How many times have you seen someone with your features on television? How many times have you seen someone with your features in an advertisement? How many times have you seen someone with your features praised by society? If you are a white woman with an average build, you have probably answered every single one of the questions above with “many times”. However, if you are a person of color, it might have taken you some time to formulate an accurate answer. One would find a person of color to reply to the questions above with “occasionally”, “quite a few times”, or the disheartening “hardly ever”.
I was lounging on the couch over the weekend, my mother next to me as we watched movie after incredible movie. We came across a particularly bland Hallmark movie at one point as we were channel surfing and during the minute or two the movie was up, I found myself uttering, “Wow, this is the first time I’ve seen a black woman as the love interest in a Hallmark movie.” My words slid off my tongue absent-mindedly– I thought nothing of my utterance at first. And then it dawned on me: that was the first time I had ever seen a black woman as a romantic lead.
Imagine how many women and girls of color around the world have felt undesired and possibly unloved because they were never portrayed as such in the media they consume. Imagine how many men and boys of color around the world have felt undesired and possibly unloved because they were never portrayed as such in the media they consume. We should not accept living in a society where people are walking around with their heads hung low and storm clouds hovering over themselves because they do not feel seen by the world. It is not only a want, it is a need. Everyone needs to be seen and heard.