Within the past year, Black girls like Amandla, Zendaya, and Willow have been praised for championing the Black Girl Magic movement. “Black Girl Magic,” defined by Huff Post is a term used to illustrate the universal awesomeness of Black women, and about celebrating anything Black Girls deem particularly dope, inspiring or mind-blowing about ourselves. As one can imagine, this unapologetic empowerment of Black girls in the midst of immense misogynoir, not only has the potential to be radical and subversive, but also to be restorative and healing. For this reason, Amandla Stenberg, Zendaya, and Willow Smith - the crowned queens of the movement - make a profound statement on the kind of Black girls who are allowed to constitute “awesomeness” and embody magic. Ironically enough, while Amandla, Zendaya, and Willow are exalted for creating space and representation for Black girls, we must also acknowledge that they’ve been chosen to represent Black girls because in many ways, they’re palatable and possess qualities deemed acceptable and respectable by white supremacy.
Within the Black community, cisgendered, light skinned women with body types ranging from thin to “slim thick” are the standard for feminine beauty, so seeing these perpetually idealized Black people continue to take up space, is distressing. These girls are undoubtedly brave; owning Blackness and womanhood in industries as misogynoiristic as radio and Hollywood takes incredible risk. But as someone who attends an HBCU and navigates all Black spaces, seeing yet another group of thin, cis, light skinned women glorified is not only gratuitous, but actively harmful.
I challenge you to look at any HBCU twitter timeline - the rampant colorism, fat-phobia, and queer-phobia (specifically transmisogynoir), is overwhelming. Thin, cis, able-bodied, light skinned women are praised for their skin, hair type, analysis, and art, while dark skinned, queer, disabled, Black women of size are demonized and threatened. These are the women who need affirmation. When I see Black women who are afraid to go natural - and who face the most backlash when they do - they are not light skinned and thin, but people with kinkier hair, bigger bodies, and darker skin.
These are the women who need to know they’re magical.
Having light skinned Black women as the face and forefront of a movement that celebrates Black girl Magic, is to reiterate the message that this is the only acceptable form of Black womanhood, when trans, dark skinned, and fat Black girls already know they’re not accepted.
When I think of dope Black girls I’d like to see at the forefront of the BGM movement, I think of the Black queer women who started Black Lives Matter, I think of Fabiola who runs a zine and actively lifts up the writing of women of color, I think of Curvellas, a tumblr user with incredible wisdom and wit, and I think of Kat Blaque, a Black transgirl artist who dazzles us with her selfies and drags racists so we don’t have to.
When Amandla came out as bi, I cried - I was overwhelmed by seeing someone Black and feminine live their truth unapologetically, but dark skinned, Black transgirls of size don’t have her privilege, and we need representation so that they can feel safe to live theirs too.
