The Black Student Union (BSU) hosted their “Believe in Beauty” event in Butcher Suite on October 7 to discuss what it means to be a black woman in today’s era.

The event was an extensive discussion for women on campus to respond to the problems that darker skinned women face today, and questioned what it meant for them to be bold, strong, and beautiful.

The BSU touched on a variety of topics from skin bleaching, to the perception of natural hair on black woman, and how black men view black women today.

The film Dark Girls, by Bill Duke and Donald Channsin Berry, was screened. Through the film, the women of BSU explored the prejudices that dark-skinned women face throughout the world and discovered the roots of classism, racism, and the lack of self-esteem of black women in modern day American society.

“[The documentary] evoked some strong emotions. There were things that were buried up, things that we have heard and things that we have seen regarding racism and colorism and the whole light skin vs dark skin argument,” sophomore Brianna Simms said.

BSU senator Adina McCray said that the purpose behind the event was to have an extensive discussion on the themes of Dark Girls. She also spoke about colorism and the stigma that being darker means that you are not as pretty as a lighter skinned woman.

“I was glad that people were honest, and that they took things away from the film because a lot of people that were here, even though they had not seen the film before could relate to it in some type of way,” McCray said. “A lot of the things that were said in the movie were things that they had experienced so it was nothing new. The film gave them terms for what they had already lived through.”

Simms said that one of the most powerful moments of the event was when the women spoke about the idea of “good hair.”

“It’s so imbedded in our culture, it’s so internalized that I don’t even think we realize that we’re subconsciously doing it. Even if we’re not saying it out loud a lot of people still have that and carry that in themselves,” Simms said.

Simms said that in order to change black culture, the black community needs to be more conscious of itself.
“Think before you speak, think before you act and make sure that your actions and your thoughts are reflective of what you’re thinking, of what your character is, and where you stand morally,” Simms said.

McCray said that the one thing that stuck out to her the most about this event was that there was a lot of participation from black women.

“This issue affects all of us, not just the Dark Skinned women. It affects the light skinned women too; it affects you because everyone has heard these things that were discussed in the movie,” McCray said. “Insults because you’re darker, or ‘you’re not pretty’ or ‘you’re pretty for a black girl,’ those kinds of things. I was really proud to see everyone come out and watch the movie and then have honest opinions about it and appreciate it and take away from it and learn.”

McCray encourages more black men to come out to BSU events and help support women who are working to represent black students.

“If we had some more black men in the room this event would have been all the more powerful,” McCray said. “Black men need to be more involved with the BSU because, whether they like it or not, they are black and they are going to be black for the rest of their lives.”