Melanin Can't Be Bought

Written By: Jouviane Alexandre 

BlackisBeautiful #melaninpoppin #blackbeauty

These are just some hashtags you’d find trending on social media, and we’re here for them! However, while most of this self love comes from black women, that’s not all that has become a trending topic on your favorite platform. As Black women, we’ve always known that we’re poppin', from our skin, to our hair, to our shape to our entire culture. It’s just taken the rest of society time to catch up. While for us, our culture is a way of life, for others some aspects of our culture seem to be a fad or trending topic to them.

#CultureVultures?

My, how the tides have turned! Our Black is so beautiful that aspects of our culture that were once looked down upon, are now being emulated, repackaged, bought and sold. Trends we created and have been doing for decades weren't “trendy” or even always accepted until the mainstream began to emulate our blackness and melanin. It used to be for those comparing our features to "classic" European ones, that our lips were too full. Our hips were too round. Our skin was too brown. Our hairstyles are “too much.” What we have always known to be cornrows are now “boxer braids” according to the mainstream. Too funny! Now guess what, hunty? Everybody wants to sip the Kool-Aid! 

Some folks will spend hundreds of dollars to immerse themselves in Black culture. They’ll dish out thousands of dollars to acquire our features. They'll spend hours and hours baking in the sun to get tan. Whooo, chile some people are literally making it rain trying to look and act more like us. Skin so brown, hips so round, everybody wants to be down, hunty! While we appreciate some of the love and imitation is the sincerest form of flattery, one fact remains, and that is:

Melanin can’t be bought. 

Now there’s no problem with people embracing Black culture, but one thing that is unacceptable is when those who will readily accept black culture will reject black people. Now those are the people who aren’t invited to the cookout. Our melanin and our blackness is what sets us apart from the entire world, and while many would attempt to purchase the very characteristics that are a part of our identity and DNA, our melanin can never be bought.

And that’s THAT, on that!