MONDAY MOTIVATION: Why BET's Black Girl's Rock and a Few (Less Than Kind) Twitter Comments Prove Celebrating You in All of Your Fab Glory is So Necessary

Photo: Clutch Magazine

Guest blog by: Safia Bartholomew

Black Girls Rock! Why do we rock? Because we are strong, resilient, beautiful, talented, intelligent, poised, funny and too many more reasons! Last night BET aired the annual awards show by DJ Beverly Bond, created to celebrate young black girls, build self-esteem and showcase positive and alternative images to the often stereotypical displays that we see of black women in the media. The concept of the show is fantastic and one that I believe that EVERYONE should get on board with. But of course, when peeping through my Twitter timeline while watching I saw quite a few comments bashing the importance of the show and debating whether or not it is necessary.

I have to say that I almost got out of character a couple of times when reading these comments and it left me absolutely shocked at the complete ignorance. But I digress...the main criticism that these folks had was that it's an unnecessary program because black girls are not the only ones who rock - what about Indian girls, Asians, Spanish, white and other ethnicities? My answer to that is we ALL rock. All of us brown girls, black girls, ivory skinned girls and so on ROCK.

This is reminiscent of arguments that roll around every February about the lack of importance of Black History Month. This should not even be a matter of debate as we are all amazing and beautiful in our own right. There is absolutely nothing wrong with shedding light on and building a platform to empower your own community. If mainstream media consistently did this (or even did it at all) then there wouldn't have to be separate shows. But, until then there will have to be a black show, a Spanish show, etc for each special channel and for each ethnicity. We all deserve to shine.

I would definitely tune into a show that celebrates women who are doing their thing of any ethnicity. It's not just about the color though - it's about the message, the sisterhood and the solidarity that matters. The shifting of perspective so that young girls and women are not just celebrated for their beauty (as we are in most cases) but for our smarts and our service in giving back and lifting others up as we rise higher.

To this, I think Janelle Monae hit it on the head in her acceptance speech when she said, "Embrace what makes you unique even if it makes others uncomfortable." We should all go out into this week with a feeling of love and acceptance of ourselves in all of our differences. Be the first to celebrate you when no one recognizes what makes you amazing! There will always be critics, haters, naysayers and so on who will tell you why you should sit down somewhere and be quiet but to this I say shine brighter, speak louder, dance harder. It may be difficult, but ignore the noise!

Take this chance to shine, leave a comment below telling us why YOU ROCK ! Would love to hear from you.

Happy Monday!!

- Safia
  xo

P.S. Check out this clip from the red carpet where some of our favorite famous black girls, Janelle Monae, Megan Goode, Taraji P. Henson, Regina King, and more tell us why they rock: