When I was 13, desperately wanting a perm, where on earth was ‘Sesame Street?’

Had I seen its ‘I Love My Hair’ video in 2003, when I was under the impression that having chemically-straightened hair was better, and more acceptable, than my natural curly hair, I probably would have spared myself the time I now have to spend waiting for my natural hair to grow back to its pre-perm shoulder length.

In the recent ‘Sesame Street’ video, a puppet, which appears to represent a young African American girl, sings about her love for her natural hair and her pride in all the different ways in which it can be styled. Throughout the video, the puppet displays the versatility of her hair with various hairdos. With each style, from long braids to a curly afro, she exudes a confidence and happiness which reassures other African American girls that they too can be proud of ‘what they got on top.’

The video does a superb job of communicating to young African American females the importance of self-appreciation and recognizing the beauty of individuality. It sends home the message to be thankful for the attributes you have, rather than devaluing them.

According to www.npr.org, the man who wrote the song, Joey Mazzarino, felt compelled to do so after noticing his adopted Ethiopian daughter playing with dolls. He grew worried after realizing that his daughter ‘wanted to have long, blond and straight hair, and she wanted to be able to bounce it around.’ Mazzarino originally wrote the song as a tribute to his daughter, but quickly realized that the issue he was confronting was much larger.

As much as I love the video and support ‘Sesame Street’ and its effort to promote self-esteem in young girls, I do find the fact that such a video had to be created in the year 2010 to be quite unsettling.

As a country that prides itself on cultural diversity, it seems that America is still holding on to antiquated Eurocentric ideals of beauty, which not only hinder the progression of cultural acceptance, but also self-worth.

The ‘I Love My Hair’ song is a clear indication that we as a nation still have not conquered the social problem of the all-too-prevalent ‘white is right’ concept in the media. The need for such a video should be a call to action to address the issue that at young ages, many minority females begin to undervalue their own appearance and physical attributes because they are under the impression that society does not accept, much less appreciate, them.

When young African American girls flip through the pages of teen magazines, watch television commercials or see billboards, most of the time they are not marveling at an image of someone with whom they can identify. The few times that they are able to see themselves represented, it is always a ‘whitened’ image, with the black model having long permed hair, rather than sporting braids, an afro or dreadlocks.

The underrepresentation and misrepresentation of the African American female in the media reinforces the ‘white is right’ ideal by sending the message to young, impressionable women that who they are or what they have needs to be altered for society to welcome them.

Efforts such as that of Joey Mazzarino need to be continued to work against the onslaught of media images that destroy the self-esteem of young African American girls. If they grow up believing that who they are, or what they have, is worth loving, then they will be able to withstand the onslaught of media messages telling them to change.