Dear Black Girls By Shayla Avery

There was a girl I knew who hated going out in the summertime because she didn’t want to get darker

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She hated the color of her skin because no one else in the room looked like her

That girl now loves her chocolate melanin complexion and how it amazes others when she walks into a room

There was a girl I knew who was at the top of her class but never spoke up because she didn’t want to be considered “that” black girl

Now that girl speaks her mind without hesitation 

There was a girl I knew who only wore extensions to school because she felt like her natural hair was too ugly, nappy, and “distracting” to be styled

Now that girl embraces all the kinks and curls that form her crown

There was a girl I knew who hated her body because it didn’t capture what society thought was beautiful

This girl now has learned that beauty is within, to be beautiful you must look beyond the surface

There was a girl I knew who felt like the world was against her, she was suffocating in her own skin

This girl now knows her power

She knows that her skin matters

Her voice matters

SHE matters

She is beautiful inside and out

This girl is me