Thank You ESSENCE

As a child I was aware of color.  Not in the eloquent way that I understand it now, but I was aware.  My parents told me without hesitation that I was black. But for the kids at the first elementary school I went to, which was predominantly African American, that answer wasn’t good enough.  My skin wasn’t dark enough for that to be the case.   I didn’t have an answer to the relentless questions, “What else?” and "and what?".  They told me that I thought I was better than them because of “IT”. I blamed myself and thought I must have been doing something wrong to give off that impression.  All I knew was that “IT” had prevented me from having friends and building relationships.  

As an adult, I understand that “IT” was a curated set of misconceptions and circumstances based on colorism.  As a child, it imprisoned me. I turned inward. I spent a ton of time alone and observing. That alone time triggered my love for reading and writing.  I got lost in the characters of novels, informed by the facts of the past , and admired what I saw in magazines.  Namely you, Essence.  

When I started picking up your magazine, I wasn’t going into a store and purchasing them off the shelf.  My allowance was reserved for candy from the corner store up the street from our house or the buttered Portuguese rolls I loved from the bakery around the corner.  I would see it when we would visit other people.  In a stack of papers, it stood out like a ultra light beam. I recognized the people on the cover.  Not because they were famous, fame for me was reserved for cartoon characters on Nickelodeon and the characters from the oldies that I watched on “Nick at Night”, but because they were black, like me.  And all the varying shades were accounted for.  That was the validation I needed, right there in all its glory.  In that moment, I didn’t feel like I had to prove what I already knew to be true. Proof that there was more than one tone, and that variance was not only accounted for but celebrated.  

Essence becoming 100 percent black owned again brought back these thoughts from my childhood.  Reminded me of the powerful effect it had on me.  When I decided to study journalism, Essence was the magazine that I would tell everyone was my 5 year plan, the dream gig.  And honestly speaking, that dream has never died. This news reminded me what this magazine has always been for me,  a source of hope, recognition, and the way to showcase our culture for ourselves.

With the state of affairs both locally and globally, and the prevalence of cultural and gender biases that exist around us... WE NEED THIS.  As a source to make our voices heard, and proof that our culture is a force to be reckoned with.   And there’s no better way to power that then through ownership.

So thank you for what you have meant for me up until this point.  And thank you in advance for the #blackgirlbrilliance you will be bringing moving forward.  #timesup.