Unit 1

It was hard to narrow down the things that I most enjoyed about unit one. There was a lot of information presented to me that I might not have paid much attention to before. One thing that did manage to grab my attention was when bell hooks spoke about internalized racism and the lack of role models in the black community. Thinking of internalized racism as seeing things through the lens of white supremacy, it would only make sense for the world to be uncomfortable when someone steps out of the “molds.” Celebrities are some of the best examples of this. There are artists like Beyoncé  who are praised for looking the most “fair”  

and there are celebrities like Zendaya who constantly push the envelope and receive a lot of harsh words for doing so. http://defamer.gawker.com/giuliana-rancic-says-zendayas-hair-must-smell-like-oils-1687678763

Who says that we are inferior because we are black? Sadly, some black people really feel this way. After reading the intro to Black Looks, I actually had words to explain the problem. I could relate to the young girl who was convinced that straight hair and light skin was beautiful. It is not something that I learned specifically from TV and movies. My mom and unknowingly inflicted those views on me by straightening her hair and mine when I was young and being told that I should stay out of the sun.  After my first year at NCA&T, I started to see the beauty in all types of hair and skin tones. We are all beautiful in all shapes, sizes, and colors. 

Bell hooks talks about how white supremacists had already constructed their ideas of what blackness was long before ever reaching what is now the United States. They did this to uphold their racial superiority, and today, instead of fighting against that design; we continue to exist in it. Below is a link to a clip from Malcom X by director Spike Lee. In the clip Malcom X (Denzel Washington) talks about internalized racism using the mindsets of two slaves.https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9_5oacrr1ts

We must create role models who encourage us to change our current ways of thinking and press forward to be better.