Just about everyone has heard about the comments that Stacey Dash has made on Fox. If not simply Google her name and you will learn all about it. I don't want to take up too much of your time with the background information. Additionally, my thoughts on this topic are not dependent on Stacey Dash's statement. On Facebook, I wrote a response that I want to share with everyone. I think that it has a valuable message that all can benefit from.
We all fail to realize that we all need to see positive images of our reflection. This applies to race, ethnicity, gender, age, size, sexual orientation.
I have two boys, CJ who is currently 2 and MAC who is 1. In my own personal experience, I am currently on a mission to find books that have males (in general as well as African American) as the main character. I want my boys to see images of African American men who are in college, law enforcement, medicine, education, and science. I want them to see African American athletes, singers, artists, musicians, and actors. I am not going to exclude them from images that do not reflect black and male but I need for CJ and MAC to realize that they have a potential, a destiny. I want them to be comfortable with their identity.
There are people all around who want their children to see themselves represented in the world. For example, there was recently a story about a family who adopted a Haitian child who had to have surgeries and she had crutches. This family was excited to see that Target had used a girl with crutches in their advertisement. This is a population of people who are largely underrepresented.
http://www.upworthy.com/a-moms-post-about-a-halloween-costume-is-going-viral-on-facebook-thank-you-target
Just imagine how it feels to not see someone like you in a positive way on TV, movies, books, magazines, etc. There are many people out here who are different from mainstream beauty who suffer often times in silence because they feel different. Everyone is not a size 2. Everyone does not go to the same church. Everyone does not eat pizza. Everyone is not tall. Everyone does not hair fair skin. And at the end of the day being tall, skinny, Christian, white is no better than being tall, fat, Muslim, and brown-skinned. What makes us a good person is not the things on the outside but our character. At the end of the day, what kind of person are you?
We all have a destiny and we have so many obstacles in our way but seeing positive images of ourselves helps us to realize our potential and makes it easier for us to keep going. We have so many people who are depressed or have eating disorders. There is so much self-hatred in these individuals. They have lost their way. They're looking in a distorted mirror, a mirror that reflects the image of someone else. Something that they cannot become. Think about the images that you surround yourself or your children with. Think about the standards you are setting for them.
There really is no need to ignore our differences. We really should talk about them and embrace them. Long story short, we do need to be inclusive but being inclusive means that we represent everyone and celebrate our differences. This does not mean putting someone down for being different but instead understanding the beauty in our differences. No, I am not a blonde woman but it is beautiful that blonde hair is like having a glimpse of the sun. My hair is still beautiful. It is a deep dark brown, brown like fertile soil. Life grows from the soil. We all have something uniquely and inherently special and beautiful that we can identify. We must learn to love ourselves and love our neighbors.
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