The Ugly Black Woman

Before I was a young girl, but now I am a woman. I was once viewed as a creature, but today I am respected as a role model. The strength modeled in my stance shows the world that I am powerful. You believed I wouldn't be anything other than a fictional character who had really ....no identity.

You envisioned me as being too loud but really it was the boldness of my words that made you afraid of me. And to think it was me who was afraid of you. I remember hearing you say it was because of the way I spoke, you couldn't trust me. And to think I wanted to be perfect for you so that others would accept me. It was almost as if my intelligence was just too damn intelligent for you. It was almost as if you forgot it's because of you, I'd even gotten this far. We can't forget how as a child, you'd underestimate my ability to think for myself. A child had no place thinking for themselves and I always believed this. Granted I was a child then, but now as a woman, I pack a mean punch. It's my existence that makes you cringe and it honestly has NOTHING to do with what I've ever done to you, but what you didn't believe I could learn.

As a child, my skin bothered you. My hair angered you. My existence betrayed you because you didn't expect me to make it this far. Just like many, I was expected to die and yet I'm still here. I'm a woman now. Remember how you questioned me about my smile, the fullness of my lips, the radiance of my skin? Remember the days where I stood in the mirror and didn't believe I was worthy enough because of the image you compared me with. You know the images. Images of young, big-breasted women with light skin and small lips. The girls you called, "trophies". It hurt me before, but you see I was a child then with many questions. However, I'm a woman now with all the answers.

I've given you so much power before, but now I know my worth. I embrace my beauty and each day I step foot front in a mirror, I recognize everything I believed you hated about me and embrace it because I know it meant something. You meaning society. The place that has corrupted the minds of young girls..portraying this image of what "beauty" is suppose to look like, The place that separated us women and created a great deal of jealousy. I can go on and on. All I will say is that I will no longer deal with the foolish entities that society has tried to place upon me. I'm far waaaay to beautiful for that.

x/o

Ming 💕