Why Can't Black Girls Rock?!

Let me make one thing perfectly clear. Black girls definitely rock! I'm married to one, I have a little one, and  I am related to quite a few of them. So I am speaking from experience. There's nothing wrong with being proud of who you are, no matter who you are. But for some reason when black people show any kind of pride in being black it is discouraged & deemed threatening. Shortly after the "Black Girls Rock" slogan was introduced, a group of white women saw fit to introduce a slogan of their own, "White Girls Rock". As if they have been equally as disenfranchised and discriminated against as white women. In reality this counter active move was nothing more than an insult, and an attempt to mock black women. But the question is. Why is black pride so intolerable.

A young mother in Biloxi, Mississippi is fighting back after an administrator at her daughter’s elementary school made the child take off her “Black Girls Rock” t-shirt.

Sharika Jolly shares that her 8-year-old daughter Makiyah-Jae told her that she wanted to straighten her hair and dye it blonde, and she had been looking for ways to build her self-esteem.

“I’m like ‘No, baby. That’s not you. This is who you are. You don’t have to be like anyone else but yourself. And I feel like she should be comfortable in her own skin,” said Jolly.

In response, Sharika brought her daughter a “Black Girls Rock” shirt. The popular slogan was coined by celebrity DJ Beverly Bondwho runs a non-profit with the same name. Bond also executive produces the annual Black Girls Rock awards show on BET which celebrates and promotes women empowerment.

Even though Makiyah had worn her shirt to school several times before, the principal of Popps Ferry Elementary made the little girl change clothes. When she arrived home, Sharika called the principal in search of answers.

“When I asked him what was the reason for him taking the shirt off of her, he said, ‘You’re right. It’s not in the policy. Nowhere in the policy does it state that the shirt is out of dress code,’” said Sharika. “He said they made a judgment call, then I proceeded to ask well who are the judges judging my eight year old. And he said ‘Well, I’m the principal so I made the call.’”

Sharika then contacted the school district and two days later, she received a formal apology from the superintendent.

“The principal said they got to thinking about it. We were trying to avoid a conflict,” said Arthur McMillan, Biloxi Schools Superintendent. “In today’s world we think about all the politically correct things that we don’t want to offend anybody; probably overreached in this situation.”

While the exact thought process behind the principal reprimanding the 8-year-old is unknown, we imagine that he associated “Black Girls Rock” with “Black Lives Matter”, a movement that seeks to bring awareness and justice to African American’s who are victims of police brutality.

However, a quick google search could have eased the principal’s fears that the little girl was doing nothing more than wearing an empowerment t-shirt.

PR