- I will see children feeling insecure
about who they were because of their skin color
and their complexion, but I'll also witness that children
were making fun of each other based off of their skin color.
♫ Look at her hair
♫ Look at her braids
♫ Look at her eyes
♫ Look at her nose
♫ Look at her fro
Black children, like, calling each other, “Blackie,”
saying their hair is like, nappy.
I witnessed this for a long time,
so I created this song for the children that I teach
because I wanted to change their perception
of beauty and how they felt about themselves
and I want to encourage them to love themselves.
♫ My black is beautiful
♫ Beautiful
♫ My black is beautiful
I remember growing up and feeling very insecure
about the way I looked, I felt my nose
was like not straight enough, was too flat
and I felt my skin was dark.
Also when you look on the television,
the images that were portrayed,
did not reflect who I was as a Black child.
After attending college, I took a trip to Africa
that really made me embrace and love who I was.
I teach at a charter school called,
Helen Y. Davis Leadership Academy.
We have what's called a girls' group.
One of the things we talk about is, self-esteem
because I saw that many of the young girls I taught,
didn't feel good about themselves
and they felt uncomfortable in their Black skin.
So the do now question is, do you know think
skin color determines a person's
value or worth in this society?
- I said, no because I don't think
your skin should define you in any type of way.
- We have to work hard and not
listen to what people say and keep our mind
focused on school so that we can make it
to where we want to be.
- I think it's important to use music
as a way to inspire and to transform people's lives.
I vowed to make this song for all Black girls
to really define beauty for themselves.
♫ In life
♫ There's one thing you should remember
♫ That love yourself is more precious than anything else
I already see a lot of the young ladies
feeling much more confident, they're much more outspoken
and they're much more willing to tell their stories.
- My Black is beautiful.
- So what happens when children feel good about themselves,
that transfers to all other aspects of your lives.
There are many problems we can solve in this world
and mine is to make sure that Black women
feel good about themselves and Black children
feel good about themselves because
I think that is the foundation of all education.