BLACK BEAUTY

If you are looking for beauty, look for it in a BLACK WOMAN.
Not even to objectify her, but strip her body.
Remove all the weight and angry stereotypes this world has placed upon her.
Tell her stand still, and see how she still moves.
How her figure sways with strength and dignity.
Watch her feet and her back, how they stand planted strong and beautiful.
Watch her breasts as her chest rises and falls with all the things this world has given her.

Look up beauty in a dictionary not created by Webster and you'll find my Grandmother.
The words will say she is QUEEN and she is everything that holds this family together.
Search for synonyms and find my Mother, whose kindness behooves us all.
Who in some days I search for flaws and can never spot one that isn't the most beautiful imperfection I've ever seen.

It wasn't until recently that I've seen my face in this dictionary.
Maybe I was reading the wrong words this entire time.
Maybe I was looking for pretty, for good enough.
But I tell you, I see it now.
I read this dictionary every day.
BEAUTY. BEAUTY. BEAUTY.

When I see beauty, I see black women.
And when I see black women, I see beauty.
A beauty that cannot be defined by anyone EXCEPT ourselves.

So throw out the labels. They weren't sticking well enough to begin with.
Step out of your boxes. We were not meant to be shaped like this.
Rid yourself of this existence they have given you and search for beauty.
I promise you,
You will find it in BLACK WOMEN.