Black and ugly (little girl calls herself ugly, hairdresser motivates her)

Show me a four year old light skinned girl who calls herself ugly. I will probably wait forever, because you will never find her.

Hello my lovely readers and welcome to another post on the colorism  series. The society reinforces the ugly dark skinned girl narrative and when dark skinned women address the issue, people go ahead and deflect. They tell us to stop forcing ourselves on people. They tell us to love ourselves more. They tell us not to seek  validation from men and the whole society in general. The society gets so irked by racism but becomes very comfortable with colorism, the daughter of racism as Lupita says it.

However, the society has to realize that this issue goes deeper than seeking validation from men. It goes beyond us seeking some media representation. It goes beyond corrective promotion. This is a vicious generational cycle that should actually come to an end.

The video below went viral after a four year old girl called herself ugly and started crying. Her hairstylist soothed her and told her she is beautiful. Of course the little girl is dark skinned because the society expects dark skinned girls to posses the strength of Maya Angelou and Sia’s thick skin by the time they are four years. We are expected to brush it off when we are called ugly or when we get back handed complements because we were conditioned too early to accept it.

 

They expect us to accept the ‘dark girls are ugly’ narrative and grow with it because we are not supposed to feel, no dark skinned women need to be STRONG. Whereas every other group of women get positive reinforcement of their beauty on almost every platform. They may face other issues but feeling ugly might be rare because someone has been affirming their beauty for ages.

A four year old girl cannot be seeking validation from men. She cannot be competing with other models for a job. She is not chasing after social media likes. Somebody must have been telling the poor little girl that she is ugly because her skin is dark.

Therefore, speaking about colorism is not about hopping into  the so called ‘online dark skin love’ bandwagon, seeking validation or the infamous ‘the dark skins are forcing people to love them’. Speaking about it is helping little girls love themselves more and uplifting them. It is about ending the ingrained self hate among black people in general.

Together we can end colorism.  Colorism ends with me. How about you?

Stay home and stay safe. Peace and blessings.

This week’s inspiration is; Adut Akech and Lupita Nyong’o.