feature: mental health activist jasmin pierre speaks to the root of the societal conflicts between black women

With the media all ablaze after Azealia Banks’ justification for bleaching her skin, there seems to be much criticism, but little reflection. 27 year old mental health activist Jasmin Pierre though, has seized this opportunity as a means for investigation. With her aspirations set on being a life coach, she was inspired to write a piece aiming to unveil the root of horizontal oppression among black women in society. In her passage ‘The Black Woman and the Mental Anguish of our Appearance‘, she exposes the root of the problem, and vigilantly challenges common misconceptions concerning black female worth and the unspoken trajectory of the community. Learn more about her message, and read her powerful words below.

By Cree B. McClellan, AFROPUNK contributor

We have all just side eyed Azealia Banks for bleaching her skin and talking about it’s nothing wrong with making herself lighter. We have laughed at lil Kim for making herself lighter and all of that plastic surgey she’s had. We have laughed at Nicki Minaj, K Michelle, and all of the love and hip hop stars for their big butt and breast implants. We ask why are so many black women risking their lives to pump up their butts up with fix a flat or go to a unlicensed doctor to have some kind of other foreign substance injected into them.

We hear our fellow black brothers and even some of our natural hair sisters talk about the black woman wearing weave and blonde hair. Or what about colored contacts? Or even eye surgery like Tiny did to permanently change her eyes to a lighter color. We are constantly hearing

“Why do black women need that?”

Or

“Yall black women don’t love yourself”

We hear all this but we haven’t been talking about the root of the problem. Our black sisters have been mentally under pressure about our appearance since the beginning of time. Don’t believe me?  Go back to the time master called our black sisters ugly but raped them and gave them biracial children

Go back to the days of “house nigger” and “field nigger” when our sister’s lighter skinned children were taken away to divide us by our skin tone. Now come back to this present day. It seems the black woman’s appearance is talked about no matter what we do.

  If she’s not the stereotypical black girl with the fat ass you hear

“Girl your ass is so flat. You ain’t fine like these others black girls”

If she goes and gets a Brazilian but lift you hear

“Yall black women ain’t happy with the butt God gave you”

If she’s not the black girl with the so called “good hair” you hear

“Girl your hair is so nappy. You need to relax that mess”

If she’s the black girl with the relaxer you hear

“Girl you putting those chemicals in your hair. You don’t love yourself? You hate your hair!”

If she’s a darker skinned sister you hear

“Girl you’re so black. Make sure you stay out of the sun…oh but you’re still pretty for a darkskin girl”

If she’s light skin you hear

“Oh you think you’re all of that just because you’re light skin. You’re probably stuck up”

Black women are constantly trying to conform to other people’s standards. We are constantly trying to get validation from our people. However no matter what it seems our appearance just isn’t good enough to many…and we wonder why so many of our black women are silently suffering with depression and anxiety. We wonder why so many of our black sisters have attitudes. When will things ever change? How can we fix this problem? Post your thoughts in the comments.

A Fight Worth Finishing
@afightworthfin
@afightworthfinishing