You Must Really Hate Yourself

I'm back. Miss me? Well I know I missed you. Outside there's been a sweltering heat that refuses to cease. None the less, I'm enjoying basking in the sun, getting darker, and relishing in the joys of summer. Speaking of which I'm going on a rampage. I was having a conversation with a young black girl about hooking up her brother with someone. She expressed concern how she was having problems finding someone decent. She recalls the last girl he attempted to talk to was extremely ugly. "Why was she ugly I" asked to which she responded, "Well she's dark, and had natural hair."

My eyes squinted with confusion. As she was talking to me, I thought she must have been either blinded or extremely stupid. Me with my beautiful dark skin proudly sporting a dynamic Afro kept my mouth shut waiting for her to continue with valid reasoning as to why this woman was ugly. Instead an awkward silence ensued.

Maybe it's a bit naive of me, but I didn't think black women still thought like this. I kept thinking is she aware that her natural hair is curly? No matter how many perms she puts in her hair, at the end of the day it's still going to grow back in it's natural texture. As far as the skin color goes, I won't bother myself with such racist remarks.

It's absolutely absurd how some women define beauty. Most of which is superficially and highly unrealistic. But using skin color and hair textures as qualifiers for true beauty only shows how insecure one really is. I kept thinking to myself, this woman must really hate herself.

I understand that it's hard being black in America to some extent. But I also believe it's only hard if we perpetuate this line of thinking. How long are we going to keep thinking that black is not beautiful? Why the hell is it not?

So I guess my question to anyone who has ever encountered this is should we hate ourselves because we don't fit the mold? Should we attempt to lighten our skin and wear straight hair just to get a date? I really want to hear your responses because I'm most definitely following up on this topic.

Cheers
xxx