"Dark Girls" - A Documentary

I just finished watching a documentary entitled “Dark Girls” by Bill Duke and D. Channsin Berry.  Following the presentation, I feel emotionally drained.  I know that I have been affected from childhood by the colorism that permeates brown-skinned people (like the little girl in the program, I hate the word ‘black’ because I am not black; my skin is brown.  I will not use the term ‘African American’ because I am not a naturalized citizen, I was born her and therefore I am just American), but I did not realize just how deeply these attitudes still affect me.

The program consists of a series of interviews with women of varying skin shades and backgrounds.  I was also surprised (pleasantly so), that a Korean-American woman was also included to show that this destructive attitude toward skin shade permeates cultures across the world, not just in the United States.  The interviews with men were also quite interesting.

The participants in the documentary spoke candidly about their experiences, how those experiences affected their lives, and how they have overcome the negative effects of colorism. 

While watching this program, I was forced to really think about how I feel about the issue.  If I am honest with myself, then I will have to admit that I hate the color of my skin and if scientist developed a way for people to change their ethnicity (I mean really change it, down to the DNA), I would probably be first in line to sign up for the human trials. 

I suppose I should be ashamed to feel this way, but I don’t.  Why should I feel bad about wanting to have the advantage of being seen as good, smart, industrious, righteous, deserving, clean, and everything else positive that is attributed to Caucasians?  Life would be so much better if the burden of being a person of color were gone.

Unfortunately there is no escaping my burden to birth.  Learning to live with it however, is proving difficult.  Not learning to live with it on the other hand, makes life more difficult to live than it should be.

Wrestling with this on a daily basis, is so emotionally and mentally tiring.

Watching this documentary did give me a tiny glimmer of hope that maybe I can work past this.  I don’t know if I can do it on my own, but knowing there is hope that I may have a chance at beating this does make the burden feel a little lighter.

"Dark Girls": http://www.imdb.com/title/tt1966396

Just sharing,