‘Black Girl Magic’ brings controversy

Kenton Gibbs | Staff Writer

On the first day of Black History Month, the first major event specifically focused toward the African American community was held. Black Girl Magic was the name of the event. A night that started off with certain expectations somehow went left.

Kimberlee Postell was the keynote speaker and she touched on multiple topics that affect black women. Everything ranging from inclusivity to colorism and other self inflicted wounds of the black community were talked about. However, many attendees were visually upset by Postell’s message. The inaudible reactions were reflected during the Q&A after her speech.

Kimberlee Postell bought a very interesting message of inclusiveness that was driven home multiple times. She mentioned how black girl magic was a thing that shows equality not superiority. When speaking about black girl magic she said, “Black girl magic doesn’t mean we’re better than anybody else it means we’re just like everyone else. Although are we? Do we see representation? Do we see women who look like is in leadership roles!”

There was one moment during the Q&A where Postell and Jasmine Cannon, an NCSU alum, got into a verbal sparring match over the fact that white supremacy’s role in driving colorism wasn’t stated. Cannon asked if the speaker would speak on how critical the role white supremacy played was, And to that the speaker replied, “You can talk about it.”

I caught up with her afterwards to talk to her about the heated exchange and she was not shy at all about the abrasive interaction. When asked about the back and forth Postell said, “ I just don’t think that anyone should tell me to talk about white supremacy. If I want to speak white supremacy I will if I don’t I won’t. As I told her you can speak about it if you want.”

Some people were less disenfranchised with the speaker than others. Junior Niccolo Ridotti, gave a mixed review of the event. He said “At first, she ended up touching on really key issues, she tried to include everyone and that was going good, but when it came to talking and making it forum it became overly opinionated.”

There were also other moments that were very contentious. Achaia Dent, sophomore psychology major, was very disappointed by the entire event. When asked about how she felt she didn’t pull any punches when she said, “It was basura, trash, ass cheeks.” She further elaborated when asked what was bad. She went on to say, “She agreed to black people being lazy and she talked about black fathers being missing without talking about why.