Deja Harrison
Staff Writer
¨You’re pretty… for a dark-skinned girl.¨
Are dark skinned-women not beautiful?
¨Black girls are always so angry.¨
You would be too if you were objectified and called ugly your whole life.
¨I like your type of hair, I wish I had hair like yours.¨
My type of hair? What does that even mean.
¨Black girls are so ghetto and rude.¨
Where do people get these ideas from?
I am dark-skinned — the “worst type of black” girl. I wear name-brand sneakers, weave, tights, and fake nails. I do not speak in “proper tone” all the time because I do not feel the need to. In those 3 sentences most would think they have me all figured out because of the stereotypes associated with me. I always wondered where people got and came up with these ridiculous stereotypes.
I get stereotyped as the typical mean loud ghetto black girl all the time, but that’s just not who I am.
Here’s who I really am:
I am a goofy person — like serious goofy. I laugh at any and everything all the time. I remember talking to people who are even now my friends and them saying that when they first saw me they thought I was going to be such a bitch because of the way I look. As soon as someone talks to me I start smiling because I want people to know I’m friendly. I am happy 90% of the time, and in that other 10% I’m most likely upset because I´m hungry. My facial expressions categorize me as a Squidward even though my personality is much more of a Spongebob. We get wrapped up so much in people’s appearances and rumors we hear that we lose focus on actually getting to know someone who could actually be an amazing person.
Most people don’t see any of that, though. They just see my dark skin.
As a young black woman in America, I feel like I have a natural target on my back. I´m supposed to speak and act a certain way because those are the things associated with my culture and gender. I feel like no matter what I do, I just can’t shake the thoughts of those who assume based on my ethnicity and gender that I am angry, loud, and have no future.
It is hard to find my place and my happiness in this world when there are so many people out there trying to deprive me of it. Why can’t I be happy?
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