Parisa Fitz-Henley Instagram – The way I sobbed watching this… 🙏♥️ I remember when I was a little girl and the Essence By Mail catalog used to come to our house. We couldn’t afford to order anything from it, still I drank in the images, not knowing yet how thirsty I was for them. I didn’t know the ins and outs of racism yet but I knew that seeing people that looked like me being centered so lovingly was not the norm. Around that time I would memorize the entire Little Mermaid movie, recite it on the phone with my dear friend (heyyy Gemma 💕) as we synched up our VHS tapes after school. So many of us related to the feeling of being set apart and wishing to be valued, validated, able to traverse worlds and belong. Around this time too I was spending my nights memorizing R&B songs that I could only find on AM radio (big up Star16 1590 and 1380 and 1150 oh my God the memories). FM did not play R&B and hip hop where I lived in Florida until I was in 8th grade and STILL only a little. I was an adult working model living in NY before I saw an interracial family in a national ad. I still remember the glee, like these girls: I SEE ME THERE! Sometimes I forget what a big deal it is. I go about my life as these gleeful moments of widening representation become a part of what feels normal to me, because it IS normal, it’s just not common. I’m so grateful for this reminder. Being seen and valued, centered and loved feeds the spirit. So many of us have rarely — or never — had that. And so many of us have had it so much it feels normal. Then when someone else gets it we feel deprived… Let’s *normalize* full representation of our human family. Let’s normalize celebrating when missing pieces start falling into place. Let’s normalize seeing wins like this as wins for EVERYONE — because they are. “She’s Black!” And now we’re all a little closer to whole. 🧜🏾‍♀️✨ Repost from @questlove • Representation Matters People. #Repost @okayafrica ・・・ 🧜‍♀️ A core memory moment for the young ones. 🪄 But why so many dislikes on Youtube? 🙇🏽‍♀️ #littlemermaid 🎥: Freeda_en (TikTok) VIDEO DESCRIPTION: Home videos of Black girls reacting to the new Little Mermaid trailer.