Allure magazine's April 2017 issue is causing quite the buzz online — but for a wonderful reason.
Editor-in-chief Michelle Lee revealed the cover Tuesday on Twitter, and wrote, "Guys, I'm thrilled to reveal our April cover: 41 women of colour share stories of colourism, diversity & inclusion." And the response was overwhelmingly positive.
"This is truly incredible," BuzzFeed U.K. reporter Victoria Sanusi said on Twitter. "I really appreciate this. Cannot wait to buy a copy."
"This is amazing! Can't wait to read," fellow British journalist Shehnaz Khan added.
Inside the glossy, a diverse range of women of colour are featured, all coming from different walks of life.
Everyone from models to comedians, journalists to doctors are featured and these women held nothing back when sharing their experiences with beauty, race and diversity.
"When I was younger, a lot of older black people would tell me, 'Don’t go outside for too long because you don’t want to get darker,'" "Saturday Night Live" actress Sasheer Zamata revealed. "When I got older, I realized it was passed down colourism. What the black community has experienced has been absorbed. We kind of police each other."
Sasheer Zamata.
"[Being on 'Saturday Night Live'] I’ve gotten some really nice comments from other black people who say, 'It’s so nice to see a woman of colour who looks like me on TV,'" the comedian later said. "I am darker than a lot of women who are on TV, and my hair is natural. To a lot of people, it’s important to see me on TV, and I’m so happy to be there and do that."
Canadian actress Jessica Matten chimed in as well to talk about her heartbreaking experiences with discrimination as an indigenous woman.
Jessica Matten.
"The indigenous part of me is Métis, and my family hails from a very racist part of Canada," the Edmonton native said. "Growing up, my mother was taught: ‘Keep it hush. You’re light-skinned, so you can get away with people not thinking you’re native.'"
"I was always trying to overcompensate for what I was by being the best on the sports team, joining the photography club, the drama club," she added. "I was trying to prove the colour of my skin didn’t make me less than as a human being. When I was 14, a boy called me a drunk squaw, a very derogatory term. My mom and I started holding workshops for other aboriginal women about self-esteem. At a young age, I was able to do some deep soul searching. When I finally had the courage to look in the mirror and say, ‘I love you,’ I began to love the colour of my skin and all parts of me."
Read the rest of these powerful narratives here.
And if you're looking to get your hands on this powerful issue, you're in luck! Allure's April issue is on newsstands now.
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