Melanin as U.N.I.T.Y

You're the problem if you find yourself mad at black women for celebrating their magic. 

Does my melanin offend you? Does it come as a surprise?

It brings tears to my eyes when i think about how much i needed this melanin movement while i was growing up. I grew up in a time where black barbie dolls were a myth, feeling misplaced in their white Barbie & Ken world, excluded and even labelled as "token". 

There is so much under the surface, the deep-seeded pain of sitting in a history class for 12 years and learning about how black people all around the world have been robbed of their throne, their land, their freedom, their spiritual inclination - their souls.

I have frequent flashbacks of sitting there as a minority in a classroom, in a country where our race is the majority by far; while the teacher stands there boasting about 'conquering' our heritage, raping our ancestors, and butchering my language.

Young black women with no direction, support and inspiration are a wasted valuable resource, the juice is endless and the magic is inevitable - we just have to harness it. We need to instill a sense of pride in this new generation of Melanin-filled millennials, we need to make sure that they use their juice to reclaim their rightful place in the world. That's our responsibility because we know better.

As long as we keep saturating the internet and spaces we frequent with positive affirmations and images of what it is to be a black woman; there is hope to use melanin as love, to use melanin as power, to use melanin as a platform for excellence, as opposed to how it's been used against us all this time - to divide and conquer us.

During this time we are edging towards a world infiltrated by beautiful black minds with purpose, the materialization of Utopia, finally we can freely inhabit the garden of Eden.

To me it's more than just posting pretty pictures and hash tagging "melanin" : we are rebuilding the confidence of a race, starting with those who give birth to it - those who nurture it!

It's bigger than us, but it's too much to do alone, both in African & American societies, we are focused on restoring the faith and pride in our race!

We aren't criminals, savages and animals; we are the amazing race, we are gifted, we are talented beyond measure - and most importantly, we are resilient beyond oppression.

My name is Shonisani and I am young, black, beautiful, intelligent, woke and extremely unapologetic about my melanin, therefore, i believe wholeheartedly in a cause that unites black women around the world, and in turn, black males too.

For the love of ALL black girls, around the world who have been overlooked for way too long. The aim is to make sure that you're always certain of your worth, that you always know how important you are.

You are loved. 
You are brilliant. 
You are enough.