Empowering Black Beauty

If you have yet to see "My Black is Beautiful's "Imagine A Future" Documentary, click the link above and watch it now! As a black woman, the question of self love is ever present in our lives. Growing up in America, we are constantly bombarded with images of a westernized concept of beauty that often times, many of us find ourselves in a place of self hate and low self esteem.

Not only are the forces of mass media; television, magazines, movies and social media a constant destruction of the confidence of black women, so to are the very people in our lives. Our own black communities are telling us that black people with dark features are not enough. We are told by our own people that dark hair and dark eyes and dark skin is ugly. Our very own dark people praise those of lighter skin and hail them as the most beautiful of our race. But why?

The pure beauty of people of color is the that fact that our shades, facial features and body types are so varied. The westernized ideal of beauty was made to praise one particular type of beauty and if everyone bends themselves to fit that one type of beauty, we'll all the look the same and where is the beauty in that?

"Imagine A Future" highlights a major issue among young black women, that of not finding the pure essence of who they are beautiful. A solution, we, black people as a whole need to reinforce the beauty of who we are individually and as a whole to ourselves and one another. Instead of constantly praising western beauty, we need to embrace our own beauty as seen through our art, culture and history. There is a reason why other cultures are constantly taking the things that we have created.

Talk and read about black history. Explore the history of your ancestors from Africa. Watch black movies, television shows and documentaries. Take part in creating a better world for our children to grow up in. Create a space for children to believe in their beauty from childhood. Hang paintings of black art. Tell your fellow black sisters and brothers, that they are beautiful. Make a statement to Willie Lynch that we will not be pitied against each other anymore. That whether we are light, dark, brown or biracial, we are are beautiful in our own right.      

I believe that my Black is Beautiful because it has been poetically designed that way. What makes your Black Beautiful?

Trials of Womanhood (My battle with AAMCO)

Recently, I was asked what it meant to be a black woman in America. After I thought about it, I discovered that for me black womanhood has a lot to do with many of the opportunities I do not get as well as the way different types of people interact with me. One particular industry that is especially known for mistreating women is that of the car industry. Whether there're selling you a car or servicing it, men in the automotive industry tend to treat women in general as if we have knowledge of life itself.

Which leaves me to my never ending battle with my local AAMCO Transmissions & Total Car Care. This local sub-par repair shop has decided that upon giving up my car for a free diagnostic that I lost all rights an privileges of humanity.

My car has been going through issues for the past few weeks and after spending some time on the side of the road as I was leaving for work, I decided no more. After calling around to a few different transmission shops, I decided on one to take my car to with the advise of an employee at Advance Auto Parts. I arrived at AAMCO at 9:30 am with the hopes of being out by 1:00 pm, just in time to make it to work. To my dismay, the service manager relates that I must leave my car there all day. After much relenting and searching for a ride to work, I agree to let them keep my car. After I get off work, I receive a call from the repair shop, where I find out exactly whats wrong with my transmission along with it's quote repair price of $414.17.

AAMCO then takes me on a six day uphill battle to fix and return my car. I decide to let them keep the car over the weekend, mostly because I am a woman and have no other choice. On Monday I call in 8:30 that morning for a re-explanation of the repairs that need to be made and the price. Now, all of a sudden, the price has been pushed to $501.00 for other mysterious issues.

I relate to the service manager that I am unable to pay the price in total at the moment and ask if I can set up a payment plan or at the very least pay half Tuesday on pick up day and the rest on Friday. The service manager proceeds to tell me that "sure that's fine, if you don't mind going without a car all week". I relate to him that I need my car and in return, he relates "well I need my money in full, in the real world a written and signed statement means nothing. You must pay all the money before I can hand your car over to you." He then suggests that if I have good credit that I finance through a company called Spring Leaf or I can call TitleMax and exchange my title for the cash to pay a $500 service charge. After telling him I refuse to take out a title loan and plead to pay half now and half later he advises, "just take out the title loan, I don't know why you are so afraid to do that." Finally, I scrape up the money and decide to pay it all on Tuesday when I come to pick my car up. When I asked the service manager if my car would be ready on Tuesday by 1:00 pm, he retorts, "I cant give you an exact time but don't see why it won't be ready then." I go on to explain that I need my car Tuesday by 1:00 pm so that I can go to work.

Surprise, surprise when I arrive on Tuesday my car is still not ready, due to some technical issues and the shop being very busy and all. The service manager continues to feed me excuse after excuse about why my car is not ready and then proceeds to tell me "remember, I said, I'd call you when it was ready and now it is not ready." I did not recall him saying that at all and I completely resent him talking to me as if I am a child. As a paying customer, I deserve to be treated with some decency and respect but because I am a women, this guy thought he could get over on me and jerk me around as if I don't depend on my car for life necessities, including going to work so I can pay his obscenely high service charge.

Being a woman at a repair shop, means to be treated like your car is worth more than you are. I was not treated with even the slightest courtesy as he held in his possession my car. As woman in a service center, we are in a position where men feel free to walk all over you. My advise is to stand up for the rights you deserve and when you are not afforded those right take a stand.

BOTTOM LINE: NEVER EVER TAKE YOUR CAR TO AAMCO! They will jerk you along, all the while increasing your bill and keep your car until they feel like returning it.

The After Graduation Life.... (A Personal Narrative)

Congratulations!!!!! I've graduated from college!!!

Now what?? 12 grades, 4 schools including 5 years in college and suddenly I find myself thrown into the real world I had always been worned  about. When I left elementary school on my first day offifth  grade, they told me that I was a big girl now. I was made to repeat the words of a song that read "I am a promise, I am a possiblity and If i work hard enough I'd be where I want to be. I was told that as a child I was the future of the world. At 23 years of age I wonder what future for the world I turned out to be, leaving all the world and family I knew behind for one failing job after another, never making enough money, never feeling satisfied with my so called career. 

In middle school they told us that the real world wouldnt be as nice as they were to us. They told us that the high school teachers wouldn't put up with our late homework assignments, petty arguments and occasional fist fights. They told us that in highschool it would be a whole new world and we had better be preparared for it. The older kids told us, we'd be bullied and taunted for simply being who we were, freshmen. I found that quite ironic since they too were freshmen at that time.

In high school they told us college was the real world and everyone had to go, that is if you wanted to make something of yourself. So whether we had a major or even a clue of a major or not they made us sign up for schools at every college fair and tour. And on the very first week of classes in the midist of my nervousness and anxiety as I sat in my English 101 class listening to my classmates read their papers aloud, I realized that this too was another stage in my life that I could achieve. Not to mention an A on that first paper gave me a large boost of encouragment. 

Like all the years before, I conqured all of the very institutions that frightened me at first glance. I realized that by the end of the first year of each new school I attended at monumental points in my life, my goals were never too far outside of my reach. As saddedned as I was to leave elementary school, it was during my first year of middle school where I discoved the world of literature in a whole new light and would thus be the fuel for entire life's journey. As anxiety stricken as I was to leave middle school and venture into high school, that 9th grade year proved to be piviotal turing point in my life and each year after, I saw myself grow more into the person that would shape the rest of my life. I played sports, discovered my personal style (that would continue to change and upgrade as they years passed) and made a core group of friends that I still lean on till this day. I also went though heartache and break ups, lost some good friends along the way but I never forgot the lessons that high school taught me. 

But, my years at Claflin University really shaped me as an adult and groomed me to be the intellectual that I have become. Now as I sit on the borrowed couch in my first apartment at this next stage in my life, post graduation, I realize that like all tthe other major stages in my life the first year was always the hardest simply because it was the first and I made it that way with all the negative vibes I put in my mind about it. The stage I find myself at now is entering the workforce with the goal of finding a job that I enjoy and that pays enough to pay all my bills. I realize now that this fear of failure too shall pass and if I work hard enough, I'll be where I want to be, after all I am the future. 

 

Nicki Minaj Previews Her Kmart Clothing Line | HelloBeautiful

Nicki Minaj Previews Her Kmart Clothing Line | HelloBeautiful

Look out for a more extreme version of Nicki Look-a-likes! The most famous Barbie wannabee, Nicki Minaj is set to release a clothing line for young girls through Kmart. If it wasn't bad enough that little girls and grown women alike have already changed their speech and behavior, Nicki's influence on the world will now be shown through mini mid drift crop tops and skin tight pant sets in a galaxy inspired design.

While Kmart might increase its revenue, this back to school season, the fate of our respectable little black girls is at an all time low. How is one ever going to experience what it means to be a woman and beautiful if they are constantly being fed images of "beautiful black women" that are super busty with a small waist and large dairy-air. If anything we should instill in our young women it is the fact that one is beautiful being exactly who they are and most importantly, being "grown and sexy" comes with age and maturity not body type and revealing clothing.  

New Movie Alert "Dear White People"

The year 2013 appears to be a promising year for black cinema with the release of "The Best Man 2", Forest Whittaker's "The Butler" and  "Black Nativity". All of which appear to bring back that element that has been missing from black film in general especially since the success of Tyler Perry films. 

This year has also had a considerable number of black documentaries that have made it to at least select theaters. Some noteworthy documentaries include "Free Angela & All Political Prisoners" and Terence Nance's "An OverSimplification Of Her Beauty". (oversimplification.mvmt.com) The two contrast greatly, one explores the sacrifices African Americans have made to be treated as not merly citizens of this country but human beings. The other, a real life glance into the lives of educated African Americans in this "post racial" state.

It is sad to note however that in an America that claims to be so forward thinking, there are few films that make it to the big screen that accurately depict black life in America. Thus I introduce to you the film that had finally recently began production, "Dear White People". 

A year ago this month, writer, director and producer Justin Simien along with his production staff and crew released the concept trailer for a new movie called "Dear White People". The film follows co-ed Sam White as she goes on to expose the racial problem at her institution of choice Manchester University, a PWI (Predominantly White Institution). She does such by means of her universitybased radio   show in which she weaves an open letter to White people in general about their racist tendencies. She begins with "Dear White People, the number of black friends required to not seem racist has moved up to two", she further comments not to ask to touch black hair as it is not a petting Zoo. The film also explores interracial relationships and the concept of who and what determines what "blackness" is. 

The making of this film has come a long way to gain both artistic and financial backing. Check out the Trailer ( http://youtu.be/watjO62NrVg)   and support this film by making sure it come to a theater near you. 

5 Things We Learn from Kelly Rowland's "Dirty Laundry"

Ms. Kelly's album may be at the top of the charts right now for it's great musical attributes but her hit single "Dirty Laundry" has lots to tell about the lives of women.

1. Jealousy of a friends success is not cute!

We may actually love some of our girls like a sister but sometimes they may gain opportunities that we also wanted. This does not mean that there is some deep dark jealousy brewing of the person but more so of the successes they gained. So even if there are some feelings of jealousy, we still should be  happy for our friends and remember that since we were down with them before they achieved this success that naturally they would want to pull us up with them.  

2. Domestic Violence does not equal LOVE.

Love might hurt sometimes but it should not be painful for an extended period of  time. If someone continuously hits and abuses another, physically, mentally and emotionally there is no love in that relationship. If someone is abusing you, report them to the proper authorities and get out of that relationship. That relationship is based on control and not love. You deserve to be with someone that loves and respects you and treats you the way you feel that you deserve. 

3. Don't hold pain in, it makes you ugly.

Harboring lots of anger and resentment often results in less smiling and subsequently as perceived ugly face or bad attitude. Remove negative energies from your life right from the start. Don't let drama build up over time and cause a big war with a good friend. Settle disagreements fast and cut off those who are afraid of your shine. Don't let others with negative energies stay in your circle too long, it could damage your aura and worse make you like them.

4. Always believe in Yourself!

Always, Always, Always believe in your skills, talents, abilities and the power of you. Never let anyone break the confidence you have in yourself. If you don't first believe in you, who else will? 

5. Don't put any man ahead of your girls.  

I know it might be tempting to let a fine brother walk into your life and forget all about your friends but don't. Any man that loves you will love your friends and family too. Your girls will always be there if anything should ever happen  to your man candy, trust and believe that your girls will always have your back. 

Amanda Seales' "Death Of The Diva

Culture critic, artist and activist formerly know as Amanda Diva has put death to the Diva. All references formerly known as diva have since forth must ceased and desist. In an completely newand original   one-woman musical narrative Seales critiques "pop culture's portray of women" especially in music and television. 

The former Diva notes that her inspiration for this project came out in response to the massive amount of negative images of women in the music and television industries. In the narrative, Seales poses as several different characters and some men as a retrospection to what today's society finds as entertainment. 

Seales notes that when she was growing up there were many positive and powerful women being the best at their craft. These women possessed a quality beyond their talents that inspired forthcoming generations to do great things with their own talents. However the reality of contemporary culture relies in reality TV stars fighting and spitting on one another in public places and female MC's creating an army of Barbie "wanna-bees" 

This narrative certainly puts into perspective the question of what values are we sending to our younger generations. 

check out the video highlights at: http://youtu.be/Rp8nSjIgHfQ