Calling Shonda Rhimes an “angry black woman” was not the only problematic part of the highly criticized New York Times article published last week.
Writer Alessandra Stanley described Viola Davis -- star of Rhimes’ new show "How To Get Away With Murder"-- as “less than classically beautiful.” It's needless to say, there were more than a few black women who took offense.
Viola Davis sharply returned with an elegant comeback, “You may shoot me with your words, you may cut me with your eyes, you may kill me with your hatefulness, But still, like air, I’ll rise!!!”
Not that she needed to, black women across the internet came to her defense, as well as their own, with the hashtag #LessClassicallyBeautiful. If a picture is worth a thousand words, these tweeted photographs say it all. Labels and standards take heed, these are the faces of women who know they are beautiful.
#LessClasicallyBeautiful pic.twitter.com/rTcDjBr50L
— Jehovah Nissi (@kEsquire) September 19, 2014
#lessclasicallybeautiful pic.twitter.com/tI7lsNG0OF
— Beauty in Color. (@PoCBeauty) September 19, 2014
#LessClasicallyBeautiful pic.twitter.com/18720UuaxC
— Thot Provoking (@unbtheredblkgrl) September 19, 2014