By Barack Obama Mandela.
From Michelle Obama to Beyonce Knowles to Oprah Winfrey, there are numerous strong and influential African American female role models. It is amazing that beautiful and strong black women are helping to shape the core culture of the United States.
Beyonce alluded to this phenomenon in her video “Drunk in Love” in which she cavorts on a beach with bleach blond hair while holding a large trophy. Her symbolic message was clear: the black female has replaced the blond haired blue eyed white female as America’s premier sex symbol.
Over the past twenty-five years, perhaps no African American woman has garnered more success than Oprah Winfrey. From the Oprah Winfrey Show to the OWN network, Winfrey has built her company Harpo into a billion-dollar enterprise. Young African American girls can look up to Oprah as an example of the American Dream in a black female embodiment.
America is far from the days when black women were unfairly stereotyped as “loud and angry”. Instead, the United States now as an elegant African American first lady who is routinely voted as one of the world’s most admired women.
However, something very important is needed for the prominent cultural icons of African American women: chastity.
In rap and hip hop videos, scantily clad black women are shown shaking their buttocks and gyrating uncontrollably for the pleasure of “gangsterized” men. These images denigrate black womanhood and lower these women to the base level of wild animals.
A more positive and productive path for African American women is the path of the Franciscan Handmaids of the Most Pure Heart of Mary in Harlem, New York. This primarily black female order of Roman Catholic nuns promotes chastity, faith and devotion to God, and daily prayer.
These African American nuns present a more pure and positive image of black women. They embrace the chastity of the Virgin Mary, rather than the booty shaking of video vixens.
A prominent black religious leader has famously said that “the most dangerous place to be African American is in the womb”.
This controversial observation is a wake-up call to African American women to the issue of abortion, teenage pregnancy, prostitution, out of wedlock relationships, and single-parent households.
It is clear that African American women need a new and wholesome role model: the Virgin Mary. According to the Catholic Church, Mary was born without original sin due to the Immaculate Conception. Furthermore, Mary remained a sinless virgin for her entire life.
This is the type of role model that young black girls need in our culture in which “b*tches and hoes” are promoted by the corrupt dominant culture.
African American women can follow in the footsteps of the Virgin Mary who innocently stated to an angel during the Annunciation in the Gospel of Luke, let it be with me according to your word.”
