When I was sent this video a week ago, I had no idea what it entailed, had I known, I would have viewed it much sooner. Nevertheless, I finally got a free moment to watch it. In doing so, I paid no mind to the caption, or even the title of the video. I was greeted with a still frame of a beautiful young face. The appearance of her permanent teeth in proportion to her size, caused me to estimate that she is approximately ten years old. Her mouth was wide open, causing me to believe that she would be belting out a harmonious version of one of Whitney Houston’s hit songs. “The Greatest Love of All” was playing in my head, well before I pressed play. Okay, perhaps I am being slightly melodramatic, I assumed that more than likely it was a video of the little girl doing her own cute version of Willow Smith’s, “I Whip My Head Back and Forth.”
I was both caught off guard and appalled at the images that met me.
As I watched this video, and saw little girls one-by-one yell obscenities into the camera, to include personal contact information for Myspace, like many others that will watch this; my mind swarmed with thoughts of judgment. “If that was my child, I would do this…” “Their mothers must be that…”
Yes, I thought of the mothers because, when it comes to a young girl, the mother (or mother-figure) is, and should be the most influential person in the girl’s life.
I wondered in five short years how many of these children will be teen mothers.
I wondered if any of them have already been exposed to sexual encounters be it with an adult, or even boys their age.
Not even a year ago, I gave birth to my very own daughter. Holding her in my arms, I marveled at her beauty and innocence. Familiar feelings of joy appeared, much like when I experienced the miracle of life for the first time, and held my son in my arms. The best part of having children is that in my opinion, they are a clean canvas, and we paint them to be the finished masterpiece.
Too many times, when a woman is pregnant, she eagerly hopes and prays that it is a girl. They after all are easier to shop for and have cuter outfits available. The idea of having a baby girl is a lot more idealized, than the reality of raising a young woman. Once the pink booties and lovely lavender ribbons are packed away, there is a real job to be done.
This generation faces issues that even we parents didn’t have to contend with. It is imperative that we raise our women to be strong and independent. This is not optional, regardless of our own social standing; we have to create opportunities for tomorrow’s women.
Interesting enough, the title of the video is Black Girls: The Cycle Continues.
As we do not know the backgrounds of the children in this video, or that of their parents, the intention of this blog is not to speak ill of them, it is to raise awareness to a problem plaguing our community. The question at hand is how does a person that has not been on this earth much longer than a decade; learn such violence, cursing and lewd behavior?
The answer is through there home environment, and other surroundings. Our children are growing up too fast, instead of their innocence being preserved, because the line between parenting and BFF has been blurred. We single mothers are so lonely, that we allow our children to hang out with us, doing age-inappropriate activity, such as watching music videos and movies that are well above their maturity level. I know nowadays it seems like when all else fails, blame it on hip hop music, but we can’t deny the connection. It is filled with violence, lust, corruption, bullying…you name it.
The good news is that we can fight this, and win. Some mothers don’t know any better. Every positive, mature woman should make it her business to get involved in the life of a young woman as a mentor. How do we break this cycle? A little nurturing could go a long way. The right mentor, could use each girl’s strengths to mold them into productive members of society.
The Millionaire Girls of the video, actually have a sound business model, complete with a president and supervisor, along with the various roles each of the members played. Why not mold them to be real entrepreneurs?
The young ladies encouraged their rivals to get their weight up, and boasted on how they were getting money. (Hip Hop terms). Why not nurture them to learn about financial planning, and groom them to be investors or stockbrokers?
A young lady mentioned that her wardrobe consists of RocaWear® and frowned upon the brand Aéropostale®. With her interest in fashion why not model her to become a fashion consultant or designer?
They all seemed to be confident in their fighting abilities, why not condition them to become a professional boxer or trainer?
The young ladies in the video had the ability to curse with conviction and used the profanity in the proper context, which is a learned behavior. Since they have such passion; why not mold them to become court justices and powerful attorneys?
From the way they addressed the mean girls, the young ladies fearlessly stood up for one another. Why not build on their innate desire to protect one another and raise them to be tomorrow’s human rights leaders?
In conclusion, if we don’t teach our daughters to rise above even our social standing, we are raising generations of women that will disgrace our ancestors that fought so hard. Why did Harriet Tubman lead the Underground Railroad, is this the fate intended to lead us to? Is this Sojourner’s Truth?
