ATTENTION PLEASE: The Good Life
Words- Paul Johnson Jr. Portraits- Chris Fox/ CFK Photography
Dereke Moseley doesn’t have a sob story; but then again, look at her. Does she need one?
Rumor has it you have to be from the ghetto, stripping to pay your way through college or booty poppin’ in rap videos to be given credit as someone who used these things to make it in modeling. What about the strong black women who were raised properly by two successful parents? The girls who stayed in school, kept a high GPA and model on the side only because God blessed them with what they have? And the ladies with class who club once in a while but favor cuddling with their significant others on rainy days and keep their temple sacred because it’s only for him? Do they get any love?
Of course they do! The sad reality is America loves to see struggle because a lot of people can relate to it in many different ways. Whether your boss is on your back and you would love to get rid of him so you can move higher or your mom was on drugs, daddy was in jail and your dealing with the weight of the world on your shoulders. You now have a reason to be mad and disgruntled and now it’s easy to use every single reason to blame the white man for your problems. What do most hood niggas have tattooed on their necks? “Product of My Environment…”
Well Dereke Moseley is just that. She grew up in a nice neighborhood with both parents, breezed through junior high, walked through high school and is now pursuing a career in nursing. See, you don’t have to be dealt a bad hand to be successful and beautiful. The beauty is in the mind; the success is in the heart. Put the two together and you have a people who came from something striving for more. The sob-stories are great. Tell them. Enjoy them. But remember the successful Black families. You think Master P would put Romeo on the block in Naw’lins and say, “Son, you’re gonna grow up like your daddy so you can understand and appreciate the money you’ll make when you’re older… if you aren’t killed first.”? Hell no. You think Grant Hill’s parents would have put him in the slums of DC and say, “Here’s six dollars. Make something of yourself.” Certainly not. The point I’m trying to make here is as a newly reformed generation of Black folk, we should adapt the thought of “success breeding success.”
Miss Moseley: a beautiful genius, immaculate in her appearance, funny, studious and warm-hearted is happily entangled with her current boyfriend Ryan who supports her in everything she does. Both are wrapping up college within the next few months seem to have a bright future. Neither has “mad-nigga-tendencies” and both plan to make their parents proud as hell on their separate graduation days.
Dereke in her spare time does the things most models shun: she actually eats! But see, this doesn’t mean she isn’t a real model. It just means she doesn’t fit in the contemporary template of what a model should be. She represents change. The days of the straight-legged models are over. The world isn’t flat and neither is she. She’s curvy. She’s Coca-Cola. She’s Africa. She’s the West Indies. She’s New York. She’s L.A. She’s progress. You must be thinking Dereke is the only one referred to up in this bitch. I’m referring to all of our powerful, Black women graduating Ivy League smashing those glass ceilings turning them into things of the past.
Our women birth our children. Although you may have had it bad growing up, your kids, our kids don’t have to. Success breeds success. Hand your companies down to your children. If they have other ideas, support their dreams. Show them the good life. Remember your past but keep your eyes on the future. And if what you think I’m preaching is bullshit, keep an eye on Dereke. She’ll show you what you should’ve been. |
