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Molefi Kete Asante on Beauty

born 1942 United States

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A common expression among African Americans relates the good to the beautiful, "beauty is as beauty does" or "she's beautiful because she's good." The first statement places emphasis on what a person does, that is, how a person "walks" among others in the society. The second statement identifies the beautiful by action. If a person's actions are not good, it does not matter how the person looks physically. Doing good is equivalent to being beautiful.

Kemet, Afrocentricity, and Knowledge (1990)

Attribution

Quotes and notes from Wikiquote: Molefi Kete Asante (page history), available under CC BY-SA 4.0.