 [ALL OF THE ABOVE PHOTOS WERE TAKEN WITHIN THE LAST 6 MONTHS]
I guess it is about that time to address the elephant in the room, the problem amongst several fellow pro-black acquaintances, the controversial oxymoron that keeps them from taking me seriously, and that is: My choice to wear colored contacts (every now and then). Have you ever gone window shopping and spotted something that you wanted to try on? But the store was closed, even though the store hours said they were open on Google. TURNS OUT the store only opened for white customers and there was a sensor that would automatically "close" the store every time a black person came within 50ft of the store entrance.... In my case, that something I spotted was colored contacts. According to society, there is something wrong with that. Something wrong with me. I MUST have some deeply rooted self-hatred for my natural eye color- which is brown, by the way. I am not allowed to go into the store because society says I, as a pro-blacktivist, should not. *And if there is one thing I am getting sick of... it is being categorized in order to meet someone else(in this case, society)'s expectations. Yet, if a white individual decides to rock colored contacts for whatever reason, even if there was none, no one would bat an eye. Think about it. When has a white person ever changed their eye color (OR hair color), and society give them a hard time for it? [And don't even think about mentioning Rachel Dolezal because she, allegedly, does not claim her societal identity. I do. ] I recently dyed my hair for the first time ever because I, simply, wanted to try something new. It had been 26 consistent years of my hair being in the same state- and if you know anything about me, I love trying out different styles and seeing myself in different abstracts. My hair will grow back. SUPER THICK. I already have future plans to chop off all my hair again and rock platinum blonde, a host of other colors, and a plethora amount of fabulous cuts. I want to experiment. It's my hair. Keyword: MY No one seems to have a problem with me dying my hair, but my EYE COLOR? I might as well get my pro-black card revoked! I treat my colored contacts like I treat my clothes; a piece of style that I have chosen in order to accentuate what I already have. ...AND, for the record- I ADORE my brown eyes! I appreciate them so much more now that I have the option to rock other colors. I love switching it up. "If the opportunity is out there, why not?" I say. WHEN WILL WE NORMALIZE BLACK FOLKS HAVING THE FREEDOM OF CHOICE TO DO WHATEVER THEY WANT WITHOUT REPERCUSSION? Let's work on that, Pro-black community. Because I think we have differing definitions on what it means to be "Pro-black."
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