The Good Witch of the South, A Beautiful Black Glinda!

I'm not trying to weigh in on the reviews about The Wiz Live. I really don't care about what folks thought about the adaptations to the story or the way it was produced, etc. Everyone in it was pretty damn good, the costumes were amazing, and once again Black people have shown the world that we can take things that might be old and outdated and bring them back to life. The idea that an entirely new generation of Black children now have something they will beg their parents to let them watch and re-watch, like I did with The Wiz of the 70's, makes my world a little bit better place. 

For ME, the most memorable moment was when Glinda, The Good Witch of the South, descended from the sky in a golden glowing gown. Accompanied by two acrobatic beauties, also gilded in gold on each side of her, my girl Uzoamaka Nwanneka "Uzo" Aduba looked more like an African queen than a witch at all. Her hair was black and braided, and her curves were obvious and featured without apology. 

We all know she's a brilliant actress, but I had no idea she could sing. Now, I'm not saying she's a Jennifer Hudson in The Color Purple type of songstress, but Uzo can more than carry a tune. She really did justice to "If You Believe". And what I liked even more was how she, as Glinda, took away the importance of the shoes and let Dorothy, and us, know that the power has been and always will be within us all the time. 

What I found to be most important to me about that whole moment, was that the world got to see Glinda, the most positive and beautiful character in the story, as a dark skinned, big lipped, gap-toothed, curly haired, and curvaceous Black woman. For many little Black girls, that's a big fucking deal! Hell, for this 33 year old gay Black man it's a big fucking deal. 

As a people, our beauty ideals and standards have been screwed with and screwed up. I'll be the first to admit, that I suffered from having the color complex for a very long time, especially when it came to Black women. I literally had to study myself out of it, and change my ways of thinking on purpose. I had to throw away someone else's idea of what beautiful might have been, and understand that my sisters, mothers, aunts, cousins, friends, grandmothers, nieces and daughters were ALL beautiful.