Tyra Banks Thanks Sports Illustrated For 'Daring' To Put Black Women On Their Swimsuit Cover.

• During last night’s Sports Illustrated Swimsuit: 50 Years of Beautiful broadcast on NBC, Tyra Banks delivered a speech thanking the publication for twice putting her, a black woman, on the cover all those years ago when no one else was “daring” enough to do so. “A lot of the women here say it was their dream. But it wasn’t my dream, because I didn’t think it was possible,” she said. “And I didn’t think it was possible because of the color of my skin….I want to thank Sports Illustrated…for thinking different, and I say “different” without an “ly,” for being daring and for making every little black girl that year that saw that issue go “oh my God, mama, I think I’m pretty because a black girl’s on the cover just like me.” I stand here representing everybody with a dream, to know that if you have a dream and you have tunnel vision, it can come true. But remember to dream bigger. Because if you do, those things can be reached, too.” I must admit, as a little girl, Tyra’s solo cover did have that effect on me… I was definitely excited to see someone who looked like me being represented as beautiful, desirable, and glamorous. But the covers since have been pretty whitewashed… it would be nice to see another brown girl on the cover in the future! Perhaps Jasmine Tookes might fit the bill? (Jezebel)