Black kids and the doll test 60 years later
After over sixty years, black children still say the white doll is more beautiful and ‘nicer’:
A new short film by a New York City high school student asks how far our society has come in its attitude toward race since the 1940s.
In her film, “A Girl Like Me,” Kiri Davis recreates a famous 1940s experiment conducted by Dr. Kenneth Clark that studied the psychological effects of segregation on black children.
In Clark’s test, children were given a black doll and a white doll, and then asked which one they thought was better.
Overwhelmingly, they chose the white doll.
Davis asked 4- and 5-year-old kids at a Harlem school the same question in 2005. She found the children’s answers were not that different.
In Davis’ test, 15 of the 21 children said that the white doll was good and pretty, and that the black doll bad
[...]
In the powerful film, Davis asks a little girl, “Can you show me the doll that looks bad?”
The girl immediately chooses the black doll.
“Why does that look bad?” Davis asks.
“Because it’s black,” the girl responds
Davis said that the children in the study did not hesitate when asked to choose the “good” or “bad” doll.
“It was just, boom, which is the good doll. They said because the white one is the good one, the black one is the bad one,” she said. “They internalize these stereotypes that are out there.”
This film blames slavery, but this phenomenon is also present in Latin America, in Asia where polls show most men prefer pale women, Africa and in the Arab world where, in Egypt, the television mini-series ‘Sadat’ was banned because the role was played by African-American actor Louis Gossett, Jr.
Historically, in the Arab world, white (female) slaves were said to be more valuable in the markets. The Ottomans Khaliphs even used to send convoys into Europe specifically to buy blondes for their harems.
Then there is this quote from Arab Historians of the Crusades from an Imad ad-din describing European women:
There arrived by ship three hundred lovely Frankish women, full of youth and beauty, assembled from beyond the sea and offering themselves for sin. They were expatriates come to help expatriates, ready to cheer the fallen and sustained in turn to give support and assistance, and they glowed with ardour for carnal intercourse. They were all licentious harlots, proud and scornful, who took and gave, foul-fleshed and sinful, singers and coquettes, appearing proudly in public, ardent and inflamed, tinted and painted, desirable and appetizing, exquisite and graceful, who ripped open and patched up, lacerated and mended, erred and ogled, urged and seduced, consoled and solicited, seductive and languid, desired and desiring, amused and amusing, versatile and cunning, like tipsy adolescents, making love and selling themselves for gold, bold and ardent, loving and passionate, pink-faced and unblushing, black-eyed and bullying, callipygian and graceful, with nasal voices and fleshy thighs, blue-eyed and grey-eyed, broken-down little fools.
So, on the one hand, this seems to pre-date the colonial period, but on the other hand, why would a four or five year old think that they are ugly at such young age? Then again, other studies seem to suggest that black females grow out of it later in life and have more pride in themselves than white women.
I would like to see how white, Latin and Asian children respond to the same test.
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Link: What dolls can tell us about race in America
Watch Film Here: A Girl like Me
Filed under: Race
It is interesting. Some of the comments we got when people(Arabs mostly) first saw our kids is how white they were, as if that was some great thing.
What it tells me is that from an early age the Western media gives people the impression that white is better. I think from an earlier age it was the idea that being white was actually a novelty. Think about it, us white people make up only about 5% of the world’s population, so we are a bit “rare”.
Anyway, I am the opposite. I rarely find a white woman I find really atttractive. I, personally, think Arab and Indo-Paki women blow them out of the water, as well as the sisters from Ethiopia and East Africa.
I know a Palestinian guy who told me that black females would often ask him to have a baby with him and he would not even have to take care of the baby. They wanted some “good genes”
These kids may think blacks are ‘bad’ because they may already see a lot of chaos in their lives from other blacks doing bad things
[...] Brother Tariq has a post over at his blog on the fact that black children still prefer white dolls. In the comment section he notes that he knows of a Palestinian brother who was on the streets who black women would approach him and want him to get them pregnant so they could have his light-skinned baby with good hair and they would tell him he didn’t even have to know or take care of the kid. This is something I can easily believe because when I was younger I had several African-American women (more like girls) approach me and wanting me to get them pregnant so they could have a light-skinned baby with good hair. They would tell me that I didn’t even have to take care of the kid and they would tell the welfare office they didn’t know who the father was so I wouldn’t get hit up for child support ( something I doubted). [...]
Subhaan’Allah… that’s just wrong, I think.
Why can’t people realize that colour of skin means absolutely nothing?
I think arabs have had a thing for white women for a very long time. In the tafsir of Surah at Tawbah, there are narrations stating how some of the people didnt want to go out to the battle of tabuk. The reason why some said, was a false excus that they would be put to fitnah by the women there. The women were described as Shaqrawiyat-i.e. Blond haired and blue eyed.
And brother Abu Sinan, your statements about white women are understood coming from America. Come to Finland and Sweden and I think you will change your mind.
Subhanallah, Tariq and Umar’s comments about black women wanting children with ‘good hair’ is no longer shocking to me. I am an AA woman, married to a white man. we have biracial children. I really have not had this type of discussions with other Muslims and I go to
http://bwwbc.proboards4.com/index.cgi
when I have this type of discussion. Most of the interracial/intercultural Muslim marriages that I know of are not involving AA women. There are some but we are so spread out that I do not personally have contact with many.
Anyhoo…when I moved to Saudi, I had a family of black Saudi women approach me, because they thought I had beautiful children-masha’Allah- and ask me if I could find them white husbands, because in their own words wanted to lighten up their families. this attitude from Saudi blacks doesn’t surprise me because of their love for all things white in this society, but coming from AA women, it’s shocking. I bet these were ‘ghetto’ girls. I can not imagine an educated, professional, or woman of color with any type of class approaching men like this. This may be a ‘hood rat’ phenomena
Umm Adam:
In the Muslim world, I don’t think this is an issue of lower class at all. Higher class people may not explicitly say that they are looking for a white or fair-skinned mate (or maybe they would) but in many cases that is what is desirable.
The elite in the Muslim world also tend to be fairer skinned individuals.
As for the US, the higher a Black American rises in SES and education, the more likely he is to marry outside his race.
At the highest income level ($100,000 and above) black/other race married couples are nearly as numerous as black/black couples. At that income level, the census found 86,443 black/black couples and 75,410 black/other race couples. The lower you go in SES, the more wider the gap between black/black and black/other race couples with the black/black couples being more and more numerous.
The findings were similar with education. Non high school graduate level black/black couples were more than four times the number of black/other couples. But at each higher level of educational attainment, the numbers get closer. At the graduate degree level they were again almost even, with 160,367 black/black couples and 146,763 black/other race couples
So, higher educated people may not approach men like that, but the effect is the same.
I agree in the middle east, it crosses all economical/social barriers.I know many American women (white and black) married to Saudi men. They all met their husbands’ in american Universities and the men n ow have good jobs back here in Saudi. There have been offers from well off women to be misyar wives to my husband…so maybe some analogy cold be made with the AA women who were wiling to give up all rights…but in this case it was solely to have light skin kids with good hair, as opposed to just being attracted to or wanting a white spouse.
I disagree that the effect is the same. What values will these AA women (who seek to have mixed babies for one reason only) instill in their ‘pretty’ babies other than the fact that they have good hair and are light skin? I personally was embarrassed everytime peope would see my dh and tell me “yall gone have some pretty babies”. Embarrassed and slightly offended, because hmm excuse me, I don’t need him to have pretty babies. As my grandfather said proudly about all 18 of his grnchildren, “All yall pretty, I don’t have no ugly granbabies”. And it was true…no ugly ppl in my family (but then again our family is all mixed up…lol).
Okay, I digress. It’s fajr and I have no idea what I am saying anymore.
Umm Adam
When I say the effect is the same, I meant that there is a preference for lighter skinned mates. These lower SES and lower educated women have less of a chance to marry someone outside their race so perhaps this is why they resort to such shamelessness
Umm Adam, I can tell you for sure that these girls approaching me were hoodrats and these were not woman taking time out of their pursuits of a graduate degree to see if they could get knocked-up. BTW, on that issue about black Saudi women, a lot of white Muslim en in America would be interested in you making that connection.
How are little children victims of prejudice? Who is discriminating against these children? White kids did not get an advantage over black kids. And finally there is no segragation in the City of New York. People of all races can go where they please and there is an army of lawyers willing to sue if there is the slightest hint of segregation.
This is interesting, so what does that mean for Black women. We are already seeing the phenomenon in the Muslim community now that some barriers are broken down that black men are marrying non black women in droves. I wonder if we should warn single black women when they convert that it will be very hard for them to marry.
Sometimes I worry since about my daughter getting married, its a passing worry as of course its in Allahs hands who she marries and I just want her to marry a sincere, hard working Muslim man but it maybe that he won’t be black.
But I am curious as to why you posted this. You seem to imply that its the way Allah made the human being. That all men want white/light skinned wives. Do you have a daughter, how would you feel if she was passed over for being too dark (being part Black)?
Umar, my dh and I are out of the ‘hook up’ business. We have been there and done that and it was not nice. Unfortunately, many of the families that are willng to marry their daughters off to complete strangers are not willing to do so, because of the brothers good character. Rather, the girl may not be ‘worth much’, so to speak!
Also, many of the women here that want a white husband, really don’t care about your deen…that’s just a technicality. So when they marry you and STILL have to cover properly, and are expected to pray, and live a righteous life then that’s when the fitna begins. Of course I’m sure they are not all like that. The ones I have encountered are usually of three types:
1. Want a white man, because they think white is more beatiful.
2. Want their children to have ‘white’ features (hair and eyes…Oh and nose jobs are in!)
3. Want an American, doesn’t matter the color or the deen…that’s not what’s important. FREEDOM!
The whole ‘white is alright’ mentality, here, makes me sick! It has actually had an effect on my marriage. I don’t know if it’s in my mind or if it’s real, but it seems like now my dh thinks I should appreciate him more!
Umm Adam,
I think that wherever you go in the Arab World they are obsessed with whiteness and that is why when you see them come to America you often find Arab men married to tore down ugly white women and walking around with her on his arm like she is some kind of model or something. I even had brothers tell me when I was in Palestine “brozer I neez ze white woman”.
Umm Abdullah
No, I am not saying that Allah created men to like white women (though some in the Muslim world WOULD say that)
I am just dubious of the fact that this is solely because of the legacy of slavery/Jim Crow (or colonialism overseas) because even when Arabs were TAKING slaves, they preferred white women for their harems.
I don’t have a daughter, but if I did and she were passed over by a brother for being too dark, I would just say that that is his preference and move on.
Certainly all men do not want white/light skinned women. In fact, most white Muslim converts I’ve met prefer a woman that is darker than they are.
It is sad that black American Muslim female converts often end up with non-sense brothers…
Umm Abdullah, I disagree about warning the single sisters when they convert. I use to be a single muslimah and I had no problems at all finding a husband. I had proposals coming from men of almost every nationality and race you find in the masajid.
I also worry about who my daughters will marry. My dh, who use to be very naive when we lived in America, would always say it didn’t matter as long as he had good character (one ramadan when my daughter was only two weeks old, he came home very excited to tell me that he was approached by the young Saudi Imam who was brought in to lead the tarawee prayers, about marrying our daughter when she turns 15yrs old. Of course I told him he was out of his mind to even consider it and he thought that I was opposing the sunnah.). Now that he sees that every Umar, Tariq, and hmmm Abu Sinan (couldn’t think of any other male names..lol) is asking for his daughters, he is upping the ante. So as you see, as a parent (particularly a mother), you will always worry about your child. Allahu Musta’aan.
Tariq, unfortunately, I think the BAMFC that (generally speaking) get non-sense brothers may be circumstantial. When I was single, I had completed college, had a phat ride (nice car for our white viewers), a good job, AND NO BABIES! Most of the sisters I know, with similar situations as I had, did not have a problem finding good husbands. This falls in line with what you mentioned earlier about lower SES and lower educated women. Higher SES and education cross all barriers, bi’itnillah.
However, non-sense brothers do not discriminate. They are equal opportunist!
You know, you guys are right. I was thinking of something I read some where, men like women. There will always be a man for some women. The problem really isnt in getting married but moreso staying married, which is another discussion.
I guess my college years of being around an Afrocentric clique is still with me sometimes. As I’ve gotten older I am not as caught up in race, and as you imply brother, who cares if someone has a skin color preference. Every one is entitled to their preference, although the world obsession with skin bleaching is a little disconcerting.
I think men are wired to like feminine features. Long hair and lighter skin are more feminine.
Umm Abdullah: the thing is though that in countries like the UK fake tans are common among white women (probably in the US & Canada too). So white women want to get more brown, while black women want to do the same through skin lightening. This leads to the conclusion that many people find light brown the most attractive, rather than white per se. I think the obsession with northern European white skin colour stems from the perception of power and money rather than just physical attraction.
Umm Abduillah, you hit it on the head. Staying married is much more challenging than geting married.
JW…how in the world is light skin more feminine? I’ll give you the long hair (I may not agree), but light skin…..
Yusuf, I don’t think your conclusion is accurate. All this proves is that our Prophet salla allahu alayhi wa sallam, spoke the truth when he said (paraphrasing), that none of the son of Adam will be content until he is dust. The grass is always greener on the other side.
how in the world is light skin more feminine? I’ll give you the long hair (I may not agree), but light skin…..
across the world women are preferred to be lighter than the men even in Europe. dark skin is considered to be a masculine quality. the darker a man is, the more masculine he is seen to be. long hair is without a doubt seen to be part of a woman’s beauty across the world, just ask any pakistani or arab. many black women wear hair extensions these days because a woman with very little hair is seen to be more masculine looking. also even in the black community, the standard of beauty is not very african looking
As-Salaamu ‘alaikum
Has anyone done a test in which children (white and black) are given dark-skinned dolls to play with from an early age and not the usual commercial light-skinned ones? Because it seems that the children may want a “real doll” and that for most children that means a light-coloured one. I’ve seen it argued by a racist named Roger Roots that children prefer white dolls, even in places like Tobago, but what is the standard colour doll in Tobago?
Tariq says “In fact, most white Muslim converts I’ve met prefer a woman that is darker than they are.”
That is spot on. This post has gone wildly to generalisations. One sister said something about Saudi females wanting to marry white converts basically so they can come to the West, forget their deen and go slutting around.
I think that is an outrageous statement to make. Not only that, but based on my personal experience, it is far from the case. I am a white male convert married to a Saudi woman. We know a couple of others like us.
They all keep their deen, before and after marriage. I do think it is any more common for Saudi women to do this than any other women. Seems to me this whole thing smacks of the back-biting that Arabs and Muslims are sadly known for.
Abu Sinan:”One sister said something about Saudi females wanting to marry white converts basically so they can come to the West, forget their deen and go slutting around.
I think that is an outrageous statement to make.”
I must have missed that one, where can I find this outrageous, over generalised, flesh eating statement?
Surely, it was not an exaggerated paraphrase of this:
Also, many of the women here that want a white husband, really don’t care about your deen…that’s just a technicality. So when they marry you and STILL have to cover properly, and are expected to pray, and live a righteous life then that’s when the fitna begins. Of course I’m sure they are not all like that. The ones I have encountered are usually of three types:
1. Want a white man, because they think white is more beautiful.
2. Want their children to have ‘white’ features (hair and eyes…Oh and nose jobs are in!)
3. Want an American, doesn’t matter the color or the deen…that’s not what’s important. FREEDOM!
In the event that I am the sister you are referring to, please allow me the opportunity to make rectification and bayaan (clarification):
Alhamdulilah rabbil Alameen, rabbil alwaaleena wal aakhireen, wa salaatu wa salaamu, alal mab’oothi rahmatan lil alameen an nabiy al Amin Muhammad ibn Abdillah, wa ala aalihi wa sahbihi ajmaeen wa man tabiyahum bi’ithsaneen ila yaumid deen ameen
As salaamu alaikum wa rahmatullahi wa barakatuhu
wa ba’ad:
I, Intisar Umm Adam Bint Haroon Asad Al Amreekeeyah As Salafiyyah Fee As Saudiyyah, say:
Indeed, it has reached me that some of my kalaam, was misconstrued to be ghuloo towards our Noble sisters of Al-Mamlaka Al-Arabiya As Saudiya, who desire to marry our pious ‘white’ American brothers.
I would like to say that it was not my intention to back-bite [enmasse] those Noble Sisters who fear Allah and are marrying our Pious ‘white’ American brothers based on their Islamic virtues and good character. Rather, I was specifically referring to those who have approached ana and specified a white man, with blond hair, and blue or green eyes. Not to say that a sister can’t have her preference, but I was talking about my personal experience and why we are no longer in the match making business (we have assisted in 3 of these unions and all 3 ended in divorce shortly after the marriage).
In one case, we were able to match a sister with an American brother that did not meet her original criteria, for indeed he is an American convert of African descent, henceforth known as ‘AA’. He has since divorced her, as no sooner than he married her she bought a satellite dish, took off her niqab, and changed from an overhead abaya to a shoulder abaya. She is an example of one who assumed that the American muslim’s deen expectations were not high.
These may seem trivial to some, but verily this was done because many ‘born’ muslims have a hard time digesting the fact that American muslim converts (seen as mutawwas in their own countries as they have big beards and their thobe and pants are particularly up to their knees) are ‘really’ muslim. Even with all the aforementioned tell-tale signs.
Another sister approached me, who worked for a hospital in Riyadh. She was a translator and worked with many English speaking male kafirs, whom she grew fond of. Many whom approached her for marriage, she was interested but there was one small technicality…Muslim women can not marry kafir men. So she asked me to find one like them that was Muslim or willing to take his shahadah to marry her. She was one who wanted to ‘lighten’ up the family. When I informed her of an interested brother moving to Buraidah, she asked if he could take a job in Riyadh that she could set up for him, because Buraidah was too strict. The brother declined, because Buraidah was ideal for him…he likes ’strict’.
It is interesting how someone could take the worst possible meaning of my statement to imply that I meant that a person would go ’slut ting’ around America. Why would a married woman even have a need to do such a thing? My main consideration was that many of these cases the priorities are not in the correct order. As muslim women we are to look for good character first and foremost…not nationality, race, or physical features. All those are additional benefits.
If I have offended anyone with my words than please forgive me. I am just a poor little maid servant of Allah.
We state this on Tuesday 24 Ramadhaan 1427AH | Tuesday 17th October, 2006 in the city of Jubail (kind of), Saudi Arabia.
Subhanaka ‘allahumma wa bihamdika ‘ash
hadu ‘alla ‘ilaha ‘illa ‘anta ‘astaghfiruka wa ‘atubu ‘ilayka
Ibn Taymiyyah (d.728H) - rahimahullaah - said: “There is no
criticism for the one who proclaims the way (madhdhab) of the Salaf,
who attaches himself to it and refers to it. Rather, it is
obligatory to accept that from him by unanimous agreement (Ittifaaq)
because the way (madhdhab) of the Salaf is nothing but the Truth -
Haqq
During most of my years, I’ve traveled quite widely. Of the many things I’ve learned about women throughout the world, one is that there is but one race of women on earth, human women. Of this vast and diverse race, all are filled with just about as much beauty as any man can behold. It is only through the folly of men who betray this truth with their illusions of greatness over other men that many humans both male and female suffer.
[...] Tariq noted here, some have tried to write this off to colonialism, but this is just not the case. Arabs have had a [...]
i am dark brown and anyways my black friends think i have good hair for a black person i always thought my hair was kinky which i still think it does id o want long hair but i want to stay my color and thats the reason why i will never date a black men ever in my life and i will tell my kids the same thing because black people say white poeple are racist check racism agian then because i had many black man say i am pretty fro a black girl and that my hiar is nice without extensions which i prefer anyways black man are died to me i never had a white guy that i dated commited on m skin color it always black people and i am glad i was adopted into a white family because we do not that issue about skin color like blacks do and i am ashmed to be black because you men make me cry when i was young and still know because i am dark brown but i am getting oever it man and they white guys that like me are soo hot they look like modles from guess and holister pictures now i am happy someone like me for me not because of the color of my skin.
Interesting observation, but, you forgot the influence of the media. In film and television shows there are more white women than any other. And they show them to be attractive and desired by all, obviously including the main character. Lack of diversity in casting (which there would obviously be with America and Britain being mainly white, and the target audience are whites) with the ‘beautiful girl’ roles means that it has shaped people’s perception on ‘beauty’.
In addition, the colour black is always seen in the west as ‘bad: black magic, black mail, black ball etc. along with other symbolism in cartoons like witches wearing black, black cat, ravens etc. So, the Black child isn’t associating a black doll with Black people, but, with other black objects which it is taught are ‘bad…..Children are not stupid!
There are many problems today that are the result of oppression, slavery and the numerous other acts, but, a Black child preferring a white doll isn’t one of them.
Almost every society’s men prefer the women to be fairer than they are
i live in england and mixed race/ biracial is a population that is fast growing. my promblem is that the majory is from black fathers and white mothers. what kind of message does this send to young black females. teenage black girls are say that young black boys say they prefer mixed or white and actively seek them out. (full grown black men also have this thingking)i have heard young black males saying that they want go to portugal to spread their genes as they think that, that race with black is a good mix. many men say that they want and seem to take pride in having mixed race kids. it an epidemic.
why are people racist? We are all equal aren’t we?
Nobody should be judged by the color of their skin.
I saw this same video at http://www.africanamericanchild.com and I have to say that this is a problem, has been a problem, but the real issue is discussing the solution. We have known about this and it doesn’t take a video for us to know that this has gone on. But what is the solution? First is to turn off the cable and satellite televisions in our black homes. Second is to tell black girls that nappy hair is beautiful and to teach them to take care of their hair. The reality is that most black hair in America is manageable, soft and shiny. We just need to believe that it is beautiful. As hard as it may seem, nappy black hair is beautiful.
Assalamu’alaykum,
It was sad reading this post - especially since it involved children. Even in Asia, being of fairer skin represents beauty and even little children who are as young as 4 or 5 recognise skin colour and their “representations.”
In fact, recently, my husband was commenting about cartoons we used to watch when we were younger - he mentioned Aladin. He said, notice how the baddy was always portrayed as an EVIL ARAB. This is the same for most American cartoons / movies of that time. And where are our American peers who watched the same cartoons and movies as us, as little kids? They are in Iraq, Afgan, and other countries fighting the “Evil Arab!” Astarghfirullah… This just acts as a reminder as to how vulnerable little children are to our messages, no matter how subtle they may appear to be.
I was in a check out line reading a JET book. There was another woman who was also doing the same( it was a very long line. What a better way to snare time by reading a magazine) as I was about to put the book back in it’s proper place, I heard an “umph-like” noise coming from the woman like as she had been hurt. I realized that she was reacting( admiring their looks) to a section of the book mentioning about the whereabouts of the 1980’s RB group,DeBarge.
The lady and I got on a conversation about the group as we professed of being crazy about the brothers in our teen days.We was joking about our craziness of being their number one fans. As the lady was talking about the brothers, I noticed that the woman kept referring to them as the “finest yellow brothers”( They are all biracial). Her comments about their color/race, i had me thinking about my initial struggles with color.
Though I’ve gotten past all of that colorstrickedness, I think about those other who haven’t. As little kids ,my brother became confused about his own racial identity( he was very fair skinned at the time and he thought that was White like some of his Greek neighbors, some who he was lighter than ). In an attempt to quell the problem,every X-mas my parents bought us Black and White dolls. Oddly, I had more love for my Black Barbie( actually she was called Christie in the 1970’s.I loved Christie’s two two-toned flowing hair).In spite of it, I didn’t get the color/racial message with the dolls.
If there is one thing that I have learned about self love is that you have to have that love in yourself or that you have to have family instill it in you from as kids. Although my foks attempted to do their job, with the exception of my late grandfather,my paternal relatives didn’t. Yes, they are “pro-Black” people, but if they we’re they were, they had a funny way of displaying it. I hated visitng my grandmother. Everyday, the color/ hair jazz came up and add to the fact that my paternal grandmother wasn’t the nicest woman in the world.Forgive for saying that but it was reasons like those that made me not want to go around her.
Several months ago, I ran into a cousin of mine who I haven’t seen since the age of 15. For years, I couldn’t get her disappearance. Now realized that she stopped coming around the family and left Atlanta for another part of Georgia because she was pregnant and that the family ( my grandmother, not grandpa)thought she was a disgrace to the family. On top of that the father of her twin sons was a White guy that she dated in high school. We had a talk about the paternal side of the family.She told me that she came across my grandmother. After their had their two minute talk about my grandfather, she asked an annoying question about my cousin’s sons:” What color are were boys?
If there is a pet peeve that I have is people who value unimportant issues than about human life. In this case, the color issue was brought up.Never mind if my grandmother didn’t ask my cousin about her whereabouts, her health, herself or her kids( Thankfully,I’m happy to say that she and her now husband has invited my family and some neighborhood folks to their 20 year wedding anniversary) it was all about the color . What a shame.Gee, I wonder why l some little Black kids like me had those color hang-ups about themselves?I also wondered did she marry my late biracial grandfather( who is of South Indian/AA descent) for the same reason?
I passed by a group of my people, particularly a bunch of high school kids who was using the the “N” word to each other.One young girl was making awful jokes about one of her classmates and referred to him as being” SmokeRise”because of his dark skin. Now if my grandfather and my mother, caught me using such derogatory descriptionsof people they would have gotten on my case something terrible. Both of them consider those words to be words of racial and self-hate.
Sometimes, I wonder how my folks felt about my intial self hate? Far as my sister , she would nod her head in disbelievement, but sympathized with me. My grandfather would get my grandmother’s case about the color strickedness.( Now you may see why have so much respect for this man).Far as I’m concerned ,beauty comes in all forms from all walks of life (especially with a dynamic personality). Like I said, I’m glad that my cousin and her family is fine. It is issues like that is more of concern to me than ones color. I hope that we don’t lose contact with each other like we did as teens.
I think it is , up to the child which doll they like. But I believe every child on the planet should be proud of their race their country and their people it is just loving your family . Love really is the strongest force in the world.