A true Black Women Who Knows Her Worth: Angela Bassett

The day is not over. We would like to wish the amazing, beautiful, inspiration Angela Bassett a Happy Birthday. She turns a wonderful 55 years young today.

Angela Bassett was born in Harlem, New York, but raised in North Carolina and Florida. She is a graduate of Yale University, where she received her B.A. degree in African-American studies. She later gained a Master of Fine Arts degree from the Yale School of Drama. Basset has starred in many notable films and such as What’s Love Got to Do with It, Waiting to Exhale, The Rosa Parks Story, The Jacksons: An American Dream, and Notorious.

Angela Basset(L) as Tina Turner (r)

I love Angela Bassett. She has always portrayed the epitome of woman to me. She has portrayed on film and in person as a woman of strength. A woman, who has had her bruises and mistakes, but has overcome them and come out stronger than before.

Angela Basset in Waiting to Exhale.

I will never forget what she said in an interview a few years back. She was asked first to play the lead female role in the movie “Monsters Ball” that won the actress Halle Berry an Academy Award. However, she turned down the offer because of the nudity, graphic sex scene, and the degradation she felt the woman would be portraying.

Halle Berry in Monsters Ball

I respect that. I respect that she did not cave into money and acclaim. She held her morals and beliefs high and disregarded materialism or vanity from changing her mind. She also expressed that she has turned down many movie offers that wanted her to take her clothes off, or play a victim. She is someone who knows who she is. Although, she is an actor, she does not accept roles that do not express or portray who she is, or send messages that she believes in.

Angela Basset as Rosa Parks.

Wow, she truly is a black woman who knows her worth. She is an actor. She makes her livelihood from acting. However, despite that she stays true to who she is. She does not succumb to others and that is a skill we can all use. Family, do not succumb to the beliefs and wants of others. Stay true to who you are. At the end of the day you have to be happy with who you are and what you are about. Do not let others quantify or create who you are or what you are about.

Remember you create the best and only vision of you. Like Angela embrace yourself shamelessly and love who you are. Happy Birthday, Angela Bassett. Thank You for being a champion of black women who know their worth. ~Know Your Worth~ -M. Millie

P.S. If 55 years old looks this great, I want to be 55 now!  LOL!

 

The Portrayal

Remember, media is controlled by those who want certain images to be portrayed and certain beliefs to be spread and accepted. Look beyond, local news and find your own news. Yes, they want us to be viewed a certain way. Yes, negativity about us is disseminated more than the positive. However, we know the truth. We know who we are. We know what we are capable of. We know what we have done. We know what we continue to do.

Thessalonika Arzu-Embry is not an ordinary 14-year-old. She is getting ready to graduate from Chicago State University with a B.A. in Psychology. Read more about this amazing young lady here http://newsone.com/2635319/thessalonika-arzu-embry-graduates-college-at-14-video/

Understand that our portrayal is controlled by those who want us to continue to be deemed as inferior, violent, ignorant etc. However, we do not have to accept this portrayal. Use your life, accomplishments and struggle as a rebellion against the portrayal. Use your education as a vessel to others that the portrayal is false and that there are many positive stories of the greatness we do and are.

16 year old Temar Boggs saved five-year old Jocelyn Rojas from an abductor. Find this heroic but, not widely spread story here. http://tv.msnbc.com/2013/07/20/meet-temar-boggs-rescuer-of-a-kidnapped-little-girl/

Educate yourself, because we are not what they view us. We are what we make of ourselves. We are cloaked in strength and armed with the passion to succeed. We are implanted with resilience and determination. Do not let the neglect of the beauty of who we are and the negative portrayal of us negate who YOU are and WHAT you do. They do not define you, YOU DO! -M. Millie

 

Who is that? What is that?

Who is that? What is that?

You look familiar. Is that me?

Family, I want you to think. Look into the mirror and say out loud, what you see. Do not remark on your physical appearance only. Remark on the woman (man) you see in the mirror with characteristics.. Ex:When I look in the mirror, I see a woman of strength, but fear.

What do you see in the mirror family. Do you see someone who can be worked on? Do you see happiness? Do you see someone who has great qualities, but things that need to be worked on? Be honest with yourself.

The best evaluation is self evaluation. The ability to know ones self, learn thyself allows you to take steps towards change. You are better able to grow as a person, and mature. None, of us are perfect or will ever attain perfection. However, knowing who you are, brings greater awareness, love and prosperity for all of us in the end.

Knowing Thyself gains you greater understanding of the person you are. No ones know you better than you. Take the time to learn the beauty of who you are. Flaws in all, you are a work in progress, a book that is still being written, a masterpiece that will never be completed.. Learn who you are. ~Know Your Worth~

Now, look in the mirror family. what and who do you see? -M. Millie