Right Where They Belong

One of the most memorable lessons my father ever taught me was "Where you are is where you belong.". He always taught me to carry myself in a manner that was confident, self assured and respectful He'd tell me.."You should be able to walk into the finest restaurant with the same confidence that you would have walking into your local diner. If you carry yourself like you belong there, no one will ever question: what are YOU doing here?"  This lesson has served me very well in my life. Not to say that I've never been challenged by others to qualify myself but I've always handled it with my sly sense of humor. Because that's just who I am.

For the past few weeks, I've been able to provide some assistance with  a project that has grown near and dear to my heart. It all started with the following Facebook status from my friend Rob:

           A few weeks ago, I overheard a conversation amongst a group of 7 year olds at the academy where I teach; where they were talking excitedly about the American Girl Dolls. When the topic of the American Girl Place in NYC came up, one of the babies remarked matter of factly; "Oh yeah, only white girls go there". This bothered me. That thinking. When I went to pull up the images of the venue to show them they were wrong, I was met with much success; and they looked at me like "And?".

Well NO...NO..no..and NO. As a woman believeth in her mind, so she becomes....and allows...and we simply CANNOT allow our little Black, Brown and Beige babies TO believe that there is a place that exists that they don't belong in or have access to 80% of the school population qualifies for the free lunch program..We just CAN'T allow the scenario of their temporary situation make them believe its permanent. That thinking is UNACCEPTABLE. Period.
     
As the weeks went by and I saw more posts and updates  from Rob asking for donations, I also saw posts that reflected his level of understanding that a lot our pretty brown little girls are lacking in loving affirmations that they are just as beautiful, deserving and valuable as anybody else. I admit that when I first saw Rob';s status, I was a bit reluctant to support it. See, here's the thing, I'm all for GIRL POWER and female empowerment, but I've always tended to back away from any causes pertaining to girls, that seemingly focused on their surface and that didn't delve deeper than just how pretty a girl's  hair is. But then I realized that we're talking  about little girls, and everybody and Mr. Rogers know that to reach the children you have to  to speak to them on their level.  So if going to American Girl is one way to do it. then I cant be mad at that. I'm happy to say that my initial reaction was wrong. 

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But let me go a little deeper. 

Black women have made major strides in the past 5 years alone, but no matter how  many steps we take forward, it seems we're always being asked or told to take  2 steps back. Yes we have our super fly FLOTUS in the White House, but some folks feel its in their best interest to tell Mrs. Obama how she should react when a heckler is being rude to her.

Also, in recent years there's been a movement among black women to embrace our natural hair. Our textures, colors and styles are reflecting an embodiment of our appreciation for our natural beauty and we're doing so boldly and unapologetically.

But yet, there are black women today  that have subjected themselves to having their hair touched by strangers in public as if they were goats in a kiddie zoo. I mean...yeah we get it we're dope..... can we live???  But i digress.  

I think what Rob...and the many friends and family that he's recruited in making this  trip to the American Girl Store happen ..its  so necessary. He understood  that these young ladies are at  crucial stages of their development where the images they see now can have an indelible impact on their self esteem. As many positive images we have ( Mrs. Obama, Serena Williams, Oprah) , there's also a lot of negative images (The entire case Love and Hip Hop and  Basketball Wives) and it seems that the latter is more promoted than the former. This is where we step up. We as women, men, as mothers, fathers, its so important that we do our part  to help guide these (in this case) young ladies to develop the skills they'll need to separate the wheat from the chaff. 

I really hope that when these 27 little girls ...when they march out of their stretch limo..nails painted, hair done, new outfits..when they march onto the middle of Fifth Avenue in New York City.. on what will hopefully be a sunny day and walk into American Girl,  that's its a small step that will start them on a journey of "I am exactly where I'm supposed to be"

Peace

Myrna