Black is Beautiful
“Black is Beautiful” came from the Black Cultural Movement also known as the black aesthetics movement and black arts movement. The central purpose of the Black is beautiful movement was “to make African Americans totally and irreversibly proud of their racial and cultural heritage.” During the Black movement, there were a few other topics addressed besides that of having Black pride.
Black is a symbol of beauty and power, but the struggle for identity comes from years of racial disparagement We had the idea; you can’t divorce the struggle but we can learn to believe that we are important. As a result, Black is beautiful has been at the forefront of our race and identity crisis. We replaced the word “negro” with “African”.
Crack in the Black community is fueled by the greed and desires of the seller to live a rich lifestyle. In my book, The Marks Left behind, the story called The Cocaine Experience takes you through the life of a cocaine addict, and it also will put you face to face with one of our greatest problems in the community which is the Black on Black crime.
Another topic or perspective is that of “Black nationalism”. This principle introduces the idea of Blacks having a totally separate society from whites. In my book the Marks Left Behind, I express the importance of knowing who you are. Black is beautiful is one of the topics in the book that I use to stress the beauty of Blacks in a poetic way. Of course there are Blacks that do not believe that Black is Beautiful, but this is a result of issues from the past. The last of the issues is that black culture is not completely explainable.
Before the Black is beautiful movement, Blacks were taught that they were less only because of the color of their skin. Many Blacks learned not only white hatred but internalized hatred. Before the Black is beautiful movement Blacks would actually put themselves down and had low self esteem in that they even talked about their own kind. If you were dark skinned you were looked on as even less than other Black people. The Black Cultural Movement helped Blacks learn the important of self worth, that allowed them to believe in themselves. The phrase “Black is Beautiful” is a statement that helps all black people to boost their self esteem, but this issue will continue to haunt some Black Americans.
