By Sharon McCoy B.S., MEd, MEd…
The struggle is real, right? I mean, being a woman is hard…like really hard.. Being brown skinned is rough. But Baby, being bald, brown and female is not for the weak! Balancing being strong enough to fight through inequality, misogyny, bias, and everything else, while also trying to walk in my soft-femme era takes strategic and intentional focus. As I have been researching what is going on in the world around me, I have come to realize that black- American women aren’t the only brown women who are struggling, winning
Major corporations have started gracing their shelves with items made by black creators. We are seeing more black women in their natural hair and bodies grace runways, tv screens, and store fronts. The tendency is to take a deep breath, loosen our belts, kick our feet up and be content with the trajectory of this small glimpse of equality that we are beginning to see. The momentum is gonna grow right? WRONG!
Queens, we have a responsibility to ensure the equality of all brown people. In my High School Musical voice, “We’re all in this together…” Like, we know how happy we were when Juneteenth became a federal holiday. It is crazy that our Indigenous fam still have to see whole states and school districts celebrate Columbus Day. Columbus…a rapist, a colonizer, a murderer, who is celebrated for being very bad with directions! The insult to our indigenous family is blatant!
Ask yourself, when was the last time you saw an indigenous person rep their culture grace the front of any mainstream beauty outlet? When was the last time you walked down the aisle of your favorite store to see hair/ beauty products made for & by indigenous people? I will say, I have never seen it. Our beautifully spiritual and creative brown family have been shunned out of the beauty industry. Many have been forced to use “Christian” names and forsake their tribal names so that they can have their place in the fashion and beauty industry. They are mistreated, ignored while their culture is white-washed! We will not just standby and watch this happen, right? We are way too cunning, calculating and powerful for this to continue to happen on our watch! What can we do?
This is what I did. I used the internet. I researched. I found this: https://www.beyondbuckskin.com/p/buy-native.html website dedicated to indigenous fashion and beauty brands. Then, I found this https://shoptocabe.com/ website dedicated to indigenous ingredients. Here is the deal, it is so important that we do not purchase from colonizers, but make sure that these websites are actual indigenous and native creators. But it does not end there. We have a political responsibility to make sure that our representatives make Columbus Day recognized as Indigenous People’s Day in every school system and state. We must pressure our favorite places to shop to showcase items from Indigenous creators. We also should normalize seeing items specifically for our Indigenous people’s needs. As a teacher, I will read books by Indigenous authors and learn about their cultural celebrations. Working towards the equality of everyone of every shade of brown is the side of HERstory that I want to be.
We are family! So, if there is not equality for all, we don’t have equality! Since we are all in this together, we must stand and continue to fight for the equality and representation of all brown creators!
