Miss SA, Zozibini Tunzi has been a busy youthful woman, of course judging by her social media updates from traveling locally and recently to grace the stage at the New York Fashion Week. On Wednesday evening she decided to respond to the “unkind comments” that she’s been receiving about her blackness.
“See your face reflected in mine,”
Miss SA penned a very lengthy post on her Instagram page saying that “I just want to take a moment to dedicate a post to the unkind comments that I have been receiving about my blackness since my crowning. To comments that are aimed at all brown-skinned girls at some point in our lives. Not because it hurts me or gets under my skin, but because I see an opportunity to educate and speak out on a serious issue.
Society has previously been programmed in such a way that there’s nothing beautiful about being black.
“When people say hurtful, negative things about black women and black people, in general, I do not quickly take offense and here’s why. Society has previously been programmed in such a way that there’s nothing beautiful about being black. The furthest you are from being fair-skinned the uglier you are. That, unfortunately, has been the universal standard of beauty and it is very difficult for some people to unlearn it,” says Zozibini.
Zozibini says that she’s going to Miss Universe with hopes to shatter whatever misconception and stereotypes people have of beauty.
To whoever else thinks that black is not beautiful I cannot wait for you to experience the depth and magic of a black woman.
“These comments are exactly why we should keep inserting ourselves in spaces where we have been told we do not belong and we will never make it. It is up to us re-write the narrative. To whoever else thinks that black is not beautiful I cannot wait for you to experience the depth and magic of a black woman,” Zozibini says.
She also affirmed that she is a daughter of the African soil and she’s beautiful.
On Monday she also took time to thank South Africans for being part of her story.
“Thank you for welcoming me and embracing me for all that I am and everything I stand for. I can’t wait to see what the remainder of the year has in store for us”.
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