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#BlackHairChallenge

Melanin Mamis
Black Twitter has often been a gift to us that we have not deserved. From public dragging of people and their tone deaf comments and actions to presents like the #bowwowchallenge, the intelligence, wit, with a combo of GIFs, memes, and an undercurrent of woke-ness makes Black Twitter one of the perfect giants that keeps Twitter interesting.

Last night while on a casual scroll through Twitter, I happened upon the hashtag #BlackHairChallenge. The Challenge, started by the community, MelaninMamis, was intended to celebrate the diverse range of Black Hair styles and, ultimately, Black Beauty in general. What ensued was a FLOOD of gorgeous locs, coils, kinks, braids, twists, from, and tresses from Black women across Twitter.


via GIPHY

Even those who didn't participate in the challenge had to get in on all of its positivity.

I even joined in, dropping four selfies of my own. It was a beautiful time. Just a bunch of Black women affirming their own beauty and the beauty of each other.

But of course, whenever you try to do something to honor Black people, you know who always has to show up to the party: fragile White people (very different from the Woke White Baes who encourage everyone to love themselves and their individual cultures without feeling threatened or diminished by it, you know, like good humans.) Like spoiled kids throwing a temper tantrum at someone else's birthday party because they didn't get any gifts, these fragile White people went at it, saying everything from this:
To even this:
Racist? How (sway)?

To answer the asinine Twitter tears of the poor fragility of the white people who dared suggest that this tag was racist

So I tweeted the tweet below

And this one too
To which, no one who had objected to the tag has yet to respond, in an intelligent manor or otherwise. I don't get it. And I probably never will, which in itself is a blessing, I guess. After all, if another culture wanted to affirm their own traits and beauty without diminishing anyone else, I wouldn't think it's a problem. In fact, probably would be here for it.

People are allowed to love themselves and their cultures without lowering anyone else to do so. But when you have a culture that was built on nothing but the constant subjugation and appropriation of other cultures, that dominant (and most likely immature) culture sees those other cultures loving themselves as a threat. To which, they feel compelled to respond as above.

But what did we do? The same thing's we always do: keep on being beautiful, versatile, creative and progressive (and secretly reporting their tweets in the process.)

No one should have to justify their own self love. And we won't. This was for us, by us, and no amount of white fragility will rain on this beautiful Black Women's Affirmation Parade.

Like Solange says on her song FUBU "Some shit is for us. Some shit, y'all can't touch."
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