A Black Girls Dream

Hey Girl Hey! It’s your Southern Black Girl Kenedi!

Have you ever experienced feeling different than the people around you or not fitting in to the environment around you? I have and I understand how that can be hard and confusing for people. Growing up in a predominantly white state it was hard for a black girl like me to do many things. But the biggest was just existing in the same spaces without feeling out of place, especially when it came to things that black people deal with and are commonly different from most people like hair, background, racism, etc.

I remember one day when I was in middle school I wore my hair in a big Afro. It was spirit week and the theme for the day was decades. I went with the 80s as my decade and I wore all the 80s colorful style. I walked in the school so confident thinking I would have the best outfit. But once I got in the school I got many stares, laughs, and comments like “Can I touch your hair?” “Is it real?” “You should straighten your hair”. The one comment that made me question myself the most was from one of my favorite teachers. As soon as he saw me he said “Woah crazy hair day was yesterday, nice outfit though.” I didn’t really understand the comment at the time so I just laughed it off but that was something that made me question why everyone treated me like that. Since then I have gotten more into black culture and what it means to be a black girl in a society that has treated black girls and women differently for years.

Two years ago I joined SBGWC as a youth ambassador and it has helped me tremendously in seeing who I am as a black girl and how I can bring that black girl joy to other girls and women around the world.

Southern Black Girls and Women’s Consortium is a non profit philanthropic organization that focuses on those things to bring black girls like me joy in being who they are. Investing in this organization can help us spread that joy and create a safe space for all black girls and women around the world so they can walk in any building and be confident in who they are no matter what they wear, what they do, or what their background and environment is like.