Leave it up to the babies to say it loud — they’re Black and they’re proud!
Promise Sawyers, a 5th grader from Nashville, Tennessee, went viral in a video where she talked about being proud of her natural hair after students bullied her about it.
According to Fox 17 News, Promise started a new school this year and for the first few days she wore her hair in braids. Then she took the braids out and wore the afro she’s accustomed to wearing. While the kids at her old school loved and complimented her natural hair, the kids at her new school began to tease her for it.
Her mother, Qui Daugherty, told the news outlet that she always teaches her daughter to meet negativity with positivity. When Promise told her about the incident and that she was upset, Daugherty asked how she felt when she left for school that morning, to which Sawyers replied, “I felt confident and pretty.” Daugherty responded by letting her daughter know that even though she felt discouraged by the comments, “you can’t give people that much power.”
The next day, Promise took her mother’s advice and made a video to encourage herself and others before heading out to school. In the video, she is dressed in her school uniform with a her beautiful afro crowning her head. She starts off by explaining what happened when she wore afro to school the day before saying “a lot of people had a lot of mean things to say about it” admitting that it made her “feel some type of way.” She goes on to say that her mom told her to remember “who you are and whose you are.”
Promise ends the video by letting people know that she’s returning to school “bigger and better” while touching her afro and reminding all of us not to “allow anyone to steal [our] joy.” She ends her motivational speech for Black girls everywhere with a beautiful declaration. She looks straight at the camera, places her hand on her heart and says, “I AM PROMISE MIAMOR SAWYERS.” Yessssssssssssssss Promise!
If that doesn’t pump you up and give you all the feels, we don’t know what will. The video has almost 2 million views on social media and more than 100,000 shares and likes.
This reminds us of Kheris Rogers, the young girl who was teased for her melanin rich complexion. Not only did she embrace her skin, but she ended up launching her own clothing line, presenting at New York Fashion Week and starring in a Nike ad. Like Rogers, we believe this incident will only propel Promise to bigger and better opportunities to embrace her crown for all to see.
A little motivation and self love goes a long way. Keep being unapologetically you Promise!