"You is Kind, You is Smart, You is Important" - Aibileen [The Help]

"You is Kind, You is Smart, You is Important".

After watching 'The Help' again last night I just had to post this beautiful statement. The main character in the film, Aibileen, raises the daughter of a well-off white family who fail to show little Mae the love she needs as they don't think she is "pretty" enough. Aibileen, a black house-maid, constantly reminds Mae that she is Kind, Smart and Important, in the hope that she grows up to be the change that America so clearly needed.

I love this film, as upsetting and hard-hitting as it is. Based on the novel of the same name, it's set in the 1960s America in which racism was still rife. Black individuals were treated as though they were a different species, not allowed to eat at the dinner table of white families or use their bathrooms! To think that all of this was the norm only 50 years ago makes my heart heavy, yet thankful for the change. I know America's problem with racism still exists today, but MashaAllah they now have a black president! Something that would never have been forseen 5 decades ago!

It makes me think about my own Grandma, and the life she could have had if she had chosen to leave Grenada and go to the USA instead. Would she have been a house-maid? Instead she came to the UK. She worked hard here and was able to earn money in a job that allowed her to feel somewhat free.

Anyway, my point is, when you're facing hardship, when people tell you you're not good enough. Remember, you are Kind, Smart and Important. With what is happening in the world right now, we need to unite. Maybe these people who are committing terrible crimes of war were never told they were any good. Maybe they were never shown kindness. Only they know, along with Allah (swt).

Kelly
The Aurora Project