For a moment there I grappled with whether to critique Mellody Hobson’s Ted Talk, “Color Blind or Color Brave?” because of its powerful content and almost impeccable delivery, but Lupita Nyong’o’s speech on Black Beauty at the 7th Annual Essence Black Women in Hollywood seduced me by its honesty, its content, its simplicity and its quiet power. Despite a runny nose that would have normally been overly distracting, Nyong’o wields her audience past the sniffles in to her story, to her inadequacies, her hope, her conquest, her triumph and to a call to action. The action: Black girls, look for beauty within.
Lupita Nyong’o is an achieved Mexican actress and filmmaker, born to Kenyan parents and raised in Kenya. She begins her speech to a diverse audience which included women and men, by reading a portion of a letter written to her by a young girl who had been distraught about the color of her black skin, and was about to use skin lightening creams when Lupita “appeared on the world map and saved [her].” She quickly goes on to tell her own story, paralleling the girl’s feelings and experience with her own being trapped in dark skin. She recounts her story of having bargained with God, “the miracle-worker”, as she called him, that she would stop stealing sugar cubes at night, and listen to her mother’s every would if he would grant her request, — if she would wake up in the morning a little more fair than she was when she went to bed. But, no change came in the morning.
She chronicles her horrifying experience through her adolescent years, taking little comfort in her Mom’s affirmation of her beauty. Then Super model Alek Wek came on the International scene. Alek Wek did for her as she was doing for the girl, and Nyong’o’s change was wrought. She makes her points with passion, employing pathos with her anecdotes. She keeps her audience’s interest with ethos, drawing on the credibility of her mother’s thoughtful saying, You can’t eat beauty, which she goes on to say means that “you can’t rely on how you look to sustain you.”
The thing that is most impressive about this story in that Alek Wek had such a power of influence on Lupita Nyong’o as she obviously has over this girl from whom she receives a letter. Wek arrival on the International Modelling scene was more powerful than the reassurance that her mother gave to her regarding her beauty. These two women are entering the lives of girls via various forms of technology. The importance of the media in portraying images that send a positive message to young people is extremely important. Essentially it is the media that saves both Lupita and her “pen pal”. An underlying message of Nyong’o’s speech that we are receiving via Youtube is that the healing process must be shared. She is passing on her self-love to others. If the media perpetuates images of only slim girls with light skins we are in trouble. Not only do we need to see dark skins, we need to see people of all shapes, religions, cultures etc. While beauty is a thing from within, we may not be able to get to a point where we can feel beautiful unless someone helps to leads us there.
Her story is augmented by powerful, brief smiles, almost a hint of laughter that suggest her excitement as she reflects on the triumph over her obstacle. She was having fun telling of her freedom from self-hate and low self-esteem, and her attitude make her message believable and convincing. She tells it in a clear proper voice. Her diction is on point and she is impeded by only what seem to be the common cold, or allergies. It was hard to tell based on the camera view whether she had eye contact with the audience, but from the reaction of a number of the members of the audience she did. Moreover, while the majority of them were accomplished, they too were interested in what was being said. From their reactions it appears as though they could identify with her struggle because they had been through it, or because they knew people who had.
She is relaxed and confident. Her stage presence matches the message she is sending. Her comfort with her material suggest that she has rehearsed it. The content is well-organized and the audience can follow her journey from desiring a miracle of skin-color change to embracing the integrity of her skin. Her pauses are deliberate either for emphasis, or for audience thought. Her body movements are not distracting; rather, everything she does is in concert toward a call to see beauty by our actions rather than by the shape and shade of our skins. We are beautiful because of the amount of compassion we have for others is her message. So regarding the distraction of her runny nose, which may have been out of her control, we take away some points, but her message is still strong and well received.
Verbal Skills: 24
Enthusiasm 10
Elocution 14
Non-verbal Skills: 28
Eye Contact 10
Body Language 9
Poise 9
Subj. Knowledge 20 20
Organization 15 15
Mechanics 10 7
Total: [24+28+42= 94]
References
[www.jaxsprats.com]. (2014 March 1). Lupita Nyong’o Speech on Black Beauty Essence Black Women #BringBackOurGirls. [Video File]. Retrieved from https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZPCkfARH2eE.
Milkie M. (1999). Social Comparisons, reflected appraisals, and mass media: the impact of pervasive beauty images on black and white girls’ self-concepts. Social Psychology Quarterly. 62.2 (June 1999). p.190.
