US national youth poet laureate Amanda Gorman stated in “The Hill We Climb,” the poem she read during Joe Biden’s presidential inauguration, that we live in times where “a skinny Black girl… can dream of becoming president/only to find herself reciting for one.” It was a bold move to read that at the inauguration, and Gorman is just one of countless bold, outstanding females of Generation Z. Her poem was inspiring and it was because of her words—not her skin colour—that she reached our hearts.
We’re living in the 21st century—we should embrace diversity and what it means for all of us. But Black women have to fight twice as hard when they strive for a career. As of November 2020, in Canada there were only 30 elected black officials. The Canadian Black population is about 1.2 million.
Women do such a good job in everyday life, how come it’s such a struggle to get us up the ladder to actually have a say and make decisions? And why does skin colour matter when it should be actions and words? Where can we start to erase that box in our brains to finally grow together, where diversity is seen as strength and not as a fence keeping away fear of the unknown? We are not born with box thinking, we get raised and biased. As we grow up we can always decide to step out of our box and start making our own way through the messages we perceive and decide for ourselves what is right and wrong.
We need to stop and question why more institutions like colleges and universities don’t have Black, female presidents. It’s not that there are just not enough smart Black women out there. So where is the barrier? And how do we erase it? Oprah, Michelle Obama, Gorman: these are women older and younger than I am, yet there’s so much to admire about them. And they are recognized for what they are doing, not their skin colour.
This year’s theme for Black History Month is “celebrating Black history today and every day.”
Well, if that’s the case, let’s start with more Black females in politics. I want to see Black females as heads of educational institutions. It’s not that there aren’t enough women, it’s just the willingness of those in power to actually let that happen.