Through the Eyes of BROWN … BLACK.
I wake up in the morning and admire what I see.
My beautiful brown skin, my textured unique hair, and everything different about me from most, All they see is BLACK.
What does it mean to be black?
It means everything to know that I have been blessed with the pleasure of being black.
To know the history that has educated most, the pain that was endured, and the journeys that my people have traveled.To be black it means to be forced to work ten times harder than others that may not do much. To be black it means that people will have the most to say about you. To be black you face many challenges during your everyday lives because people want to see you lose.
To be black is to prove them wrong.
To be black is to constantly get weird stares from people that you have never seen before, but judges your every movement, your every move, your existence. It makes me angry, have I done something wrong? The ignorance embedded into people badgers us, forcing us to go into hiding.
To be black is to consistently receive weird comments or people questioning your intelligence.
"You are so beautiful, you look like..... the one little girl on that tv show. Skai Jackson!" -- Oh. i understand that to them they may not realize the stereotypes within that compliment. Why can't you just say I'm beautiful? Do you have to compare?
"Wow, I didn't know that your hair could grow that long" -- It's called a protective style.
"I didn't know that you had that much hair." -- Right, as I supposed to be bald because I'm black? Do you think that black people can't grow long hair?
"It's just a hairstyle." -- No, it's history and culture that tells a story that you could not bare. It shows the strength and confidence, something that you don't have. It resembles beauty.... it is me.
BLACK vs. BROWN
That’s easy. It has been normalized for people to call us BLACK. I mean, to them, it’s better than nigger right, or negro? No, but once again a part of what it means to be BLACK. The truth is, it’s all the same but created more modernly to blindsight the ones it’s used against. BLACK.
BROWN, strangely is BLACK excellence, but for us to see.
BROWN is what my ancestors were.
BROWN is what my mother is, my father is.
BROWN is what my grandparents are, their parents are, and so on.
BROWN is what my brothers and sisters are.
BROWN is me. BLACK is me.