it takes to fix it, not just hate it because at the end of the day who you are is who you are.
I am happy to see that some black people are "woke" but some of them are only woke for the purpose of social media. I know people personally who are conscious online but hate themselves as soon as they log out of a site . Instantly they're back to wanting to be something other than the BLACK person they really are and instead of helping the community in some way would rather shun it. There's some other black people who won't even talk about topics that might bother them in fear of bothering the people of other races. I don't think everyone should be like me and not really care what someone has to say ,but dawg .
Anyways I think the point of this post is to simply ACCEPT WHO YOU ARE . You can not change the race or ethnicity that you are . Instead of hating that , you may as well embrace it . Be the change you wish to see in all ways.
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