Meka + Ush

Now - there are many of us in the world who have our suspicions about Usher and his new wife Tameka... there are far fewer, yet far more vocal individuals in the blogosphere who believe we are allowed to comment on them. Here goes:

In Essence, Tameka says:
“We (black women) don’t like ourselves. If I were Hispanic, Usher would have the sexiest wife alive. If I were mixed, he’d have the sexiest wife alive. But he has a black girl, and it’s like, ‘She’s horrible and she’s ugly!’ “OK, maybe I don’t fit the cookie-cutter standard - 25 and a size two - but this is who he loves."

Now certainly I agree with Tameka's comments on black females. Indeed, black women are probably one of the most self hating populations in the US. And how could we not be? With consistent pressure to raise and nurture one of the most confounding demographics in the world, with almost zero recognition politically, professionally, or even sexually, with no kind of remorse from the status quo which perpetuates these feelings of inadequacy, sure, the Black woman is bound to utter every now and again, "Gosh, I hate being me, or " Gosh, it is tough being a black woman."

But sometimes, this is just not the case. Ugly permeates all different sorts of people all around the world. And so does good lookingness. Now I am not going to say that I think that she is completely unfortunate. I think she is a quite well groomed young lady, I can obviously appreciate a bomb ass weave, and she's got a vibrant smile which is still the best attribute anyone can have. There are, however, downsides. Is Tameka moderately manish? Yeah, I don't think anyone could deny that. And certainly, she's got some pretty big jugs, although they may or may not be attributed to her pretty big statue over all. Now that is just flat out honest.

It's not that I feel Tameka should be denied the right to feel beautiful, because I honestly think that every woman does. But I don't think that making a blanket statement about black women and their attractiveness is effective to that end. Tameka isn't unattractive because she's black. She just so happens to be black as well as unattractive, which is an altogether different existence.

It's a bitch eat bitch world out there. Weaves, makeup, pumps, spanx, forever 21, herve leger... whatever you need to do to get on top of your game, do it. But don't drag us all down... we're not trying to convince people that we're not pretty because we're black.

Point is: ugly is to the bone. it's not a melanin thang. and if it is to some, their loss.

[Photo via Getty Images.]