Mom Writes Book, ‘Bad Hair Does Not Exist!’ For Daughters

Posted in Articles, Book/Video Reviews, Family/Parenting, Latino Studies, Media Archive, United States on 2016-02-21 21:19Z by Steven

Mom Writes Book, ‘Bad Hair Does Not Exist!’ For Daughters

NBC News
2016-02-17

Maya Chung


Bad Hair Does Not Exist/Pelo Malo No Existe! is a Children’s Book by Sulma Arzu-Brown.

Bad Hair Does Not Exist!” is a new bilingual book that encourages young Black, Afro-Latino, and multi-racial girls to see themselves, and their hair, as beautiful.

Sulma Arzu-Brown, who calls herself a “Garifuna” woman or Afro-Latino from Honduras, was inspired to write the book after her three-year-old daughter’s babysitter commented that little Bella Victoria had “pelo malo,” which is a Spanish term for “bad hair.”

She knew then that she could either be angry or be a part of the solution, so she chose to write a book.

“The book is a tool of cultural solidarity and a tool of empowerment for all of our little girls,” said Arzu-Brown whose daughters are now 4 and 11. “The term ‘Bad hair’ or ‘Pelo Malo’ is divisive to both community and family, and can contribute to low self-esteem.”…

Read the article here.

Tags: , ,

‘Yes, you are Italian, you are German, and you are black, but you are going to be viewed by the world as a black woman.’

Posted in Excerpts/Quotes on 2015-10-22 01:05Z by Steven

“I’ve never strayed away from being black. I’m biracial but something that my mom constantly said to me growing up in southern California was ‘Yes, you are Italian, you are German, and you are black, but you are going to be viewed by the world as a black woman’.” —Misty Copeland

Maya Chung, “New Film Shows Misty Copeland’s Journey as a Black Ballerina,” NBC News, September 30, 2015. http://www.nbcnews.com/news/nbcblk/new-film-shows-misty-copelands-journey-black-ballerina-n434951.

Tags: , ,

New Film Shows Misty Copeland’s Journey as a Black Ballerina

Posted in Articles, Arts, Biography, Media Archive, United States, Videos on 2015-10-21 21:41Z by Steven

New Film Shows Misty Copeland’s Journey as a Black Ballerina

NBC News
2015-09-30

Maya Chung

The 2015 Urbanworld Festival closed out on Saturday night with the highly anticipated documentary “A Ballerina’s Tale,” which details Misty Copeland’s journey to become a principal ballerina.

The film festival, founded in 1997, is a five-day event that showcases narrative features, documentaries, short films, and spotlight screenings with the goal of redefining and advancing the impact of the multicultural community in the film world.

“A Ballerina’s Tale” is one film that is making that impact. The documentary gives an in-depth picture of Copeland’s struggles with being black in a predominantly white Ballet world and it chronicles her experience recovering from a leg fracture – one that could’ve stopped her dream of becoming a principal dancer…

…Copeland, 33, beat the odds and became the American Ballet Theatre’s first black female principal dancer in the company’s 75-year history this past June. But, it wasn’t easy and the film makes that clear. She explained that she struggled being a black dancer when she first began in the professional ballet world.

“I’ve never strayed away from being black. I’m biracial but something that my mom constantly said to me growing up in southern California was ‘Yes, you are Italian, you are German, and you are black, but you are going to be viewed by the world as a black woman’,” Copeland said. “I never felt different growing up but when I came into the ballet world as a professional I immediately felt different.”…

Read the entire interview here.

Tags: , , , , ,