#black acceptance

[thephenotype]

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(sorry, I’m a bit scatter brained right now so if this sounds all over the place….) 

I’ve always had a passion for anime, manga, and anything weeb-ish. Despite having big, fluffy, curly hair; at the age of 8 years old I remember asking my mom to help me fashion my hair to look like sailor moon. I remember her response, she made a face of disgust then told me reluctantly, “I’ll help but you won’t like the way it looks. You will look silly.” I simply shrugged her words off and asked her to do it anyway. When she was done I looked into the mirror and although I looked like a poodle, I absolutely loved it. I thanked her and went on my way to school. I’ve never heard of cosplay previously and after stumbling upon it on accident, I knew instantly that I wanted to dress up as these wonderful characters I dreamt about.The very first cosplay I’ve ever warn was Hanyuu from Higurashi no naku koro ni. I excitedly wore it, as my older sister did my makeup and sent me on my way to my very first con. I felt so at home among the nerds even though I was only 12 at the time. When I came back to school the following monday, I raved about it to all my friends who questioned me about why I would want to dress up. I proudly showed off the character next to my cosplay to other kids and I remember being told by another kid at the time, “You’re black. You don’t look anything like her!” This sparked an insecurity in my 12 year old self. Just because of my skin tone, I can’t cosplay? Maybe they’re right. 

For years I didn’t dress up as anything related to an anime. I would be a zombie and just say I was a background character in the walking dead. I always had an insecurity about being black and dressing up as these fictional characters. As time flew by I really missed out on cosplaying all these different things, but now that I really think about it, Why did I even care? Just because I’m black doesn’t mean I can’t do something that I THINK is fun! I’m going to embrace my skin tone and I’m going to embrace my hobby. Another con is coming up in January, and I know that my MeMeMe cosplay is going to be awesome, no matter the skin tone!  

(This pic is from me in the maid cafe for a convention this 2015 year.) 

Black girls can cosplay, White girls can cosplay, no matter the race, gender, etc YOU can cosplay. EVERYONE can cosplay. 

Photographer credit goes to :https://www.facebook.com/JRafananPhotography?pnref=lhc