Stomp Never Walk

I was proud of the "Women's March on Washington," to see women band together for the greater good. Unfortunately, that feeling didn't last long. The march was initially named, “Million Women March.” However, this angered many black women who felt using the name was appropriation. In 1997, black women flooded the streets of Philadelphia for the "Million Women March" to show solidarity and expose the different issues black women face, often ignored by white feminists.

I'm not hard-boiled, but aspects of the march still confuse me. Aren't these some of the same women that voted for Trump? In fact, 2016 election exit polls showed that 94 percent of black women voted for Clinton, compared to 43 percent of white women.  Did these women also show up for Black Lives Matter protests?

After a moment of quiet introspection, I wonder if the march would've happened if Hillary Clinton was elected? According to Pew Research Center report in 2015, "college-educated black and Hispanic women earn only about 70% of the hourly wages of college-educated white men." Do white feminists address such discrepancies? Feminist who ignore race are no better than men who ignore gender inequality.

“…With liberty and justice for all.”

Black Girl Literacy

Growing up I never looked for myself in books, most books I read had white girls on the front cover and described white characters. For example, I loved the collection of Sweet Valley books by Francine Pascale. I don’t recall black character descriptions. I read about girls that looked like me in slave narratives. Rugrats one of my favorite cartoons only had one black family in the neighborhood, the Carmichael’s (Hey Susie!). Nonexistent were black girls like me. Books I was exposed to at least. Children like Marley Dias inspire me. As a child, I wish I had the senses to reject the status quo and challenge the school system, my teachers and demand more representation in the book I read. At only 11-years-old Marley Dias didn’t accept the dish served. Visible to her were the egregious bias in the books read in school, "When we actually got into the classroom, the books were just mainly about white boys and dogs," Dias said. Dias only wanted to see herself in words on the page, self-identifying characters After a conversation with her mother she decided to do something about it. The result, a book drive.

Dias ambitiously wanted to collect 1,000 books about black girls. Just how do you do that? Ah, the power of social media, "And we started posting pictures on Instagram of me holding black girl books and pretending to read them. And then, flash - we added a hashtag, and now it's become a full-on book drive," said Dias(#1000blackgirlbooks).

Black children also enjoy ardors of reading. They too dream of becoming astronauts, pilots, scientists, teachers and class president! The dearth diversity in books proves an incipient racial divide in schools. I believe relation to characters in stories can aid in children’s early literacy development. 

Self-Care (Healthy Eating)

I’m on a Self-Care campaign! Sporadically I will post a contributor to my self-care and mental health regimen. Join me on my campaign!

I’m trying my hardest to make healthier decisions. I wouldn’t say I’m dieting rather, being more conscientious of what goes into my body. My sweet tooth makes this extremely difficult. Not knowing my limit makes indulging every once in a while, problematic (sighs). Now, I’m trying to substitute candy with fruits. Oh, did I mention how much I LOVE soda. Who loves grape soda? Kay LOOVVESSS grape soda!  I know, I know it’s bad for you (fix your face, I get it) but it’s a guilty pleasure. I’m trying to eat more fruits and veggies and cut down on carbs (bread). Some days are better than others.

Healthy eating really is a lifestyle change. It not only affects what I put in my body but what I put on it. I started to do a lot of facial at home with things in my refrigerator. I’m wearier of products I put on the face, afraid of gunk clogging up my pores. My pores have been problematic this past year, an issue I’m still combatting (large pores). I’m giving myself a year to get my skin where I would like it to be. Hopefully, by December 2017 it will be where I’d like it. I might chronical my progress, we’ll see. I’ll only do it if I can offer something different from what YouTube beauty guru’s offer. Otherwise, it won’t make much sense, just repetitive. Anyway crossing fingers it works out!