“WHAT BLACK GIRLS ARE TOLD” by Yasmine Bolden

Play Type, Genre: Monologue, Realism

Characters: ELLE, a young Black girl or woman looking to make change

 

ELLE paces, a cellphone pressed against her ear. 

After realizing the call has gone to voice mail (voicemail bleep plays), she sits.

ELLE: Hey, girl. Sorry I missed your call; I forgot I had therapy this morning.

Um, I actually wanted to talk to you about what my therapist and I discussed during my session, if that’s okay. They asked me to name five things that make me beautiful and we talked about what I offered up. 

ELLE pauses and shifts uncomfortably in her chair. 

ELLE: But at the end, they looked me in the eye and said "You didn’t say anything about your appearance; it was all about pushing through and helping. Can I ask why?" And I lied. I told her that I'd focused on that stuff on external stuff on purpose, when really, it had just never occurred to me to say my curly hair or my dark skin or like, anything physical, really. And... I do love my Blackness. I just... maybe I still don’t love myself enough as is, you know? Which doesn’t make much sense since I’ve worked so hard to make sure I don’t internalize media messages. But maybe I shouldn’t be hard on myself. I forget to be soft with myself sometimes. And I’ve worked so hard to remember I’m not some strong Black superwoman, too! But anyway... it reminded me of when you said you saw your sister Keisha running around with a yellow towel on her head the other day chanting “I’m pretty like a princess!” And I know you tell her she’s pretty. My sister told me Black was beautiful growing up. But I did the same exact thing ten years ago that Keisha’s doing now. 

ELLE stands.

ELLE: Can we talk about this more at three? I want to do something. I don’t know what yet, but I’ve got ideas.

(voicemail bleep)