The Beautiful, Brilliant Black Woman
- ravenramusic
- Jul 15, 2020
- 5 min read
"You know that in our country there were even matriarchal societies where women were the most important element. On the Bijagos islands they had queens. They were not queens because they were the daughters of kings. They had queens succeeding queens. The religious leaders were women too..." ---Amilcar Cabral, Return to the Source, 1973
Whether you choose to acknowledge her at all, she exists. She has been here long before you were and she sure as hell never left. She has been at the forefront of trauma time and time again. She who you disregard easily if she wails....a human cry for help. The beautiful, brilliant black woman, she loves her life in spite of the gloom that is thrown upon her. Despite the unforeseen consequences of a hedonistic, narcissistic society; which sends secret messages of loathing; it whispers, “you hate yourself” in her ear. She, a beautiful black woman knows all to well of whispers and lies.
Whether she knows it or not she was born a truth detective of this time, designed to figure it all out--In spite of the fact that you’ll pay her less, think less of her, and refuse to validate her brilliance. Well.
She will also refuse to accept a degradation of her kind in it’s many nauseating forms. She will never give up loving her community or sharing her light, her wisdom her motivating spirit. If she is single it's because she knows the worth of self-love, she is independent because she understands unity not because she needs to prove something. She waits in patience for a partner who can match her in excellence. She is joyful, not loud. She is happy not nappy. She has onyx cotton coils that tickle her sun-kissed skin. She is brilliant not just resilient. By the way...just because she can take all the burdens in the world doesn’t mean you should throw them on her.... literally.
She can be justifiably frustrated when she is consciously and sub-consciously told messages that devalue her worth. However, the truth is she is not any quicker to anger than any another human in this universe. It’s obvious the media and social control that is shoved down the throats of the people who will never know who she really is...that beautiful black women is reduced to a single raise of her voice, a single fault, a single truth uttered unapologetically. The game of manipulation is one of pure convoluted craft out of misery with one’s own outlooks on their personal life. Therefor, the souls who devised the several ways to torture, degrade and psychologically program the African-American race and furthermore any race to believe that they must be restricted to a stereotype rather than live in expansive body that is the self...are souls that concern me. I hope that souls who feel the need to engage in a degrading culture take a step back and re-evaluate to come into clarity.
There is nothing you can sell, shout, beat, manipulate, parody, steal, expose or complain about to get her to see that she is not worthy of love. There is nothing anyone can do to truly convince her to “stay” in her place or “do as she is told” You secretly love her, but you are conflicted by the alter ego you’ve projected on to her time and time again. Instead of holding her in the glorious natural light of the sun, she is often times viewed from the perspective of a dim miniature, reading light, no details, no depth, no reality.
The brilliant, beautiful black woman enjoys reading, not always just books-- she loves looking into the multiple lenses of perception in life, she takes in moments as treats, and treasures. She enjoys the hard earned fruits of the beauty path. She understands the value of knowledge at the perfect moment and the wisdom that results from such awareness.
Now think of firmness, the beauty of the tree, the power, knowledge and wisdom it encompasses.... Now think about the beautiful growth process of the tree, it’s colorful blossoms and leaves. Think about how the tree welcomes all different animals to its branches, it protects and shades certain species and communicates with other plants to maintain balance in the forest. In many ways you can find parallels in the function of tree and the beautiful, brilliant black woman.
If given the chance for greatness, she’ll surely raise to the occasion (as is seen with black women celebrities) however, there are many black women who do not get the opportunity to even ponder our brilliance let alone have it be properly recognized. The perseverance that was passed down to us from motivated kin is lost by the influence of an insensitive culture.
In the case of black females we are divine beings as we contain a beauty that is unprecedented and of course under-appreciated by mainstream media, even today. I do not see a character in the media that I can relate with, as the mainstream has not yet accepted the large degree of brilliance performed by blacks in it’s entirety. Brilliance and success are rewarded to black women only after they have passed extraordinary feats, or if they conform to a over-sexualized, gendered and racist perceptions of themselves. If they fit the projections thrown on to them black women are treated as the stereotype they act as suggests... which is why these stereotypes must be abolished and terminated as soon as possible. The limiting stereotypes angry black women, mammy, the diva/jezebel etc. do not fully describe or pay tribute to the presence contained in the typical black female. This is why the beautiful, black woman embraces her otherness with her entire being--she desires the freedom to choose and express her true self in this time, she wishes to express the full capacity of her value a wish to communicate with the forest and family of society as that society supports her in a symbiotic dance. If this is accomplished, she can shade, protect and extend her love out to the far corners of the earth. She can share abundance, wisdom and beauty with you.
So when you walk by a tree that needs nurturance, see it, acknowledge it, feed it your love, compassion and support then see it transform! Think of how that tree allows you to breathe, allows you to be here and live this life. Black women have carried society on our backs, done more than was required, extending ourselves in extraordinary ways, our efforts always met with quieted acclaim.
The beautiful brilliant black woman is a beauteous extension of nature; she is an elemental beauty and goddess of sovereignty. She holds the secrets of sphinx, the secrets of fulfillment, the secrets of truth. If you can see her brilliance you will feel her love.
Sources of Inspiration Information and supporting links: http://www.suppressedhistories.net/catalog/africa.html
Sister Citizen: Shame Stereotypes and Black Women in America
MSNBC commentator, columnist for The Nation, and Professor of Political Science at Tulane University, where she serves as founding director of the Project on Gender, Race, and Politics in the South, Melissa Harris-Perry examines black women's political and emotional responses to pervasive negative race and gender images in her new book, "Sister Citizen." With wit and family anecdotes, Harris-Perry elaborates on how the shared struggle to preserve an authentic self and secure recognition as a citizen links black women together in America. Series: "Walter H. Capps Center Series" [2/2012] [Humanities] [Show ID: 23035]
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