It's a Hard-Knock (Black) Life

The lights in the room darkened and the Hollywood classic, “It’s A Hard-Knock Life” began to fill the silence, and a young girl named Annie appeared on the screen. With her curly hair and little red dress, Jamie Foxx’s remake of the Hollywood classic, Annie, hit the big screen again, but the new twist was that the actress playing the orphan was black. This field-trip made me excited to see a major blockbuster featuring an actress I can relate to. As the opening scene began to roll, I became absorbed into Annie’s fictional world, but my trance suddenly broke when a classmate named Amelia uttered, “I’m not trying to be racist or anything but why do black people steal everything?” The blood drained from my face as I craned my head to stare at her porcelain skin, but was unable to say anything as she giggled at herself in approval of her own words. While the film continued to play on screen, my mind unlatched its own reel and memories from history class began to project in my thoughts. Suddenly, chains, diseases, and colonialism of the transatlantic slave trade began to flash in my mind, and the images quickly morphed into blackface, police brutality, and the death of Tupac Shakur.

For as long as I can remember, being black and female was considered the worst pairing in human history, as you are not equally respected as men, but also are considered sub-human in a white supremacist society. Whether it is our wide noses, textured hair, fuller lips and womanly figures, or the copper tone of our skin, Caucasians have mangled our image to equal that of an ape--a wild beast desperately trying to survive in the jungle we call society. Despite historical figures like Martin Luther King Jr., the Black Panthers, and countless other civil rights activists who fought for our freedom and equality rights, blacks are still shackled by the invisible chains fastened by a wealthy and Caucasian elite. Through his rhythmic poetry, hip hop artist Tupac Shakur expressed his anger over the racial discourse to be the voice of the black community, but to also inform the men in power that black people are tired of asking for freedom of equality. Our screams of diversity and inclusion have risen like the waters of a tsunami threatening to burst through the dam that society does not want us to cross, but those leaders inevitably submit to our complaints in fear that we burst through.

As a fair skinned black model, I am often noted for having a “high-fashion exotic” look that many designers fawn after, but in reality it is an excuse to feature diversity within their collection without choosing girls who are “too dark” to showcase their designs. This is proven true when major fashion brands feature Caucasian models with spray tans to appear browner, have black hairstyles like afros or cornrows, and wear clothing that is typically found within urban black neighborhoods. Caucasian models are not only glorified for sporting these looks, but are influencing impressionable young audiences without giving credit to where the style originated. Why is it an issue for a black man or woman to receive appreciation and recognition for their culture? The Black Lives Matter movement, some colored political figures and entertainment stars, and historical black educational institutions are sending a ripple of change within society. However, there are still murdering cases like Ahmaud Arbery's, and New York Times photographer, Kim Kyung-Hoon, capturing a poor immigrant family fleeing from a tear gas assault at the U.S. Mexico border.

The reason for this atrocity is because blacks are not given the same opportunity as Caucasians, and we resort to desperate measures to survive and defeat the system in which we were born. Shakur once mentioned the insanity that there are black people who have nothing whilst the wealthy spend their riches on unnecessary things that will further drive the wedge between colored and non-colored people. This is evident in present day society, as President Donald Trump spends an inexplicable amount of money to build barriers and wage wars to exclude racially and culturally different people who are in search for a better life. However, while he is building barriers to supposedly benefit the country, he is manipulating the relationship between Americans and foreigners to become more hostile and uninviting. If we continue to build walls of hatred and not bridges of understanding, the situation can become explosive and rip the fabric of humanity a part. Like Annie, it is not a hard knock life when we love equally by appreciating the skin we are in and validating from within.