With 2020 just getting started, singer Ari Lennox is wasting no time letting her fans know that she’s not about to take their anti-Black rhetoric any longer.
On New Year’s Day, a Twitter user who posts under the handle Kind Kwasii wrote, “Ari Lennox and Teyana Taylor’s ability to have dangerously high sex appeal while simultaneously looking like rottweilers will always amaze me”
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Within hours the ‘BMO’ singer who is currently signed to rapper J. Cole‘s Dreamville label, responded with, “People hate blackness so bad.”
She followed that with a more uplifting message urging Black parents to instill pride in their children, particularly when it comes to their Black features.
https://twitter.com/AriLennox/status/1212461886756622336
“Moms and Dads please love on your beautiful Black children,” the Washington D.C. native wrote to her followers. “Tell them they’re beautiful constantly. Tell them Black people are beautiful. Tell them black features are beautiful.”
Back in August when she spoke to Buzzfeed, Lennox, 28, said she believed her features gave her a feeling of strength.
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“Rocking my natural nose, hair and skin, that makes me feel so empowered, because there’s so many people out there that would rather me not do that,” she explained. “I refuse to change for them. Knowing that I can encourage someone else to rock their natural self really empowers me as well.”
But despite her usually empowering messaging, this week Lennox looked visibly distraught during an Instagram livestream where she addressed the ongoing criticism she’s received for her appearance lately.
“Why are you so comfortable tearing down Black women and no other race?” she asked during the emotional 8-minute video. “Look around, when are Hispanic women ever compared to dogs? When do they do that? When do they do that to white women? They’re not doing it. They’re not.”
This honestly hurt to watch. Some of you black men have to do better or just shut up. pic.twitter.com/ihyCxq3d4Q
— Crash Bandicoot (@CallMeCrash09) January 2, 2020