Black Women : love about black women?

The things I love about black women are... well... all of the above.

We have the skin tone that no tanning salon can match.
We have the most profound strength; in fact, the Queen of all strength- the strength that nursed our souls after being plagued by the whip, the same strength that guided us through slavery, the same strength that lived in those death-boats that slid across the middle passage, the same strength that society has repeatedly tried to dethrone, that strength that society cannot de-throne.

We have the skin tone that no tanning salon can match; the skin tone made under the sun and maintained by the sun since the start of human-kind, since the first man and woman stepped out of the cradle of life (located deep in Africa).
We have the most remarkable types of women, and types of beauty, and beautiful smiles. Look at the smiles of Africa, a place absent of Colgate- don’t we still have the most perfect smiles? And aren't those smiles twice as perfect because they are persistently smiling in the face of starvation, in the face of every disease? Look at the strong melanistic women of your neighborhoods; thick and thin, tall and short- aren't we all different , but yet still beautiful in our different ways.

I love the way black women remain black women. I see the way society has tried to change us into what it wants us to be; and I constantly fall in love with the way black women ignore all the propaganda, and remain true to who we are.
I love the way black women protest. The way our voice gracefully raises, commands attention and respect, then elegantly gets the point across.
I love the way black women age ever so gracefully, on the outside; and age so rapidly internally, meaning our minds are developed and matured years beyond what we look.
 
If only this was true overall

Melanistic said:
The things I love about black women are... well... all of the above.

We have the skin tone that no tanning salon can match.
We have the most profound strength; in fact, the Queen of all strength- the strength that nursed our souls after being plagued by the whip, the same strength that guided us through slavery, the same strength that lived in those death-boats that slid across the middle passage, the same strength that society has repeatedly tried to dethrone, that strength that society cannot de-throne.

We have the skin tone that no tanning salon can match; the skin tone made under the sun and maintained by the sun since the start of human-kind, since the first man and woman stepped out of the cradle of life (located deep in Africa).
We have the most remarkable types of women, and types of beauty, and beautiful smiles. Look at the smiles of Africa, a place absent of Colgate- don’t we still have the most perfect smiles? And aren't those smiles twice as perfect because they are persistently smiling in the face of starvation, in the face of every disease? Look at the strong melanistic women of your neighborhoods; thick and thin, tall and short- aren't we all different , but yet still beautiful in our different ways.

I love the way black women remain black women. I see the way society has tried to change us into what it wants us to be; and I constantly fall in love with the way black women ignore all the propaganda, and remain true to who we are.
I love the way black women protest. The way our voice gracefully raises, commands attention and respect, then elegantly gets the point across.
I love the way black women age ever so gracefully, on the outside; and age so rapidly internally, meaning our minds are developed and matured years beyond what we look.

Melanistic, your view of Black women is certainly one to make a sister feel proud and very regal. This description is one that reveals your romantic and idealistic views and I don't want you to think this is a criticism of that. But I do think it's important to caution us to not lose sight of our reality either because, sadly, not ALL Black women fit this description. I'm optimistic though, because I want to believe that the great majority of us do.

I'm not trying to destroy your beliefs or bash my sisters but isn't it possible that some Black women do "fall" for the propaganda and don't remain true to who they are? Haven't you ever seen examples of Black women going to great extremes to look like and become someone else? I have. I would hardly say that many of our African sisters living on the Continent are smiling in the face of the devastating diseases brought to their doorstep by our oppressors. How could anyone smile as they watch their loved ones die in great numbers, witness entire populations die, and eventually fall victim to these diseases themselves?

Yes, my sisters are strong and they are all beautiful in my eyes--both physical and spiritual--but we are still human and with that, we come in many forms, not always remaining true to who we are and losing sight of all the possibilities of who we could be. Some of us give up our birthright willingly to conform to someone else's worldview. I love my sisters nonetheless, because without the ones with the lost souls how could the sister warriors ever discover their true strength, power and calling? Because of other's weaknesses she finds her critical need to help her people survive and press forward in our struggle.

I think too another reason that both of these types of sisters are important to our struggle is because they help us to make choices--thank goodness we're not all the same. I find it unfortunate that the media, including material such as Jet and Ebony, etc., focus more on the 'assimilated' sister these days and seldom pay tribute to sisters fighting in the struggle. Body parts of the Black woman are now commercialized and being exploited and some of our sisters find this flattering because something that comes natural to them has to be purchased by others who don't have these features. Have you looked at who mostly graces the covers of these magazines lately? Maybe this doesn't bother other Black women, but it's a little pet peeve of mine that I could go on an on about but I'll step off my soapbox.

So I don't subscribe to the notion that, "once Black, always Black." When one loses their consciousness, what does one then become?

Warrior Sisters unite and consider it your obligation and duty to continue the legacy of our people; we are the ones who should grab the freedom torch, raise it high and light the way for our people and help lead them with our Warrior Brothers to our rightful destination.

Ok, I'm done...for now! :jumping:
 
My friend Nesochi read your thread and wanted to respond . . .
How could we smile?
My mother is an international diplomat because of her occupation I have seen much of the world, especially the many nations of Africa (I myself was born in Nigeria). As most of the world knows Africa is plagued by the AIDES virus, tytse flies, the west Nile virus, malaria, starvation, and there are many others. Though many of us Africans are effected by one pestilence or another, we are not ruined. When I told Roslyn (melanistic) why I believe we still smile, (she smiled) and agreed with me. We still smile because our bodies are afflicted, not our souls. What ever doesn’t kill us, does make up stronger. So as the disease or virus eats away at our lives we grow in strength from each day that we survive. We smile because we are still alive, still so very blessed with the opportunity to just live. To Africans, well in my opinion - the gift of life is too precious to waste away in despair. Although the life may be lived in struggle, despair, or pain’ each day is still a blessing. When so many of your brothers and sisters are losing their lives on a daily basis each moment, minute, second is precious enough to smile about. My dying cousin Bene smiled each day because he knows that life is only part one; he thought that counting his blessings instead of his plights was another way of making sure he had a better place to go to. God’s Heaven. This is what I Love about black people in general.. In the mist of struggle we find happiness.
 
Melanistic, thank your friend for sharing their experiences with us. I didn't know whether to feel proud or upset. I guess it's a positive thing to know that, in spite of our struggles and burdens, many of our African brothers and sisters are able to oversee the flesh and still find beauty and purpose in life itself, and to look forward to an after-life.

What is it that makes us so 'special' that way that people can dog us, kick us when we're down, spit on us, kill us...and we can still smile?. We have been beaten, murdered, raped, sold, experimented on, alienated and disenfranchised, watch our families destroyed, been starved, dehumanized, and plagued with foreign diseases that kill us and we can still find something to smile and rejoice about. I've read stories where white slavemasters thought we were the most pliable people because even though animals were treated better and thoughts of ever being free again were taken away from us, we would still find something to laugh about, dance and sing about. I guess this is what is meant by, make the best of the worst and don't complain.

Maybe I'm different, but for some reason I want to do more than just smile if I had AIDS, or was starving and watching my people die around me while those that brought me that disease and caused my condition are living large and getting fat. When I'm being treated wrong, I want to fight back. I don't want to try and count my blessings because I believe the blessings I have are too many to count. I've heard the saying, "whatever won't kill us, will make us stronger." That may be true, but I also believe that there are things that could kill us that can make us stronger too. I don't believe in pity parties so no, don't just dwell on your condition or plight and sit there and smile about it. Is it natural for us to only do that? I'm a fighter and if something or someone is trying to take me or my people out, snuff out our lives before their natural time, I'm not going quietly.

Turn the other cheek? Non-violent movement? Pacifism? If this is how we are supposed to be, then I have a whole lot of work to do. My people are gifted and there's much still that I need to learn. Thank you for showing me a different perspective.

Peace!
 

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