A Love Letter to…#blacklove

Those within the community know exactly what I mean what I say #blacklove. For those outside of it, there’s just too much context to fully give it justice.

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I think the basis of #blacklove is an awareness, appreciation and pride in your blackness. No one can love my blackness — its intersections, nuances, contradictions, etc — more than me.

It’s uniquely mine.

You can appreciate how you experience my blackness and even feel pride in how I live in and express my blackness. But you can’t love my color, my lips, my features, my thighs, my body, my humor or even my essence more than me.

The moment you love my blackness more than a) I am aware of my own blackness b) I am appreciative of my own blackness or c) I have pride in my own blackness, my blackness (not me) becomes an object. My blackness has been objectified and as that happened, I was no longer needed.

I want to be present in love. I want to be present in my blackness for all it entails. We can be equally enamored and I surely hope we are, but if I don’t love me (and my blackness) there’s just no path to #blacklove.

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Good luck to those still on their journey to finding the beauty in their blackness. I support you. We support you. You and your blackness matter. It doesn’t look one way nor it is experienced or lived in any one way. I do hope today everyone loves their blackness and all that it entails.