Dark Girls is an emotional exposé on what it means to be dark skinned in America. Filmmakers D. Channsin Berry and Bill Duke capture moving interviews with women who open up about their experiences being dark, Black women in America. They share painful stories about things their mothers, sisters and friends have said, in addition to what they’ve taken away from mass media. Overwhelmingly these interviews reveal the same thing: To them, Black is not beautiful.
In an effort to learn more about the concept of Black beauty, the filmmakers reach both in and outside the Black community to seed conversations that reveal deep-rooted biases about race. Combining these emotional interviews with historical context and well-known psychological studies, the film sheds light on the perceived biases of “dark versus light,” and its ultimate aim to help people see that Black is beautiful.
Source: 10 “Must Watch” Black History Documentaries | PBS
1 Comment
No disrespect to the message of the documentary. I know of and respect it’s producer. However, most Black folks don’t already know how dark skinned Black folks…especially dark sinned Black women, are mistreated. What we need to show are solutions: books, videos, workshops, etc where dark skinned and very dark skinned sisters are loved and respected, and this is reaffirmed by the lightest of us! Considering the money we (Black/African people) spend on foolishness, it’s not hard to make this happen, we just have to be organized and have the will to follow through (the latter of which is lacking among many of us). Now..I live by EXAMPLE. My wife is dark skinned. I”m in communion with Black folks that, regardless of their varying skin tones, do not tolerate the “lighter is better” attitude among any Black/African person. There’s so many SOLUTIONS we can make if we have the coordinated WILL to do so…everything from pooling finances to influence the politics of making skin lighting creams illegal, having a public burning of these products…much like the public stomping of gangster rap CDs that some of our elders did back in the late 80s. We just need the WILL to do so. Now for those who want to be in communion with Black folks who don’t have a “colorism” issue…and feel ALL Black women should be respected, check out what our movement stands for: http://www.iamoneofthemillion.com I’m…”one of the million”….are you?