Exploratory Essay

Tre’Dessa Smalls
 Ms. McKoy
 English II- 1st block
 29 January 2013

My Black is Beyond Beautiful 

                While walking through the halls I heard was “black girl coming through, better move before she go ghetto on you.” “Man look at the lips on that girl” I got tired of hearing that I was more than my appearance and more than then society labeled “black girl.” People used to make comments about not being able to see me in the dark, but I never let it get me down until I got in eighth grade when I started getting bullied because of my skin color. There were two boys that used to be nice until they made the basketball team; they started identifying me as the N-word, making black jokes, and just making me feel like nothing. I started hating the fact that God made me a black girl and I felt like I was not normal enough to be considered normal. I did not at all believe my black to be beautiful in any way, form, shape or fashion. I stopped talking to people and stopped caring all because I was not confident or comfortable in my skin; the color was not right to me. As I looked in the mirror I saw dark skin, the color of dirt and unwanted mania, which I felt was not worthy of being looked at. I had dry, coarse, nappy hair that did not flow like velvet akin to girls of another race. Nothing ever made me feel high-quality. I became depressed, I did not speak to anyone or tell anyone about my problem; I harbored everything inside and it ultimately made me disgusted with myself. What I saw myself as was the epitome of imperfection. Many African American girls feel this way about themselves today and “Black Girls Rock” is a great program to take that feeling away. This feeling of imperfection and dirtiness is preventable if they are repeatedly told that they are beautiful in their own way because their black is beautiful. A “Black Girls Rock” program should be implemented in every middle and high school in America that has many at risk African American young ladies because it will help them accept who they are as a strong black girl.
                   As I was conducting my research I saw that “Black Girls Rock” main goal is to empower black girls to be all they can be. This is a direct quote from the “Black Girls Rock” program, “BLACK GIRLS ROCK! Inc. is 501(c)3 non-profit youth empowerment and mentoring organization established to promote the arts for young women of color, as well as to encourage dialogue and analysis of the ways women of color are portrayed in the media.” ("http:// www. Blackgirlsrockinc.com/") My essential question is: do you believe that a “Black Girls Rock” program should be implemented in every high and middle school that has many at risk African American students? Beverly Bonds the CEO and Founder of “Black Girls Rock” believe that black girls are never seen in a positive light and do not know their worth, she wants them to know how valuable they truly are. I found an article about how African American females are effect by their environment and I linked that to my topic because “Black Girls Rock” creates a different environment from other places. “Socially positioned as young black women, participants have found that they are expected by people in their school, community, and outside their community to behave in particular ways as a reflection of their assumed values and ways of being in the world”, is a quote that I found that supports my position on my essential question. (Journal of Literacy Research; Fall2005, Vol. 37 Issue 3, p365-406, 42p) Since “Black Girls Rock” is a program that would help them gain confidence both school, and the students would benefit from this programs.
                         I am researching this topic because I do not want any other African American girl to have to feel the way I felt about myself in eighth grade. I want to show people that society does have a big say in the way African American girls feel about themselves. I want to be able to find statistics that show exactly what I am trying to prove. As, a fellow African American girl I just want to look out for all of my other African American sisters and make sure they believe in themselves and don’t wear the label that society gives them. I absolutely believe with all my heart that all high and middle schools with many at risk African American students should implement some type of “Black Girls Rock” program to so that the girls can perform at the best of their abilities.