Do you know who this young woman is? If not, then you just might’ve been living under a coral reef. This young lady is Halle Bailey. Why is that important? Well, if you have been living under a coral reef, then you wouldn’t know that a live action Little Mermaid is being made and she was just cast as none other than Princess Ariel herself. You also wouldn’t know that everyone is losing their damn minds over it. It’s no surprise that when good things are happening in the black community, there’s a group of racists right behind ready to find some stupid reason to explain why it’s bad that x,y, and z are happening just to exclude the real reason they think it’s bad is simply because…the person is black.

Ariel is a mermaid and lives under the sea with talking crabs and fish so clearly there’s nothing wrong, all bets are off the table, and the creativity can fly…right? Boy, do I wish. I’ve almost gotten a headache from reading all the stupid comments. Comments stating about “black washing” because I guess that’s a thing now. There are comments about how they grew up with a white mermaid and they’re ruining their childhood. There are literal comments of people trying to scientifically state why having a black mermaid is just impossible. Those people must have forgotten there was a black mermaid in the cartoon. Representation is so important and there’s not enough of it because people hate to see it. I wouldn’t be surprised if there were a few people out there who had an issue with Will Smith playing Genie because he was black. A blue character. All because representation seems to strike a nerve.

We must remember that there are so many remakes with beautiful black actresses as the main characters such as Cinderella, Annie, and The Wizard of Oz. Did they mess up the classics because they were of a different color? It’s the actual opposite. They made new classics that kids of the same race can relate to and enjoy. It’s hard going through this world as a child with few princesses that look like you. When princess Tiana came into the Disney world, it was a huge step. Not only is she a black princess, but a dark skinned black princess AND she’s from New Orleans. Disney really did their thing when they created her.

If you are someone who’s been keeping up with the drama of the Ariel announcement, then you know that one of the bull excuses of why Halle is the “wrong choice” is that she doesn’t look like her. Again, this goes back to being black, but not only that, she doesn’t have red hair either. Ariel’s hair was tomato red. Who has tomato red hair that hasn’t dyed it that color? From my knowledge…not a lot. I would also love to add that people are losing their minds as if hair color isn’t a thing just like they did when they thought that Will Smith wasn’t going to be blue in the Aladdin movie (great movie by the way). You don’t have to have to fit every mark of a character to play them. If that was the case then no one would make a good Ariel because then you’d have to be a mermaid. If you ask me, Halle comes pretty close to looking like Ariel when it comes to her facial features. Just look at the picture on the right. Is it a close comparison? You be the judge. The second most crucial feature you must have is the ability to sing and, just a heads up for those who don’t know, her and her sister Chloe are Beyonce’s proteges. What does that mean?? She can SANG! I’d say she checks off on the list of being the perfect Ariel and I’m ready for her to shut it down. 

To all the racists out there…have a seat because this little mermaid is going to knock you out of the water. And to Halle, Maybe you’ll listen to Sebastian, because it’s definitely a lot better under the sea.