A Strong Mane

Last week, 43 million people tuned in to watch this years Academy Awards, or the Oscars. Although the primary focus of the night is obviously to honor the best in the movie world, there is always talk about what celebrities are wearing. This year, Fashion Police "correspondent" Giuliana Rancic commented on 18-year-old Zendaya Coleman's hair, stating that star "probably smells like patchouli oil or weed." Wow.

Despite the blatantly racist and offensive nature of Rancic's comment, Zendaya Coleman commented with eloquance and pride. Take a look at her full response to the Rancic's comment below, along with how amazing Zendaya looked:

Zendaya Coleman at this year's Oscar's

Don't feel like you have to read the entire response, but it very enlightening. Zendaya focuses on the fact that the fact that young African American girls must smell like weed is a huge stereotype, then goes on to name many successful, powerful, African Americans that sport dreadlocs. She then goes on to say what locs mean to her, that they are a "symbol of strength and beauty." Lastly, Zendaya stated that "some people should listen to India Arie's 'I Am Not My Hair.'"

Her response, while eloquent and enlightening, was also very true and much needed. The fact that she was able to bring up so many important issues, such as stereotyping and labeling people because of their hair, to such a large scale audience, will hopefully bring about much needed change and coversation about important issues. Society needs to confront these issues and stop stereotyping and  judging people based on a physical feature, based on their race. We need to change the way we view young women of color, and people of color in general.

How can we make this change?