“You’re pretty for a black girl.” “Is that weave or is it real?” “Wait, you aren’t mixed!?” “Why are black women so angry?” “You’re so articulate, for a black girl.” Almost every black girl has heard these words or something along those lines. The world does not know much about us and our daily lives. They just know what the media portrays us as. It makes us all seem ghetto, loud, angry, and all around trashy. But black women are much more than that. We, black women, are much more than the cruel perspective of the media.
Racism. It is a system of advantages that unfairly benefits white people because they created it. It is a hierarchy, or ranking system, in which white people are at the top and people of color (black women) are consecutively lower. We most definitely do suffer from racism, but we go through other struggles people are not aware of. These struggles include things like: colorism, cultural appropriation, the constant hate of our natural hair, being influenced at a young age that we are the “bad” friend or influence, and etc. It’s like the world is pushing us down before we even get to really know ourselves.
Colorism.  For those who do not know, colorism is a discrimination that favors lighter skin more than darker skin. In society lighter skin is seen as “prettier”. Most commonly, mixed black women are lighter. That is why attractive black women are constantly asked if they are mixed, and that is also why in this generation mixed babies are now a big fetish. As if Caucasian blood is some magic potion that grants beauty. Some mixed black women do not look exactly like what the “common” mixed black woman looks like. There are some mixed black women who are born with coarser hair, basic brown eyes, and dark skin. They receive hate as well because they aren’t the type of mixed person the media likes. All of these impossible standards make black woman feel ugly and unappreciated which causes self-hate. Black women who hate themselves turn to products like skin bleaching to fit basic Eurocentric beauty standards, but in my opinion all black women are beautiful. Eartha Kitt, a multitalented activist, once stated, “Just because you are different does not mean that you have to be rejected,” and I feel like black women need to understand this instead of accepting rejection.
In one of the articles of “Blonde Salad”, a fashion blog, they said, “the coolest hairstyle of 2016 is double braids, better known as boxer braids.” This is a prime example of how the media is constantly making black culture seem as if it isn’t even black culture. “Boxer Braids” are not a real thing; they are just white washed corn rows with a new name. Cultural appropriation. It typically involves members of a dominant group exploiting the culture of less privileged groups. In this case white people are stealing the African hair culture, slapping a new name on it, and saying it was their own original idea. Some may fire back saying, “Well black girls straighten their hair and dye it blonde, so that’s stealing white culture.” Culture is transmitted through language, material object, rituals, and art from one generation to the next. In other words, if you are born with it, it is not culture, therefore it cannot be appropriated.
It is very ironic how the media wants to steal our hairstyle, but still shame us for our natural hair. Women with natural 4c (tight and thick afro) hair are often called “unprofessional” “nappy” and “dirty”. Women with dreadlocks are called “disgusting”. Women with relaxed (chemically straightened) hair are told they are “trying to be white”. In Beyoncé’s latest song “Formation” she stated “I like my baby’s hair with baby hair and afro,” because she had been criticized for letting her daughter's hair “run wild” in a “crazy” afro. All these words and labels ruin black women because it seems that whatever they do is not good enough, but when a white person does the same thing it becomes a trendy fashion statement.
Another example of white people turning black features into a trend is lip injections and the craze over Kylie Jenner’s lips. Black women -and men- are born with naturally full lips, yet they still get teased. But as soon as a white person gets lip injections to make her lips plump she goes viral, gets her own “Kylie Jenner Lip Challenge”, and creates her own lip product line that is making millions the minute a product is released. Does that seem fair to you!? A wise unknown person put this whole issue into two sentences. “As black people we will always be imitated. They love everything about us, except us.”
The most widely spread example of the media portraying black women wrongly is the angry black woman stereotype and the ghetto black woman stereotype. People like @theyungp, @blameitonkway, and @itsbambii on Instagram all get paid to imitate the media’s view and on a black woman and make it into a joke. They all scream, speak improper grammar, pat and scratch their weaves, and smack their gum loudly and aggressively. @theyungp even made a song about his character Keisha constantly bothering her “baby daddy” for child support money. The ironic thing is all the people making these ridiculous videos are BLACK MEN! I guess they feel it is okay to disrespect their mother, sisters, or any black woman out there when they should be protecting them. Recently, I’ve taken notice of more black men publicly announcing that they are no longer interested in black women because they feel like all black women are trashy when in fact we aren’t. These kinds of men now fetish Latinas and white women because the stereotypes we are given are not good ones and it is very embarrassing that a man doesn’t even find beauty in his own race.
There are many black women out there who are articulate, calm and classy with a great education and a successful job, but that type of women does not get acknowledged. I am so sick of black women not getting the credit they deserve. They should not be judged by the amount of melanin in their skin, or their hair type, or even how they choose to speak. Black women can do more than dance, play basketball, and get shot. They are talented, intelligent, and artistic, but the media refuses to notice it. I always get so happy when I see a successful black woman breaking negative stereotypes made by society.