Reading Response Paper - Essay Example

due Reading Response The reading that I like best is reading three: our crown, our glory, our roots by Meah Clay. This is because it talks about the frequently witnessed struggle of the African- American women, who try to be like whites since being white is considered as the barometer for beauty. The reading I least like is reading one; when I was growing by Nellie Wong. It brings into perspective the aspect of racial supremacy and discrimination. The reading on Our Crown, Our Glory, and Our Roots brings into my mind the struggle I witnessed among my friends who are black.

They could use artificial hair that is white and do all bleaching, just to appear white. The desire to appear as white was so rooted into them as if this is the ultimate concept of beauty. Most people think of it as being the main parameter for judging whether a woman is beautiful. The white color, hair and culture among women, is considered the mark of beauty and cleanliness with black women despised as being dirty. This has led to most black women using their available time and resources in ways that could make them appear like the whites.

The women appear as objects, which must please the male counterparts, and since it is the men who actually judge this beauty, the women are left as objects who must only try to satisfy the requirements for beauty as set by the men and the society. They therefore become slaves of Historical racial segregation and supremacy. Reading two about ‘when I was growing’ reminds me of racial segregation especially during the apartheid era in South Africa where the whites were considered more superior.

The irony in this is that it is promoted by the blacks who considered themselves as being very important if they go out with the whites (Marable and Vanessa, 34). The black woman in this case sees herself as beautiful and in a higher class just by being asked out on a date by a white man. The woman is an object and is happy to be recognized by a white and thus raises her status in terms of being beautiful is enhanced by that act. I disagree with reading three because some African- American women have actually appreciated their beauty.

They no longer strive to be whitish in order to be beautiful. The African women have appreciated the value of their skin color and hair color as well as nature, to the point that they model them and have proven to match the white beauty in recent beauty pageant. The women have started promoting the wealth of beauty that is in the black African-American women which has contributed to the development of more and varied definitions and perceptions of beauty (Marable and Vanessa, 28). The society, in return, has grown to a point of looking beyond the skin color to the actual beauty presented in confidence and full self acceptance.

Although traditionally the girl child, if African- American, was brought up to believe that the curly hair that is white was the ideal mark of beauty while today, African American women are more comfortable to appear in their straight made afro hairstyle which is black without having to dye or develop some white hairstyles but styles that befit their hairs. The reading reminded me of a reading I came across in a journal. This was about whether the species was actually black or white. This reading was bringing into light the modern African- American woman who would go out of their means to actually appear as white thus making it slightly difficult to determine whether they were actually black.

In the reading, the women would bleach their skin to acquire the white color, develop through genetically modified means, the white hair style so as to be white. In this state and with a trained language and accent that is white which is learnt from childhood, it becomes difficult to determine whether the women are black. The only challenge that comes with this is that all the mechanisms utilized do not correspond to the genetic make up of the body and will result into various infection especially cancer of the skin where after sometimes, the women develop burns on their skin.

This reading reminds me of the late Michael Jackson who was a popular pop star. He went out of his way to do plastic surgery only to shed is black identity and become white. He considered black as dirty and inferior and did not want to be considered as black. Worse still is that the plastic surgery could at times disappoint with nose dropping on stage. This was an indication that the surgery could never be the natural color or personality of the person Jackson. The issue of plastic surgery has been adopted by some African- American women in their bid to becoming white without total success and the case of Michael Jackson is a perfect proof of African- Americans struggling to be white.

This reading reminds me of the present issues in fashion and women. There are reported cases of women suffering from cancer and other related diseases especially to the skin due to use of strong and harmful chemical make ups directed towards changing their appearance from black to white. The cases have increased with some suing the manufacturers for the damages once they extremely suffer, the impact has been so much that it has international impact with countries in developing world suffering the most especially from Africa, Asia and south America where the craze is so high.

Work Cited Marable, Manning, and Vanessa Jones. Transnational blackness navigating the global color line. New York, NY: Palgrave Macmillan, 2008. Print.