Keep Ya Head Up

Black Berries

This isn’t a post about John Mayer.

This isn’t even about what John Mayer said.

This is about you.

I won’t even attempt to try and empathize with you.  No other person in this country has had to deal with more attacks on his or her image than you.  Your hair isn’t straight.  Your lips and nose are too big.  Your butt and hips are too wide.  Your eyes aren’t blue.  Your skin isn’t light enough.  I can’t imagine what its like to get blindsided with yet another reminder that you just aren’t “beautiful enough”.  You probably liked John Mayer and enjoyed the song “Daughters”.  You probably didn’t know who Don Imus was but felt a pain in your gut when yet another person in the media called you ugly.

You probably feel like everyone is against you, especially when the latest black superstar’s wife is more Becky than Maxine.  But I’m here to tell you something different.

You are beautiful.

And the times are changing as well.  They may hate you publicly, but silently they want to be you.  More people are spending a lot more time in tanning salons.  They are spending a lot more money filling their lips with fat and adding [ahem] – size to their rear (hell for those who can’t afford it, their making the equivalent of the push-up bra for panties).   They may even mock your attitude but secretly they wish they had the courage to speak up the way that you do.

Things are better now for you than for your grandmother.  And they will be better for your granddaughter.  I know that doesn’t comfort you at a time like this.  But you can’t let any entertainer, talking head or anyone else define who you are.  Because if you don’t think you’re worth it, it doesn’t matter what I say.   But I’ll still say it anyway because you deserve to know.

You are beautiful.

Just the way that you are.