The phrase is transliterated from Hebrew asย “Sh’chorah V’navah”ย (ืฉึฐืืืึนืจึธื ืึฐื ึธืืึธื), which meansย “Black and Beautiful”.ย
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Here is a breakdown of the phrase:
- Sh’chorah (ืฉึฐืืืึนืจึธื):ย Means black or dark-skinned.
- V’navah (ืึฐื ึธืืึธื):ย Means “and beautiful” or “and comely.”ย
Context
This phrase comes from the biblicalย Song of Songs (Shir Hashirim) 1:5, where the speaker says:ย “I am black and beautiful, O daughters of Jerusalem…”ย It is often interpreted as a declaration of finding beauty in oneself despite external circumstances or prejudices.ย
The passage in song of Solomon that describes the male beloved does not describe him as being white. He is in Hebrew described as being brilliant. Someone along the line changed that terminology. And also says his locks are bushy and black as a raven. The word white is translated as SAH which does not mean, white skinned it means dazzling. If the Hebrew wants to describe white skin, it would not be SAH it would be Levon which is the word for white in Lamentations 4:7.
Lam 4:7ย ย Her Nazarites were purer than snow, they were whiter than milk, they were more ruddy in body than rubies, their polishing was of sapphire:
…but in song of Solomon 5:10 the word is Tzach, which means dazzling, glowing, not white. The translators had two words in front of them, but they chose white because the loved one would not sound European. The man in song of Solomon had dark glowing radiant skin. Origin had a problem, he was writing for a Roman-Greco world a Roman world where dark skin was associated as barbarism, the uncivilized. He even made it look like this was not a true love story but an allegory. The Hebrew Word Shakor does not mean tanned. Could this be where Tupac Shakur got his name? He could’ve been expressing his blackness.
Ginzberg in 1857 said that the woman in the Song of Solomon was embarrassed of her black skin and was apologizing for it. That is why he translated VAY as BUT. “I am black BUT comely.” As if she was asking people to please overlook her unfortunate appearance. A proud black woman was unthinkable in the Victorian days. And personally, I feel that a lot of people think that even today that we should still NOT be proud of who we are. Jerome, Origin and other scholars knew what the Hebrew said, but they chose not to write it that way. That is not mistranslation that is suppression and it’s still going on today. Black women are still getting teased and made fun of today. Content creators all over the globe have fun, making fun of black women and I’m sick of it. White nationalists all over the United States are making memes and nasty cartoons about black women and videos about how black women can’t wait to go shopping with their food stamps as though the white people don’t get food stamps as well. They laugh at and make fun of the representation that we have in various leadership positions of black women who wear wigs. Now don’t get me wrong I’ve seen some clown wigs in my life, which wasn’t their better judgment that day, but not everybody wants to dress like a clown or a hooker. From what I have experienced and learned in my life, Egyptians wore wigs and they have beautiful hair, Israel’s wear wigs and they have beautiful hair, people of various nations wear wigs, but when black women wear them, we are a joke, something to laugh at. It is all oppression to make the black woman feel bad about herself. Personally, I think wigs are nice. It’s just like fingernail polish, scarves, jewelry, and other accessories. But isn’t that something how it’s ‘ugly’ or ‘funny’ on us? I watch various shows on TV. I like to watch Jewish shows for some reason I think it’s because they’re happy and they crack a lot of jokes and make you feel good. I also love Bernie Mac and the Neighborhood with Cedric the Entertainer, they are funny, colorful, and true to life. There’s not much left that you can watch today that doesn’t include pornography in some kind of way. And I noticed on The Nanny how she used to crack jokes about Jewish people and made everybody laugh and they loved it. And who doesn’t like the Butler on The Nanny? And I don’t believe all of that hair was really hers either although she had beautiful hair.
For years, I was an entertainer (of sorts) and people absolutely loved me as long as I was singing for them behind a microphone, but now you would never know that I once made someone happy. Now I am just a nobody who preaches the word of God and to be honest with you I like it that way. At least no one is calling me, Sammy Davis Junior anymore. If you remember, he was the only black person in the Rat Pack. And boy did he go dark and satanic. Actually, it was boring to me because I felt God calling me in my life and I love God too much to go dark in any way. I’ve been asked to go to California to sing for a certain well-known singer who is older now, and I refused and I’m glad I did. That was when I was around 18 or 19 years old working for a pizza shop. The owner used to have meetings every now and then in his pizza shop and I had to stay in the back and just make the pizzas which I didn’t mind. He had important entertainers from California come and they had what they called “meetings.” I stayed out of it because it wasn’t any of my business. I wish I could’ve run out and asked for signatures, but I didn’t.
I’ve always been black and beautiful not black but beautiful. And yes, there were times where I felt oppressed to be black, but not anymore. Jesus loves me exactly the way he made me, Black.
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Blessings!