Pride in your blackness

“TheBlack skin is not a badge of shame, but rather a glorious symbol of national greatness”, said Marcus Garvey.

Being prideful in your skin is great, yet being prideful in your black skin is extraordinary. As a young African American in the world today, we have two choices: with to live in fear or to live in pride; Living in fear to me, is letting one from superior race frighten you away from what you rightfully deserve; however, living in pride is holding your head high, being proud of your race/ethnicity not accepting NO because of it. According to the Webster dictionary, pride is in correlation to one's self esteem, and the confidence one has regarding said topic. So now you have the gist, and you want to become prideful in your black skin don’t you? Well here are 3 tips to ensure you have pride within yourself and no one can take it from you.

We are a big family!!!

Know that we, as a Black community< are family regardless of what block you live on, how you twist your fingers or who you pray to at the end of the night. When you see another Black stranger in the street, you nod, say hello, or smile, for a sense of respect, unity and understanding as Black people, it’s just something that we do. On another outlook, when one of our people are brutally murdered, beaten and done wrong by a Caucasian police officer, a random “Karen”, or any person who feels high in their white supremacy, we all feel the pain.

We come together when it matters, and when needed, we do not let one another suffer alone. Many other races can not say the same, I mean have you ever heard of any other race gathering for a protest that was, gaining outreach and engagement from all over the world, the Amish, celebrities, children, and so many more impactful people? I didn't think so. When Black people come together, we make noise, we don't settle, and we fight for what we believe in just like some of the greats including but not limited to Dr. Martin Luther King Jr., Rosa Parks, Bryan Stevenson, James Forten and Louis Hayden. This alone should instill a sense of power, security and pride overall just to be a part of the Black community and to be able to contribute to such an amazing family and foundation built on many struggling and prospering roots.

Know that we are the blueprint.

If you cannot tell we are trend setters, believe it or not! No matter how bad they claim to “hate” or dislike us, they really just want to be like us. Take a look at this, THEY CAPITALIZE! They capitalize off of our hair, skin color, looks, vernacular, and even our music, if this doesn't make us the blueprint for the culture and ways of today, I couldn't tell you what else does. Take pride in this alone. Hold your head high in the fact that you are being watched, copied, but could never be duplicated because you have the power of the melanin that can never be matched.

We continue to beat the odds.

Now, I could use this portion to boast about the outstanding graduation rates between high school and college amongst Blacks, or the change in prison statistics and even the takeover in the entertainment industry by primarily Black people. But I will instead put forth what we are currently seeing in the media today. BLACK LIVES MATTER! This movement arose in 2013, and has since been the platform, voice and reason for nearly all Black people. Today we see the Black Lives Matter movement focusing on the past lives of George Floyd, Breanna Taylor, Treyvon Martin (the start of it all), and Sandra Bland, along with so many more names.

We scream “I can't breathe”, and “Black Lives Matter”, day after day because it's true, and we take pride in our race because it is who we are. We are expected to deal with the wrong doings, brutality and shames of the world, but that is not who we are, “We are Black and we are proud.”. By protesting, marching, and signing different petitions we show that we will not sit down, rest or let up until our voices are heard, and justice is made. We beat the odds when we do not take NO for an answer. We show our pride when we fight for a YES.

So, all in all, it's an amazing thing to be Black, oh what a time it is! No one can be us, no one can experience our family bond and no one fights harder than we do, it's been proven time and time again. Now, hold your head high my Black Kings and Queens, because we WILL rise, and continue to be the best that we were made to be, unapologetically.