Pretty For A Black Girl. © 2015

By / / iamhannalashay

“ Pretty for black girl ”

I can’t help but feel degraded

every time those words

roll off a ignorant one’s tongue.

Saying it as if it is some prize

or that you are the chosen one.

It has been encapsulated in our minds

that if our skin decides

to take a walk

and surpasses the color of peanut butter,

we are not granted

to consider the thought

of us ever being beautiful.

After being told that you are worth nothing so many times

you start to believe it.

Now yes, you can sit across from me,

jot down your notes

and drink your tea Ms. Therapist.

But if the tables were turned,

you were black,
and I was white

is that still how you would perceive it?

I am tired of leaving the house

with the fear of becoming someone’s personal dartboard.

But instead of darts

they throw insults,

insults that sting like the vinegar

I’ve poured on my cuts

numerous times to numb the pain from the bruises of the words

they’ve told me.

Pretty for black girl?

Why not,

Pretty for a White girl

Pretty for an Asian girl

Pretty for a Gay guy

Pretty for an Indian girl

Pretty for a Transexual

You will never hear those words cascade out of anyone’s mouth

for the simple fact that

we are still stuck in 1619

except Jamestown is America

and the slave-masters

is the government

We are the most imitated culture

known to man

and yet we still walk around with targets on our backs

You call this complaining

I call it being fed up.

Society portrays black women to be

nothing more than the butt crust on wheat bread

Undesired.

We originate from generations and generations of kings and queens

Back then we were proud of our

brown sugar

cocoa butter

latte

kissed skin

But now we are trying to bleach it

We’re overdosing on Instagram filters

to the point where at times

we aren’t even recognizable by our peers

What are you running away from,

your fears?

I realized a few days ago there is no cure to insecurity

So I began writing my own prescription

the next time someone comes to me

and says;

“ You are pretty for a black girl ”

I’m going to look them dead in the eye and say,

“ Don’t limit me.”