KJ Unplugged!

I Hate Being Black

What am I going to tell her?

My little girl that is coming into this world—what am I going to tell her?

I guess I would tell her to respect herself as a queen and I would tell her if she if mocha brown or silky coconut or even the deepest chocolate you are beautiful. I would tell her don’t accept “you are beautiful for a dark-skinned girl” or oh she is fine “Cause she got good hair.”

I would tell her don’t let anyone judge your beauty by how dark or light your skin may be?

I have not seen your face baby girl and I probably have another four years before we meet but this dark-skin versus light skin thing has really bothered me. You see Baby Girl, when I was younger a girl told me I was ugly because I was black. Not Martin Luther King black or Malcolm X black but too dark to be beautiful

I won’t let another person slide trying to make my dark skin a curse and you don’t have to either.

To love yourself means seeing your own beauty. I see your beauty not because of your skin’s tone but because of your life’s potential. Some think the “house negroes” have it better than the “field negroes” but really we have hurt each other for so long we don’t see that Willie Lynch is still writing the books on Black Consciousness.

I couldn't help but only like light skinned girls cause I was thinking about my kids. I didn't want my kids to be black like me, but now . . . I want my kids to be just like me.

Me is what black was! I am talking about back in the day when growing up without a dad didn’t make you dysfunctional it just made you more responsible. Me is what black was! I am talking bout when you weren’t living until you’re In Living Color. When you didn’t call another black man "my nigga," you called him "my brother." Me is what black was! So I will stand up tell our youth—babies and records ain’t the only thing we can produce.

So Baby Girl, I begin with you. You will already got a leg up on me. You got a father that loves you and will tell you if you want to fall in love, stand for it first.