If you’re mad about Riley Curry, read this.
Why I was so happy to see a black girl rocking out on national TV
Two-year-old Riley Curry is sickening, and you (if you’re the type of bored individual who doesn’t like brownies and macaroni and cheese and having fun or being happy in general) are probably mad about it. Thank goodness Riley Curry is not one of you.
She has no reason to be. With her daddy’ s MVP status emblazoning a comet-tail path through the season for the Golden State Warriors, her mother’s fantastic energy that you can see court-side and on her burgeoning YouTube channel, and her flyer-than-fly grandparents — she’s inherited nothing but smiles. She is blessed. She probably gets all the Fruit Smiles and and Doc McStuffins swag she could ever want. She has cause for celebration, and, so, in-between a few well-intentioned reads for her daddy, at his post-game interview, she celebrated.
There’s nothing I love more than seeing a carefree black girl in public. Riley Curry rocked out at that press conference, and I adore her for it. It’s a 10/10 for media performance from me. Would see again.
But little black girls being carefree and cute in public seems to be hardly palatable for the rest of the public:
Clock when some now hopefully-fired employee running The Onion’s Twitter account Tweeting that Best Actress Nominee Quvenzhané Wallis is“kind of a c — t” during the Oscars.
Clock the policing of Blue Ivy’s hair texture, and the constant media tendency to compare her to North West.
Clock the barely-veiled slut-shaming of Sasha and Malia Obama by the GOP staffer who insisted after the White House turkey pardoning that their attitudes and outfits were more appropriate for a bar than the spot in which they stood next to their father.
Clock the Bloomsburg baseball player who had the gall to Tweet that Mo’né Davis as a slut because Disney wanted to celebrate how much of a badass she is in film.
And finally, clock how people are already starting to rage at little Riley’s presence at that press conference.
This, folks, is what we call a pattern.
The media and society’s misogynoir aimed with sharp pointed fingers at black female adults is enough violence on its own, but this harumphing and scoffing attitude toward black female children is horrifying, especially because it enables the cycles that continue to harm and belittle black women’s self-image and self-esteem. It is also especially unsubtle. And in a world that consistently robs black children of their childhood whenever they step into the media spotlight, it is unacceptable behavior. Kids will be kids. Kids deserve to be kids without shaming. And that goes for black kids, too.
So keep slaying, Riley Curry. Keep wearing your fly bows and your edgy summertime frocks in neutral shades, and have all of the fun and snacks you want.
I’m rooting for you, the real MVP, and all of the other carefree black girls who dare to live out loud.
You rock. You deserve it. And I love all of you.
Follow Culture Club on Medium, Facebook and Twitter.
Sign up for Culture Club’s Newsletter.
