
What Makes Black Beautiful?: A Spoken Word Piece

Written by Kayla Harris
What makes Black beautiful?
Everything.

My blackness can be found in using and understanding all the little inside phrases that only my people would understand…
It’s the culture.
It’s the expression.
It’s the shades.
It’s the melanin.
It’s the resilience in the face of adversity.
It’s old songs and new ones.
It’s generations.
It’s things that can be explained but never truly felt unless you exist within it.
How do I celebrate Blackness and femininity?
By existing.
In being who I am.
My blackness can be found in using and understanding all the little inside phrases that only my people would understand…
“Who all gone be there”
“Who made the potato salad”
It’s also in how I bounce back.
My femininity can be found in me not being afraid of it.
Even if it looks like flats or sneakers over heels.
Choosing to wear dresses or wear a pantsuit.
It’s realizing my empathy.
My nurturing.
My tending.
These are the important things.
Why do I love being a woman and a Black woman at that?
It’s who I am.
It may not look like everyone else.
It may not sound like everyone else.
But it’s uniquely,
Fearfully,
And wonderfully…
Me.
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