Hollywood has portrayed black woman as angry and bitter for many years now. Take for example the movie "Clueless". Do not get me wrong, I absolutely love this movie and will continue to until my dying day. However, can we talk about how Dionne (Stacey Dash) had to do the whole, “Oh no you didn’t act”? If you don’t know, she basically takes a hair extension that is not hers and dangles it in front of his face and shouts at him. When I was younger I used to not think about it too much and I just thought that she was just being a strong woman standing up to him. Then I saw more movies that portrayed young black woman as the typical “angry” and “loud” girl. I started to think why do they have to be that way? I think it is important for woman to stand up for their rights and get what is theirs, but like come on. Being a black woman does not make you crazy or have to smack your hands together to get your point across.

I am not angry because I am black. I am angry because of how we are perceived by others. Even if no one wants to say it out loud, this negative image affects not only black woman, but little girls, as well. My sister who is only about twelve wishes for her skin color to be lighter or for her hair to be more straight. She told me that she would be better off being white like our mother in this world. When she was done telling me about this, I felt a knot in my stomach. Why would a twelve-year-old be worried about this now? What has our society come to where little black girls think about their skin color as being ugly? Then it hit me. She was getting this from some of the videos and films that she was watching.

One video in particular was about how black women were not the best women to date. That we “check” our men and make their life a living hell. Then it went on to talk about how the lighter colored girls were better, because somehow being a darker skin tone is bad. My sister went on to say how black boys do not like darker woman and go for the lighter girls. Being a lighter girl myself, I love my skin; but my sister who is darker should also be told that she is beautiful just the way she is. Little black girls should feel beautiful no matter how light or dark they are.

Young black women and girls should not feel ashamed for being born a darker skin tone. They should not feel bad about themselves whenever they watch shows that make them out to be crazy. Instead, they should feel powerful. They should look away from the negative images and go see the positive ones where black women are presented well. In the show "

Scandal" Olivia Pope (Kerry Washington) the main character is black and she is fierce. No one gets in her way and they would not want to because she is one lady not to mess with. In short, this rant has been building up for sometime now, but I just wanted to say how important it is for woman of color to know that they are more and worth more than the stereotypes wrongly placed on them.