Black Girls, Keep that Magic. Our Future Girls Depend On It.

tiese white
Nov 6 · 4 min read
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Let’s give it up for all women, of all races, who do all different things. Some are at home some are working every single day. Some are in the military and some are bartenders. We are still women with no less than the same capabilities as the next women. Until a black woman walks in the room, applies for that job, auditions for that play or even asks for a seat at a table. Then she becomes a woman who is constantly questioned.

It has been since the beginning of time, that a black woman is the most disrespected women. There seems to never be a break because black woman constantly must explain themselves. Explaining the texture of the thick, black, wool embrace that comes from the scalp, the deep melanin that glows in the sun but to others is a sun tan that can never happen or the expectations of having curves “in all the right places”. If there isn’t a reason provided for a black woman just being a black woman, then we are angry, bitter, unlikable.

Black Girl Magic, the platform for black woman to shine without explanation but to live in their full blackness. It comes to mind that “Black girls are magic” which has been used as a unifying celebration of Black women; shortened to #blackgirlmagic, the phrase connotes a love and celebration for the unique experiences of Black women.” (Halliday & Brown 2018). It is more than just a hashtag but a symbol for what is, what could and what will be for generations of black woman. To tell it as a story, I didn’t want to believe, that not only as a woman will I have to deal with limitations but being a black woman meant that I was born with limitations. I’m limited to certain hair products, skin products and makeup products. Not to mention the lack of representation in the media. I knew I wanted to do everything the next woman did but I have to carry the weight of stereotypes as I did it. I had to deal with looking different all while people looked at me differently. So, I once dimmed my lights to what was easier for others to accept and see, that way I didn’t have to constantly fight. I wanted to be accepted and seen as just a girl, but I learnt that I’m not just a girl but a black girl.

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I look back at all the ways I shut my peace out because I felt that I would be in constant war, I wouldn’t wear my natural hair, I wouldn’t talk about my drug-abused mother who abandoned me then overcoming that and I most certainly wouldn’t let the slang in my words come out like I did with my family. And once I did something wrong there was never no going back, I will always have the mistakes written on my back. It wasn’t until now becoming an adult, gaining experience that I found that fighting was the only way. I looked in the mirror and would say that the only way for change is if I change. The chance for this change happened when I got the opportunity to go to college, I started writing of the things I never new I could do when I was younger, and I didn’t care if no one else saw my magic coming out of me because I did. This is the feeling that every black girl should feel even when all the odds are against us because they will discriminate, question you and push you aside noting that you are a force to be reckoned with.

Black girl magic is important for black woman and the black woman to come. It’s not meant for anyone else to understand and we must keep talking about it, every time we see it. Black Twitter, Black Girls Rock and Black Girl Magic are great standing platforms for black woman that have broken barriers in their realness. “The very definition of “Black girl magic,” a term coined by CaShawn Thompson in 2013 “to celebrate the beauty, power, and resilience of Black women.” (Allen 2018). The goal is to be unapologetic, brave, bold and our most natural selves. Never settle to standards that take away from who we most are. This is for our future black girls, who will need to see leaders and representation. They will need a platform for themselves as the world gets harder, darker and less accepting because the future is our only chance for change. Black girls need to feel their beauty and see their possibilities and then there will be no stopping them. We are our ancestors’ wildest dreams, there will be more Oprah Winfrey’s, Michelle Obama’s and Serena William’s. All we must do is keep embracing our magical moments and milestones then the future will be a black woman’s peace.

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References:

Allen, M. D. (2018). If You Can See It, You Can Be It: Black Panther’s Black Woman Magic. Africology: The Journal of Pan African Studies, 11(9), 241–264. doi: 10.9737/hist.2018.658

Halliday, A. S., & Brown, N. E. (2018, December 18). The Power of Black Girl Magic Anthems: Nicki Minaj, Beyoncé, and “Feeling Myself” as Political Empowerment. Retrieved November 4, 2019, from https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/abs/10.1080/10999949.2018.1520067.

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