The Power of Melanin
Story by Kya Uzzle. Photo from www.womenofthelens.com
“No, I’m NOT Team Light Skin. No, I’m NOT Team Dark Skin. No, I’m NOT Team Brown Skin. I’m Team Melanin because we are one! I’m a Black Queen that celebrates ALL shades of Black beauty. Black women and Black girls are equally beautiful in EVERY shade. Our skin tones are Exquisite Beauty. Respect the complexion!
- Stephanie Lahart
NOV. 19, 2018: I’d like to take a moment to ask you to realize how beautiful we really are as black women. Having melanin is like having your own superpower (as some would put it). It can boost a woman's confidence one million times when the women are complimented about their skin color. Most women aren’t always confident in their skin because they either think of themselves as too “dark” or too “light”. But honestly, either way, African- American women are beautiful in many ways.
Many companies like Maybelline, L’Oreal, and Estee Lauder are adding more shades to their makeup lines. From very pale to dark brown tones, they are branching out to cover the women who are very dark. There have also been more appearances of women of color in famous magazines like ‘Vogue’ and ‘Essence’. With this much publicity for our melanin culture, we are saying that we are no different than the rest of the cultures around the world. As melanin-blessed people, we should embrace all our tones more and more as the time passes.
There have been many, many articles on the beauty of ‘Melanin Magic’. The most recent updates on this topic have come from an article by Remy Ma who explains the importance of ‘Melanin Magic’ to help other women. In this article, she covers topics about how melanin-blessed women need to love themselves more and not think of themselves as outcasts for having a darker skin tone than other women around the world. She also talks about colorism and how some children are affected by not loving themselves, starting at a very young age because of their skin tone. In the article, she states this: “I’m always gonna tell people to stand up for themselves. That’s what women’s empowerment includes as well”. When Remy said this, I thought that it could affect woman around the world because it is very inspirational. To find more information on this article you can go to https://www.huffingtonpost.com/entry/remy-ma-talks-empowerment-melanin-magic_us_5a95645ee4b0699553cc7930.
To conclude this article I will break down what the word ‘melanin’ actually means and how it empowers women across the world. This empowerment from little girls to women has a huge impact. The definition of empowerment is “the authority or power given to someone to do something”. By being ‘dark-skinned’ and or African-American we are given the power to make a movement and prove that we are all equally beautiful. We have decided that enough is enough and that we need to take a stand to show the world that we are no different than anyone else. The definition of melanin is “A dark brown to black pigment occurring in the hair, skin, and iris of the eye in people and animals. It is responsible for tanning skin exposed to sunlight. In addition, melanin creates people of incomparable beauty. From the lightest to the darkest skin tone, Black women and Black girls are exquisitely beautiful in every shade.
Kya Uzzle is a 9th grade scholar at Friendship Tech Prep Academy.