International Women’s Day: Why we black women must still elevate ourselves

I don’t know about you, but it feels like we’re truly seeing a shift in how our ‘black conciousness’ is being treated. We’ve seen an explosion in television adverts showing black families, women with brown skin – even some with darker skin tones.

Is it now ok to be black?

Suddenly, the Western world seems to be saying that it’s ok to be black. All of these images of inclusion do make me smile. Both with a positive and in a ‘wry’ manner… Having been born and raised in the UK, it’s a huge shift for me. As I still remember how we were ignored by media and treated like second class citizens (compared to white people). There never seemed to be any effort to elevate black people or show us as equal members of society.

Is society about to ‘elevate’ us?

So here we are; being shown on tv, appearing in house or soap powder adverts. Yes, according to the Western world, us black people now do exist! Does this mean we are being accepted into every part of society now? That we’ll be seen as more than athletes or singers?

When I say every part ‘of society’, I’m talking about how we’re portrayed in the media, across websites, magazines, social media. Let’s not forget being treated as equals at work, in every occupation and at every level.

Not cold water – just realism

Does an increase in diverse images mean we can expect more applause for our achievements ? Will we be acknowledged as more than baby mothers. I’m not trying to pour cold water on any of this ‘positive representation’ which we now see. But for so long, the UK has turned away from black people and any good thing that we are or do.

Lift ourselves and each other up

I’m hoping this continues and I want to see more of a diverse and balanced society . But as I’ve always said, we can’t wait for Western media or society to always lift us up, to elevate us. It’s down to us, to keep on elevating and showing ourselves in the best possible way. For me, as equally important as it is to do this for ourselves, we have to also support and lift each other up whenever we can; because any changes we want to see can only happen when we help each other.

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