Stop. Trashing. Black. Beauty!

*Disclaimer*: Look, because I know that not every black man does this,  the following rant is directed to your raggedy brothers-in-gender. So if you are gulity of this, I need you to chill and spread the word to the ones who are (guilty).

I need some of my black men who will read this to move a bit closer to your screen and read the following very carefully.

Stop. Trashing. Black. Women.

Let me explain...

     As a black woman, I already feel as if I have to battle every single day with you fools to be treated as an equal and not as an object. I already have to fight against stereotypes that have been placed upon my head by both society and the black community. I already have to carry the pains of our past on my back just because of the color of my skin and what's between my legs. You would think that one would be proud of all the things we've overcome, as a people as well as a gender. One would think that you would actually treat us as the queens. That you would value our beauty in it's myriad forms, as so many of you claim to do.

     Yet I still hear you, black man. I still hear you criticizing our hair, our looks, our skin. Talking about what's wrong with us, why you aren't attracted to us. Telling us what you want to look like. Your vision of the perfect black woman is as confusing and ever changing as the stairways at Hogwarts and I'm tired of it. Let me tell you how I feel and what I don't like. 

     What I do with my hair, face, and skin is my prerogative. I don't care if you just heard Bobby Brown singing that in your head. I do not care about what you think I should do with myself. I do not care about what you prefer. I do not like the fact that no matter how we present ourselves to the world, you still use words such as "insecurities", "lack of confidence" and "self hate" to describe how you think we feel on the inside and how you think that projects itself on the outside. I don't like the fact that you make us feel like circus animals when you see something you either do or don't like on us. You have no right to judge me simply because I don't live up to your personal standards. Much like your gender, there are too many things that we have to battle on a daily basis in our society. Yet, instead of making us feel beautiful no matter what we wear or lifting our heads when they hang low, you trash us on all fronts. You make us feel as if nothing we ever do is right, from our dress to our demeanor. 

This is but one square in the large quilted blanket that is misogynoir. Treat us better, no matter how we look.