A huge topic in the media today is race and discrimination, and a recent trending hashtag, #whitegirlsdoitbetter, is doing nothing to help the situation. I read through some of the tweets in response to the trending topic, and I've got to say most of them were ridiculous or just downright mean. There was racism flying both ways, from the people using the hashtag seriously and the people using it sarcastically. It seemed like everyone was degrading and belittling everyone else.
As a middle class white female, I know I have it good. I know that I will never fully understand the struggle that my African-American sisters face on a daily basis. I also know that I would never use a hashtag like #whitegirlsdoitbetter because I know that there isn't anything that I, as a white woman, could do any better than I could if I was an African-American woman. I'm also extremely embarrassed that a hashtag like #whitegirlsdoitbetter even exists, because it's so degrading to other races and cultures, and it makes the white race look even worse than it already has in the media recently.
With that being said, I need to make something clear. I am proud of who I am and encourage every other woman of every race and background to be proud of who they are, as well. I am proud of the skin that I'm in, not because I think it makes me better than anyone else but because it's what God gave me, just like He gave you yours. Your beauty, body, living, career, and relationship standards should not be set by anything you read on social media, especially not a demeaning Twitter hashtag. Love and embrace the body, face, and skin you were given, but never use it as an excuse to put someone else down; whether it's shaming someone for being a different race/culture than you or firing back insults, they make you no better than the person that you're responding to.
If my experience with that Twitter hashtag taught me anything, it's how full of hate social media is, and how it's so easy to be cruel to someone else while you hide behind a computer screen. I know that I can't change the world with one little article (even though I wish I could), but hopefully I can at least change one person's point of view with what I'm about to say: the only way to combat hate is with love. So, to every single person reading this, I love you, and you're beautiful just the way that you are.
