Did you watch Black Girls Rock! last night? Don’t answer, just let me talk to you about it: last night, BET aired the ceremony which took place on Friday, and celebrates black womanhood.
The night was stacked with women who are forces to be reckoned with, as the likes of Danai Gurira (Michonne from The Walking Dead) and Amandla Stenberg delivered speeches that evoked power and pride and positivity. Shonda Rimes referred to the attendees and audience as “builders of the 21st century” while Rihanna took to the stage to deliver words that prove why she currently sits atop the throne of our hearts/minds/the world.
Accepting the Rockstar Award, Rihanna thanked her mother and grandmother and organizers for celebrating black women in “a world that doesn’t celebrate us enough.”
“I believe God put us all here for a reason and we all have our purpose and we are here to fulfill our purpose individually,” she said. “I think the thing that’s kept me sane, the thing that’s kept me humble, the thing that’s kept me successful is being myself. I know how to do that. The world is so big and it can be so confusing at times that you tend to forget and you tend to be so inundated or tainted by society and the only thing that’s kept me going is being myself. And the minute you learn to love yourself you would not want to be anybody else.”
Alleluia hand Emoji x 100.
And she continued:
“Tonight is so important to me because I think I can inspire a lot of young women to be themselves and that is half the battle. That is it. Just be yourself, it’s the easiest thing to be. All girls rock. Black girls, we just on another level.”
Imagine having a role model like Rihanna when you were a teen. Are you? I am, and because I am older than she is, I will instead pretend that I am a teen now and she is my go-to pop culture big sister. Don’t argue with me. Just let me have this.
Rihanna, you guys — she’s so powerful.
More than excellent dear Anne T. Donahue, well done