Shame On Us! - Gabrielle Douglas

As many little girls jumped up and down and screamed with glee on August 2, 2012 at the sight of Gabby Douglas, many grown women took to Facebook and Twitter to complain about Gabby Douglas’s hair. I am almost ashamed to say that the majority of the women that I personally saw criticizing Douglas’s tresses were fellow black women.  If you are/were one of them, shame on you.

Gabrielle Douglas for anyone who does not know is now the 2012 individual all-around gold medal Olympic champion!!! This young lady is amazing!!! She is the definition of an inspiration, I am 25 years old and I can say that I look up to Gabby. That night which should have been a unifying and proud moment for most African-Americans, instead quickly turned into a “black hair” discussion. Now I am not sure if I am more upset that these were other black women or that this topic is still an issue.

Let me address the people (especially the sistas) who criticized Douglas’s hair. First of all, these are the Olympics, not the Miss. America pageant! This is a sporting event where young men and women are judged on their athletic ability, not their wardrobe (in this case) or their makeup, and certainly not their hair! Gabby Douglas went out there in that Olympic arena and gave the performance of her life. She was sweating, her heart was pounding, and she was thriving!! To say the least her hair got “messed up”. Why is that such a big deal in our community!?  As a woman, yet alone a black woman, you should understand this point (and if not maybe you should consider doing some sort of physical exercise yourself). This girl is 16 years old; she was concerned with her performance not what type of hair do she was sporting. I find it so disheartening that other black women and girls could be so cruel especially since most of us have had a bad experience with this topic.

Secondly, the fact that this whole “good” hair “bad” hair topic is still an issue really makes me nuts! I get it, to have more European features (including) hair is usually considered “good”, but how long are we going to hold onto that? It’s time to move on and let it go. I’m sure most would say what do I know, and honestly I know a lot. Growing up I was too black for the whites and too white for the blacks, I am not complaining just stating that for the record I understand the torment of not fitting in. My people and others, we have to let this issue go. All of our hair is different, our skin is different, our eyes and the list goes on.

Please let Ms. Douglas delight in this moment and be proud of her accomplishments as the first African-American in Olympic history to become the individual all-around champion, as well as the first American gymnast to win gold in both the individual all-around and team competitions at the same Olympics. Hair is the least of our issues; please let’s start acting like it.

Please comment & subscribe! 

Feeling A Tad Bit Magenta?!

Magenta... that's what I like to call the feeling that most of us all know but can’t quite describe (all of my 80's TV watchers will catch the reference). I tweeted about this exact thing today. The magenta feeling is when you're not quite blue (sad) or green with envy; you're not red with anger, or yellow with fear. You are just magenta, it’s that ho-hum feeling that's hard to describe to anyone who hasn’t felt it before.

The magenta effect usually happens either when something is going wrong in your life or exactly the opposite when nothing is going on in your life. I recently have experienced this feeling a lot. I work my job, I spend time with my boyfriend, exercise, and do my normal day-to-day stuff, but something is missing. As I have been hearing about good news from friends and acquaintances, I wouldn’t exactly say that I have been green with envy, but I definitely haven’t been my usual extra exuberant self. My point in saying all of this isn’t to bore everyone with my life story, but I think that it’s important to talk about our feelings with our friends so that we can all deal with our issues better and in a healthy way.

Usually my magenta feeling doesn’t last long, after a good bubble bath and a glass of wine the world is renewed and all is well! On the other hand I have been feeling magenta more often than normal. In my own case I think a lot of it has to do with not living up to my full potential. I know that I have so much to offer yet I feel stifled and bored. This fact has pushed me into trying some new things; for starters this blog is one of them. I’ve always loved talking to others and sharing my opinion and I’ve always been a decent writer, so I thought why not join those two things to create my very own blog. Also, I’ve finally made the concrete decision to go back to school for my masters in counseling. I’ve decided not to sit and feel sorry for myself and actually do something about this dreadful feeling. To some these things may not seem like that big of a deal, and in all actuality they aren’t. In my opinion it’s not always the big steps that we take, instead it’s the small steps that we take daily that make a true change in our lives.

So please let me know if you’ve ever felt “magenta”, and if so how do you deal with it? I can’t wait to hear from you!!