Dark Girls Rise!
Dark Girls Rise!
06/26/2013
K.R. Brumfield
Part 1:
On Sunday, June 23, 2013,
the Documentary Dark Girls premiered
on OWN (Oprah Winfrey Network). It’s a Documentary about the negative
images, low self-esteem, and colorism amongst Black women and the
African-American Community. The Documentary is directed by Bill Duke & D.
Channsin Berry, presented by Duke Media
& Urban Winter Entertainment.
Basically, I’d like to share
aspects of the Documentary with you by touching on specific comments or
interviews and adding my opinion.
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I believe this Documentary
is a much needed tool within the Black Community, as this topic is not
discussed enough, which leads to further miscommunication, degradation, and
ignorance amongst us all. Dark Girls, the Documentary, was very
educational. It touched on subject
matter such as our history as a people, colorism & colonization, and how it
impacts not only African-Americans, but on a global scale. It also elaborated on the views of
African-American men towards African-American women and vice verse as well as
the media’s role in portraying the image of Black women.
The Documentary ended on a
more positive note, discussing the healing process for little Black girls and
women who have and continue to suffer from external and/or internal
degradation.
I love how Duke and Berry incorporated expertise from various Psychologists as well as
views from the very people who’ve experienced such struggles.
The Documentary touched my
heart from the very beginning, when the little dark-skinned girl and her mother
were being interviewed. How adorable, how precious was she!
The little girl was asked
how she felt when she heard someone say, “She’s a pretty black girl.” She
replied by saying she didn’t like it, because she didn’t like to be called “Black”.
The mother explained in further detail how her sad it is that her daughter
doesn’t consider herself to be Black, and that she notices how others treat her
differently because of her dark skin tone.
Throughout the interview,
the little girl held her head down quite often, which represented the child’s
self-worth. However, her mother has a remedy for that. She gets her sons more involved
by having them to treat their sister with love and respect, and to motivate,
encourage, and treat her as a princess.
I personally believe that
this is a wonderful remedy to issues of self-esteem or low self-worth; because
it starts at home. If you’re valued at home, then you won’t have to seek
outside for approval or acceptance. I think if more parents did this with their
kids, we’d have much happier people in the world.
I have three beautiful,
intelligent nieces, and for as long as I can remember they’ve been treated like
little princesses. I as well as their parents, grandmother, and other family
members have been instilling in them the importance of self-worth, self-esteem,
and how to value themselves as precious beings. Needless to say, thus far they’re
very confident, outgoing little ladies. I’m so proud of them.
A Psychologist by the name
of Dr. Cheryl Grills provided some very pertinent information within the
Documentary. She began by speaking of the time span or gap between slavery,
Civil Rights Movement, and our current day in time. She mentioned how during the time of slavery,
between 1619 and 1865, we as Black people weren’t even considered real people,
but treated merely as animals. She went on to say that it was hard to focus on
beauty during such times when you weren’t even considered a human being.
Another doctor interviewed
on the Documentary by the name of Dr. Tifase Webb-Msemaji talked about colorism
and how during slavery time the dark-skinned slaves were differentiated or
treated much more differently than the light-skinned slaves.
Colorism is defined as
prejudice or discrimination based on the relative lightness or darkness of the
skin; generally a phenomenon occurring within one’s own ethnic group.
Now, when the doctor was
talking about colorism and how differently the slaves were treated based on the
shades of their skin, it immediately brought to mind the Willie Lynch Letter. For those who are unfamiliar with this letter,
it is a very graphically detailed letter from a British slave owner of the West
Indies explaining his methods of slave owning to slave owners in Virginia in
the year of 1712. Here is the web link to the horrific letter, but I must warn
you who are faint at heart…it is brutal and gruesome!
Dr. Ronald Boutelle, PhD., Psy.D. mentioned the “Paper
Bag Test”, and a Black woman within the Documentary elaborated on the test.
Basically, this was a test to distinguish beautiful light-skinned girls from
ugly dark-skinned girls. The woman went on to say, “If your skin was lighter
than the paper bag, then you was considered beautiful and smart; but if your
skin was darker, then you were thought to be unattractive”.
Colonization was also mentioned. One Matthew Shenoda
described it as a way in which different nations have been colonized over the
years by European armies, creating a sense of beauty and superiority. Thus,
colonization spawned an era of light or white skin being superior or better
than darker skin.
Another Psychologist by the name of Timothy Foley, who
happened to be a Caucasian, talked about the negative energy frequency waves
being spread throughout the universe during the time of slavery, and how it
affected the entire globe.
Foley’s notion ties into the Law of Attraction, which
states that whatever energy you project, will return to you in the same form.
Simply put, what you put out into the atmosphere will come right back to you,
be in positive or negative. Spiritually
speaking, this would be considered sowing and reaping.
Psychologist, Dr. Daryl Rowe, spoke of turning the
negative internalized colorism into a positive by loving one’s skin color. An
example would be the saying: The darker the
berry, the sweeter the juice. So, by flipping the negative self-degradation
into a more positive self-esteem approach, being and seeing one’s self as dark
skin becomes a good thing.
Oscar winning Actress Viola Davis was also interviewed in
this Documentary. She spoke of her racism experiences and how it affected her
growing up. She endured named calling, self-loathing, and over time therapy
taught her self-awareness and responsibility, how to be responsible for her own
actions, and no longer place blame on her parents for her skin color or for her
struggle.
This Documentary had so many contributors, which is what
I love; because it makes it that much more diverse.
Speaking of which, Comedian, Michael Colyar also
contributed to this Documentary. I loved when he said society has been
conditioned to hate or despise the color black, and how he used day and night
as a metaphor for good and bad or beautiful and ugly.
There was a Black woman with dreadlocks who felt as
though the major problem with the Black Community is lack of unity, and I
couldn’t agree with her more. Why is it that we are the only race of people who
can’t seem to unify for the greater good of the Community? I’ll tell you why…because
it all ties back to the crabs in a barrel mentality or the Willie Lynch Letter, which has ultimately trickled down so many
emotional and psychological scars throughout generations.
Here’s a prime example from the Documentary of the
affects colorism has had on our current generation:
A young Black woman was saying how sad it is that a
family member and his friend felt the way they felt when mentioning their
Facebook post on how they loved white girls, and that it’s not their fault
white skin looks better on females.
I thought this was a very ignorant statement these guys
made. I perceived it as a slap in God’s
face, because He’s the Creator of all and made us in His image. He doesn’t make
mistakes. So, for someone to make such a statement is baffling to me. Statements like these are what contribute to
low self-esteem and only perpetuates colorism, which brings me to a fact that
was listed within the documentary:
“75% of girls with low self-esteem report engaging in
negative activities such as eating disorders, cutting, drug use, and
self-loathing.”
My goodness this is a high rate!
Furthermore, there was an experiment presented in the
Documentary of a little Black girl’s perception of Black vs. White or
Light-skinned girls. Here’s how it went:
Smart = White
Dumb = Black
Ugly = Black
Good Looking = Light Skinned
When the therapist or teacher asked the little girl to
point out the adjectives listed above on the left of the equal sign, the little
girl associated those adjectives with the skin colors listed above on the right
side of the equal sign.
This was rather interesting to me, because I immediately
wondered how could this little girl feel this way, and where did she learn to
think like this? I personally believe that such perceptions are learned
behavior. She had to learn it from somewhere, which brings me to the next
Psychologist from the Documentary, Dr. Benson Cooke. He stated the importance
of seeing the effects of identity early on, i.e. kids seeing characters on
television and whether they can or cannot identify with them or not.
With so many television shows, cartoons, and animated
series for kids to watch these days, are they really beneficial to a child’s
self-esteem or psyche? I think that this is something parents need to seriously
consider when allowing their kids to watch television.
Too many times when kids don’t see images on the
television screen that emulate them or portray them in a negative way, it can
cause the child to devalue themselves because of the color of their skin or
their self-image. Here are two more examples of the negative effects of
colorism listed within the Documentary:
One dark-skinned lady said that she could remember as a
child asking her mother to put a little bleach in her bath water, hoping that
it would lighten her skin or wash away her dark skin. She also remembers saying
that she didn’t want her kids to turn out dark.
Statements like these are just devastating to me,
especially considering that this was beautiful.
Another doctor named Dr. Ronald Boutelle stated, “One has
to be taught to discriminate based on skin color”. I agree, because most kids
don’t see or care about color…that is until someone close to them brainwashes
them into seeing or believing otherwise.
Psychologist Timothy Foley thinks that discrimination
based on one’s skin color is so superficial, because it’s not their mind,
spirit, or feelings. Skin color is
merely pigmentation. Only an insecure person would want to tear someone else
down in order to make themselves feel or look better. This reminds me of a bus incident when I was
in high school. Another Black girl was
sitting in the seat across from me and asked if I had a boyfriend. When I told
her yes, she had the audacity to say, “I don’t know why he’s claiming you,
because you ugly.” Right there…when I heard the word ugly, I just tuned out everything
else that proceeded from her mouth, and began to think to myself, who the hell she think she is trying to call
somebody ugly?! That’s like the pot trying to call the kettle black. Have she
looked in the mirror lately? Because her eyes were shaped funny, she had big
lips, and crooked front teeth with a gap in between. Needless to say, I
ignored her for the remainder of the bus ride home. I refused to stoop down to
her level of ignorance and get into a debate, shouting match, or much worse…a
fight. I just let it go.
Dr. Grills said it best in the Documentary. We have to
learn how to discern what to accept and what to reject, be it positivity or
negativity.
We can be much wiser by choosing what to accept into our
lives and/or mindsets. I like to call it, guarding your mind; because the mind
is a very fragile thing. If you don’t protect it, then it can easily become
broken down, leading to other health issues.
Psychological forces can be impeded negatively or
positively. However, it all should start at home. If parents don’t make you feel loved
regardless of your color, then you will suffer the psychological consequences.
Take for example an adopted child or a child living in a
single parent home. In some cases, that
child could go through life with abandonment issues, feeling unloved or
unwanted, which ultimately affects their self-esteem and possibly growth
development.
STAY TUNED...for Part 2!
- K.R. Brumfield
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K.R.