Antoinette of A Curl’s Best Friend writes:
These girls crack me up. If you’re not up on Those Girls Are Wild then you don’t know what you’re missing. Andrea is an actress who has worked with heavy weights Diahann Carroll, Wesley Snipes and Maya Angelou. Shannon is a self proclaimed writer, photographer, presenter, wild girl, speaker, feminist, avid reader, ish disturber, listener and story teller. She is the author of the book “Laid” that focuses on controversial issues surrounding teens sex. Overall, they are dope.
I LOVE this video. Shanti put me on around the time I wrote Are 4c Curls Coveted and she wrote All Up in the Cool Aid and Don’t Even Know the Flavor. I received some backlash for speaking on 4c hair and being light skin with loose curls. My article was then posted by Curly Nikki and the backlash only increased. The comments we received here on CN really varied but in the end, really exposed the divide within our community. Anyway, this damn video is hilarious and was a great way to address it. Please watch it to the end as Shannon strategically gets her point across.
Thoughts?
I think the worst thing about this whole issue- that-shouldnt-be is that the views held by some in our community/circles are spread to others who are not part of our community as fact. When we know that if there is any tension based on skin color or whatever in a certain discussion or situation, to take it with a grain of salt. Whereas someone who is not in the know may be thinking that there is real division and real animosity amongst black women specifically and decide to pick and a side and and form an opinion… idk that just irks me. I think bringing these issues to light is great, but not broadcasting it on a mainstream stage. Like, the last thing i wanna deal with is hearing someone say anything and follow it up with "but they dont even like each other/ get along with each other." like if we hate us, then why shouldnt They hate us too? sorry for the us/they reference, but it was useful for a second. Furthermore when our discussions are overheard or made public without giving the appropriate contexts, it can wreak havoc… like, after the good hair movie, all of a sudden less-brown people are asking me if im wearing a weave… or worse, assuming and asking me how much my hair costs me…same thing for skin color, once i had a guy tell me (in his HORRIBLE attempt to idk, impress me?) that he loved brownskinned girls…long pause. i asked why, and he said because they arent as suck up as light skinned girls, like a lower self esteem or something"… *jaw drop*. the worst thing about that was that we were in a mixed crowd and the embarassing thing about me was not the thought that that fool thought less of me because of my skin, but of people in the group who would follow suit because of his comment… w/e
I understand why a darkskinned girl w/kinkier hair would get upset by this video b/c they'd look at her and say of course its easy for her to say that b/c she's light skinned with green eyes and "good" hair, she's never had to deal with the struggles of being darkskinned, and whatever struggles she went through being light skinned are nothing compared to what a dark skinned girl goes through. I completely understand that point of view but i'm not endorsing it.
I am so tired of light skinned vs dark skinned, good hair vs bad hair. Unfortunately we are the ones who keep feeding into these stupid notions and keep perpetuating these type of ideals. It's obvious that there is still a big divide in the black community, but just because its there doesn't mean you have to feed into or promote it.
At the end of the day, you shouldnt let anyone or anything define you or put you in any kind of box. Everyone is uniquely beautiful in their own way & we need to stop thinking that xyz (skin color, hair texture, ethnicity, etc.) makes us any better than the next person because it doesnt.
This girl is to funny. LOL! But more importantly I appreciate the message in the video.
As a "Medium Skin" I dont think our skin color existed until recent years… as "napturality" "black love" and "self awareness" became cool again post 70s. When I was a kid in the 80s/90s, and even now, if you werent Light, you're dark. If youre hair wasnt "good", its nappy. I've been called every thing from Brown skinned, Dark Skinned, dirty light skinned <– Ticallion HMMMM ],the REAL butter pecan… and even black dominican. It took for me to take the time to name my own color, learn to love it and myself, and ignore all these crazy haters out here, because if it aint one thing its another. Black people have a history of hate and its just gonna take time for us to get it all out of our system. We all are a little racist still, no matter what folks say or how much Kumbaya-ing you wanna do… WHOLE BUNCHA us were secretly releived when Michelle Obama was revealed NOT Light skinned. Case in point. I agree with this hilarious video tho, we need to get over it and love ourselves.. I just wonder how long thats gonna REALLY take. Willie Lynch was an ASS but he was right. Humans like to find differences and call them inequities to promote their own self worth, for some reason. Maybe when we're so diluted racially that we're all mullato. Will we care then? Or will we STILL find SOMETHING to bicker about… Brown eyes vs "Pretty eyes"…. Hair texture… SIGH.
Peace
Of Course she thinks it need to stop she light Skin and Gorgeous what discrimination could she have possibly gotten except but from women and who cares about that
EVERYTHING IS SO FUNNY AND EASY FOR HER TO SAY. SHE DOESNT HAVE TO DEAL WITH THE "REAL" ISSUES TAHT DARK SKIN PEOPLE FACE.
All shades are beautiful and it is sad that light skin women have to be hated because of their color and dark skin women for theirs. But what I find so interesting time and time again is that as soon as the issue is raised we say why are we still on this, but interestingly as much as we try to deny it, the fact is that it still exists just as racism does and not addressing it doesn't make it go away. We should not as Black women hate on other Black women because of their coloring, but we can't deny that media, family structures, penal systems and a host of other societal structures still are stricken by the horridness of colorism. Therefore, I feel attention is best paid to attacking those systems that still fully utilize it like the modeling industry, like the penal system (and if you don't believe it statistics on shadeism and the correlation of time given was documented by Michael Eric Dyson).
I am a dark skin woman and I cringe at the mention of "you're pretty for a dark skin woman," but I also cringe at "she's cool for a light skin chick" or "I had to imagine her dark skin to make sure she was really pretty." That type of nonsense talk need to be done with, but we don't also need to make believe that colorism doesn't exist.
But I did think the video was funny and it does raise a topic we need to address in a thoughtful way outside of the #TeamDarkSkin and #TeamLightSkin
At first I was laughing but then it all made sense. The medium brown ladies HAVE been taking it all! Thanks sista girl for showing us the light.
Great video. More importantly, great message. In this day and age we should be wayyy past this issue.
Great video, loved it!
I love this video. I'm an instant fan!
That was hilarious but OH SO TRUE!
Hilarious vid! great vid
Love it! I am soooo sick of the light vs dark nonsense, but I love her delivery.
I'm done… she totally called me out. lol I swear I got away with defusing arguments because I put myself in both categories. She is hilarious, and she has some great points. I love her optimism.
Aww man thank you guys so much for posting this video and for the kind words. I really appreciate everyone's feedback and for understanding my intentions were not malicious
You know when I saw this video I was to excited, someone actually spoke on the the whole light skin against dark skin. I'm really light and fought with the idea of going natural, then I thought about it as if I cant see and love myself in my natural state then who else will. I have to agree with ABdS that over all we are beautiful no matter our skin tone or ethnicity. I want to say thank you for this video Thank you for speaking your mind, because It's a pain and it hurts when you hear from another that your not black enough because your light skinned. this is a issue that is to focused on between families and out community. too many stereotypes. keep em coming..god bless..
ummm yea i wont lie i definitely enjoyed the video…kudos! but i couldnt stop staring at her hair thinking what products she use lol #dontjudgeme
Too funny!
And too sad that some of us allow anothers negative projection of our birth skin to penetrate our psyche as truth.
My hope for them is they just wake up one day and say F all that it's stupid, devisive and false!
Differences should be celebrated and appreciated not compared. Different yet equal all day good people. This thinking should extend across all ethic backrounds Asian to African and beyond…
-ABdS
I'm crying here lol. This is great!
Hi-FREAKING-larious!!! Great use of humor to make a point…
LMAO!!!!!!!!!! Too funny, too funny and poignant, Andrea brought it home in the end 🙂
@ Anonymous 2:40 – Thank you. I couldn't agree with you more. As long as the Black community continues to focus on "issues" like this, we'll never be able to pull together, work together, or move forward. Seriously, why are we still adding fuel to this fire? It's time to let it burn out.
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This is FANTASTIC!
Oh Lawd. The divide goes away when people stop talking about "the divide." I don't care who's light/darkskinned and most of the people I know don't either. And I also don't care about what some idiot on the internet (including myself) thinks about your skin color/hair texture/eye color/whatever.
Look at it this way, if we were in the segregated south, we would have ALL been told to sit at the back of the bus.
Build a bridge people and get over it. And I am side eying this guest poster. Their guests posts always seem racial and ridiculous. Let it go, ladies, let it go.
I saw that video when it came out…I thought it was hilarious. I love "Those Girls". It will always be a problem just like the national debt. Keep your pockets stacked and your peers educated.
Love "Those Girls" and their videos! Anyway, I guess I never got into the whole light skinned v dark skinned thing because my sisters and I are dark to light to medium toned (in that order) and I always felt like if I was talking bad about any shade, I was talking bad about one of my sisters. The problem is that older people continue to instill slave mentality (house vs field slave) and pass down the proverbial paper bag test because they were never cured of their insecurities and psychological abuses of being favored by their parents and community. I can shake my head all day, but I honestly don't know how to make others realize that WE'RE ALL BLACK.
Lol!!!! That was very funny.
@Pecanccurls. Have you ever noticed on Tom Joyner how they call everyone that's black African American even if their from Europe? IGNORANCE! I don't even listen to them anymore.
I absolutely love this video. I agree with anon @ 11:48. Beauty comes in many shades and this nonsense needs to stop.
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@ SabrinaP. I agree with you on all fronts. It is a tired argument. As much as I love the Tom Joyner morning show, I cringe whenever they mention that "water gun" fight highighting dark vs. light.
What a bunch of nonsense.
Colorism/Shadeism continues to be a "big deal" in the Black community and this fact just simply cannot be denied…well, it is always denied. *shrugs*
Check out my two blog articles on the subject…
"Skin Color and Hair Texture: A Black Woman's Journey"
http://meeshe011.blogspot.com/2011/05/skin-color-and-hair-texture-black.html
"The Light-Skinned vs. Dark-Skinned Battle: Who’s winning it?" http://meeshe011.blogspot.com/2011/07/light-skinned-vs-dark-skinned-battle.html
…and my Youtube Video Playlist:
"Skin Color Issues, Colorism, Light Skin vs Dark Skin" http://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PL378BE293199B2DB5
Hilarious!
A funny spin on a very sad and old ass argument. I'm tired of hearing about this stupid division among some of us. I'm black. not light-skinned, medium-toned, or dark-skinned. Just plain BLACK and I love it!!
This is hilarious to me, 'beautifully ghetto' lmfao. Why would you entertain a man who has the audacity to place stereotypes on YOUR person based on your skin, hair or creed?
There are men who will appreciate your physical beauty. There men who will appreciate your physical beauty and intelligence. There are men who will appreciate your physical beautiful, intelligence AND personality. Aim for the latter two.
I mean, I'm dark as they come, with hair so kinky it'll knot if you look at it (and I still tan lol. Guys seem to like me and my napturalness just fine. Now can we please stop fighting?
I Loved, Loved, Loved the video.
Are we still talking about this? Everyone needs to read the Willy Lynch Letters and then get beyond it. I try to educate my daughters, when the older one started asking about why she is a different shade than her sister. My husband is a different shade than I am. We are all sisters first. And back in the day, unless you were passing, you would be sitting next to me on the back of the bus. So ONE LOVE people. This was a good vid.
Who knew that Malayasia from Basketballwives of LA had such long hair 🙂 gorgeous. I saw this while viewing lhcf site.. Here's the link with it n pics http://www.longhaircareforum.com/showthread.php?t=586395
I absolutely love this video.. It is a issue that we are still dealing with and it needs to STOP. We are all beautiful each shade and each texture. Just as God created.
oh i'm loving this and their site..funny