Successful Black

This post is inspired by the last few tweets I just posted...

Am I the only one who feels that media still pushes the successful, straight-haired black female image down our throats on the daily?

Which were, in turn, inspired by the daily rubbish that's on mainstream media day in and day out!
I fail to understand why Black beauty has been boxed in to fit a certain look. I don't know why the less African you look, the more successful you are perceived to be.

Why is it that the Black woman with the dreadlocks is always depicted as a "naturalist" a "free spirit"? Possible job title = Artist/Freelancer/Self-empoyed. Why?
Why can't a successful black person have dreads and be a successful CEO of some big corporate?

Why must success be linked to looking more European and less Afrikan? Why?

Are dreadlocks and the overall Afrikan look considered untidy? If so why? Is walking around with hair that isn't yours considered more cleaner than my own Afrikan hair? Why though?

That doesn't make sense to me.

Why must the young successful Black female have plastic/fake hair to be taken seriously? Am I the only one who sees flaw n this logic? How is it that plastic hair trumps real hair in the boardroom?
Shouldn't it be the other way round?

If a white person walked into a boardroom full of execs wearing fake black hair, would he/she be taken seriously or laughed at? Would a white person even think of doing something like that? If not, then why must we continue to mold and reshape ourselves to fit what they consider appropriate or acceptable? Why can't our "acceptable" be our acceptable and their acceptable be just that for them?

I hate the fact that we've sidelined our own Afrikan-ness in exchange for what is acceptable by the white race. In fact, I don't think they have so much power over us that they can dictate what is right or wrong when it comes to our appearance. We are imposing these beliefs on ourselves. Actually, no, scratch that. They are imposing these looks on us. They are the ones heading the advertising industry, they are the ones responsible for what we see on our TV screens every day. They dictate what is acceptable and what isn't.
Damn, can't believe I almost fell for that – "it's not them, it's us" shit.
Although at the end of the day us ans individuals are responsible for how we want the world to view us... we really don't have much to refer to. All we are surrounded by are images of success through the eyes of the oppressor. Why can't we have more pro-black success figures instead of what are, in jest, black-painted white ideals?


I'll tell you why, because Blackness is seen as a once off thing. Not an every day occurrence. We are not used to being Black all the time. Not used to being Afrikan all the time. We are given a day, a month every year, where we can be all the Afrikan we want. As long as we go back to what has been set as the default Blackness at the end of it all. Long as we go back to what fist the predefined mold of what a Black Afrikan is supposed to look like so as to keep the white man at ease. Lord knows no one should make the white man uncomfortable in his  world. Stay in your lane. Stay the way they've decided you should look/feel/be.

We need more images of "Black excellence" than the ones we see on the catwalks of successful fashion lines that have that one token Blackie to appease the Blacks. Images that define Black Excellence in what it really is – Black + Excellence. Not the Black nation being successful within the confines of white borders. ... "you can't look a certain way ALL THE TIME" "your version of beauty is doesn't fit my environment"

I'm done. I can go on for hours on this topic...
*sigh*