Black Stereotypes

Here is a video containing the image of blacks years ago. Notice the stereotypes used to further characterize the actors as black, bright lips, nappy hair, etc.

A Girl Like Me - Kiri Davis

This is "A Girl Like Me", the 2005 award-winning video by 16-year-old Kiri Davis. Kiri became very interested in the Kenneth and Mamie Clark doll test study (which is shown in my previous post) and decided to redo the test to see if she cam across similar results.

This documentary begins with the doll test but then concludes with a few young women talking about issues very relevant to my topic.

"Which Doll is the Nice Doll?"

Here is a video of the Black/White doll test I spoke about. It was originally conducted by Kenneth B. Clark and his wife about 40 years ago.

Light of the World

It is the past that has brought us where we are today. Colorism–a form of discrimination in which human beings are accorded differing social and treatment based on skin color--began during slavery when white masters gave special treatment to those of a lighter complexion–most of which were often their own children. It was times experienced like these, that we became witness to self-loathing and hatred; hating the shade of your own skin, because of the position it has put you in, in society. This is how the black race has continued to bring the term, colorism, into the generations after slavery. An example would be the past notoriety of sororities, fraternities, and other organizations only accepting those of a lighter skin tone.

From 1900 until about 1950, “paper bag parties” were thrown by blacks domesticated in larger American cities. In order to gain entrance into these parties, you had to pass the “paper bag test”. If your skin was of the same color or lighter than that of the paper bag, you were given admittance to the party. However, if you were darker than the paper bag, you were turned away at the door. This is how light-skinned blacks attempted to distinguish themselves from their own race.

The controversy remains when we look in popular magazines and at BET, a black entertainment television station. One will notice that there are predominantly light-skinned girls gracing the covers, and dancing around in the music videos. Also, it is those who are lighter skinned who are holding these prestigious positions in society, and those of darker skin tones that are populating prisons and employed with jobs that have low qualifications. Having light skin has seemingly always been a passport to special treatment from both blacks and whites, but how do we break through these biases and continuous downtrodden negative images of blacks?

Blonde and Black

The monumental use of advantaged whites in the media plays an important part in how blacks view themselves today; for instance, the use of Barbie, a significant icon in a young girl’s life. As I said before, creating a doll whose face is made up like that of a white person’s will lead a black child to believe that this is how he or she is supposed to look; this is what is beautiful. If a young child sees what others believe beauty and perfection is supposed to look like before they have the chance to embrace their own appearance, they may never be able to accept the way that they look.

Acceptance will continue to be an issue when children develop into a mature age and are frustrated when their bodies aren’t like that of the ones they have seen on television. This is how we began the dying and bleaching of our hair and the use of contact lenses to make our eyes seem like that of another color. We use these products because we somehow believe that we will be more socially accepted, and more visible to those around us. It has always been that those who are “high yellow”, with long wavy hair, and green eyes are more socially accepted and reap more benefits than those who have dark skin, brown eyes, and hair that requires lots of attention in order to maintain its composure.
I can remember when I was younger watching Milli Vanilli on Top of the Pops. I remember arguing with my older sister over who was more attractive in the group. We both wanted the lighter skinned performer over the darker one, because he was “much cuter than the dark one.” But of course, because I was younger, I had to settle for the darker one and my sister enjoyed her time lip singing with the vanilla, caramel complected singer. I will never forget how unhappy I was with the outcome of that situation. It was as if I had been left with the runt of the bunch, while my sister had the star player. As the years progressed, my sister and I continued to have a taste for lighter skinned men instead of darker, often having crushes on little blonde haired, blue eyed boys as well. But as we matured into the young women we are today, our taste began to sway to those darker complected men. I even looked back at those old Milli Vanilli videotapes and scoffed when I thought of how silly we were for arguing over who would get who; and actually, the darker one was the much more attractive than the other!

It is instances like these that I have taken the time to reflect back on, that remind me of how much our society, our culture, and our generation has been affected by the continuous down play of blacks.It is the past that has brought us where we are today.

What is "black"?

When I was much younger, I was always told that I was different. My hair was too long, I spoke too proper, or I didn't dress the same way other kids "like me" dressed. I never really understood how it was that I was was supposed to dress, talk, or act, so I just continued to do what I was doing. As I grew older, I came to find out what it was that those other kids my age were getting at. "You act like a white girl!" This was a phrase I heard so often that I could always sense when someone was about to say it. You see, black children my age consistently said this to me so often that I didn't know how I was "supposed to act or what I was supposed to say. Because of this, I continued to put myself around kids that were white; this is where I felt like I fit in. It was not until I entered the tenth grade that I began hanging around people of my same race.
After all the years hearing words that had calloused my skin to sustain such a harsh blow to my self awareness, I had learned to hold my head up high in the face of who I would like to call my "tormentors". Putting myself in the atmosphere where there were more people of my same race was like putting myself on a platform center stage. There was not a day that went by when someone didn't call me white, or someone didn't tell me I talked funny, or someone told me that I wasn't "black enough". My senior year in high school, one of my teachers, a white woman, even said in front of our entire class, "Danica, I need you to act more black. I'm blacker than you are!" Because of all the things I had heard over the years, it didn't even shock me to hear such a thing come from her mouth. It did, however, upset me. It upset me to think that even to generations before my own, I wasn't considered "black enough" for my own race. People outside of my race even thought I wasn't "black enough". Black enough. What is that? I really had to think to myself on this one, because it just didn't seem right that I was cursed to forever be in the skin of a person who everyone says I'm not. But I am. And that's where I am today.
So what is black? What is this color, this race, this creed, that everyone seems to have a different idea of? What is black? Black is me. Black is my race. Black is the young lady I am, the confused girl I was, and the great woman I will be. I am that definition of black, for me. I've realized that no one can compare me to another, so don't anyone dare try. One can't compare to another saying I'm not black enough for this race, because suppose I'm the black enough that everyone else is supposed to amount to? Suppose everyone else isn't adding up to what "black" is? How can anyone say I don't act black? What is there to act about? I AM BLACK. I've come to realize that when people call me white or say that I am "acting white", it may be a form of an insult to them, but to me, it must be a compliment. I am a strong, proper, educated, long-haired, black woman, and if all of these things make me white, hey! It can't be a bad thing.
So as I hold my head up high, making my way as a BLACK WOMAN, the next time someone says, "Danica, you act like a white girl." I might just have to say, "Thanks for the compliment." Because I am a black woman, and I don't need anyone elses definition of what that is to define me.

DrMk