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Downloaded from
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I've never had a perm.

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My mom always gave me braids.

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Always washed and conditioned
my hair and braided it.

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I like running my hair
through the shower.

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I like being able to go
outside when it's raining

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and not have to fret,

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because I know my hair
is going to get messed up.

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I just like frizz.

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I like being Black.

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Who taught you to
hate the texture of your hair?

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Who taught you to hate
the colour of your skin

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to such extent that you bleach
to get like the white man?

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Who taught you to hate
the shape of your nose

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and the shape of your lips?

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Who taught you to hate yourself

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from the top of your head
to the soles of your feet?

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I remember watching
Sex and the City.

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There was a scene where

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Miranda got called out
for having a fat butt,

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and she was mortified,
absolutely mortified.

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She cried.
She got on Weight Watchers.

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And it's funny to me, now,
because if you go on Instagram

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and you go on the search page,

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every single girl you see,

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slim waist, big booty,
fuller breasts with fuller lips.

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Every single Instagram model,
you see it.

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You see the shifts

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in North American
beauty standards,

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but on the backs of Black women.

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The most disrespected
person in America

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is the Black woman.

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The most unprotected person
in America is the Black woman.

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The most neglected person
in America is the Black woman.

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I think any woman's road
is easier if she's beautiful.

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Beauty is power.

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The way I look is a benefit.

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It helps me.
It has helped me in my life.

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It has helped me in my career,

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and it will continue
to benefit me.

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But even my beauty
doesn't change that I'm Black.

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Black women, historically, have
been denied the power of beauty.

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Uh, and it's--
I think it was intentional.

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So, it's ironic that today,
the winners of the five most

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prestigious beauty pageants
in the world are Black women.

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♪

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Narrator:
2019 was a watershed moment,

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as Black women across
the globe took a pause,

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acknowledging
the unprecedented occurrence

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when the winners of
the Miss Universe, Miss World,

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Miss USA, Miss Teen USA
and Miss America pageants

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were all Black women.

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Why was this important?

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Should beauty matter when 56%
of all college graduates

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in the US are women,

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and the most educated group
in America are Black women?

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The Miss Black America
beauty pageant argues that

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it is still as relevant today

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as it was when
it was created in 1968.

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Brittany Lewis:
Well, good morning, everyone.

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It is such a pleasure
to stand before you.

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We have some amazing contestants
that are competing for

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the title of Miss Black America

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during this historic
50th anniversary.

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In 2014, I did compete
for the Miss America pageant.

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And although I am grateful
for the opportunities,

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what I love about this pageant
and why I returned home to

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the Miss Black America pageant
is because it creates a space

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for us to continue to celebrate
Black beauty, Black excellence

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and the Black experience
unapologetically.

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Newscaster:
Beauty is on parade

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in Convention Hall,
Atlantic City,

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during the oldest contest
of its kind

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and the one with
the most prestige,

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the search for Miss America.

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Historically,
the Miss America pageant

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adhered to Rule #7.

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Established in the '30s,

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the rule stated that
in order to compete,

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you had to be "in good health
and of the white race."

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And although the rule
was repealed in the 1950s,

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by 1968, there were still
no women of colour

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on the Miss America stage.

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Black female beauty was deemed
unworthy of celebration,

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and three stereotypes had seeped
into the dominant culture.

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Borne out of slavery,
the stereotypes typically

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presented Black women

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as Mammies, Jezebel,
or the angry Black Sapphire.

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It's in this environment
that businessman

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J. Morris Anderson,
working with NAACP,

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created
the Miss Black America pageant

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in 1968.

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The event was set
in Atlantic City,

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across the street from
and on the same night as

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the 44th Miss America pageant,

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and it was in part
a protest against

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the prevailing beauty norms.

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But Miss America
was experiencing

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a crisis of its own.

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400 predominantly white,
middle-class women

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descended on the pageant,

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protesting its
objectification of women

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through beauty contests.

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The irony is
these two protest events

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were wildly contradictory,

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and placed Black
and white women

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on opposite sides of
the beauty paradigm.

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To understand why,
we have to look to the past.

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Some of
the most disturbing things

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in regards to the history
of Black women

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go back all the way to
the 16th and 17th century,

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when you're looking at journals

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from British
or European explorers

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and their descriptions
of when they encounter

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Caribbean or African women,
and they describe them as

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monstrous bodies with, you know,

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long breasts and big,
um, bigger nipples.

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And you know, again,
to make it counter to

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what they've seen
from white women, right?

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We're constantly
being identified as "beast,"

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and as less than and sub-human.

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And we continue to
see those images

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just recast in different ways
as the centuries move forward.

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I like to
start in the 19th century.

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Yes, there was a lot of things
before then, obviously.

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But it's in the 19th century
where you have this

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real need, again, to preserve

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the sanctity
of white womanhood.

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That's why I say
the Victorian era--

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We're talking
about post-1850--

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Suddenly, there's this idea
of let's define what's pure.

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Let's define purity.
Let's also define domesticity.

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So, white womanhood gets
attached to the domestic realm.

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That means real women
are in the home.

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Black women
always worked in the fields.

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So, right there,
suddenly, we're not women,

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because we've never
been in the home.

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So, the idea of womanhood

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then gets extended
into the 20th century.

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Women stay home.
Women get married.

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They stay home,
they have children,

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but wait a second.

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Black women never stay home.

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Black women are having kids,
sometimes with different people,

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because us marrying was also

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kind of a difficult thing
during slavery.

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So, we're already
seen as immoral

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and not upholding
the sanctity of womanhood.

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And then what happens is
you get into the 1940s.

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World War II was a moment
all women went out to work.

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Everyone working in the factory,

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doing all the jobs
you said you'd never do.

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Then what happens?
It's the 1950s.

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"Oh, get back into the house."
But what is the 1950s?

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That's the heyday
of domestic help.

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So, where white women
went back into the house,

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Black women went into
their house to serve them

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and to clean up
after them once again.

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So, the history of Black
womanhood and white womanhood,

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it is so overlaid with labour

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and these issues of
purity and domesticity.

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I definitely think
that historically,

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there's been a sort of
binary that's been set up

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when it comes to beauty.

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This idea of beautiful and ugly.
This idea of pure and dirty.

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And because of racism,

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a lot of times
that binary also included

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the binary of Black and white.

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Um, and that led to
Black women being on one end

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and white women
being on the other.

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Ryann Richardson:
My life in pageantry started

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in the most
nonsensical way possible.

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No one would've
ever expected it.

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I was a jock.
I played football and ran track.

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And when I started
competing in pageants,

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I won a lot.
I earned a lot of scholarship.

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I paid for the majority of
my undergraduate education.

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I'm a product of

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what Miss Black America
inspired in 1968.

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So, it's really interesting
and really cool to think

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50 years later, having gained

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all that I've gained
from pageantry

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and from the culture
that Miss Black America created,

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I could be part of that
Miss Black America legacy.

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Woman:
The two eight-count walk,

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y'all going to switch, okay?

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You have enough time to switch.
You hear me?

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And don't forget:
in the beginning, smile.

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This is the opening number.

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And one. Do it again.

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Just the walk...

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Okay.

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Five, six, seven.
And one, two, three.

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Do it again.

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Okay. Turn.

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Go back. Try it again.
Just you two.

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Oh, yeah. Show me.
Show me the way.

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Woman:
Five, six, seven. And--

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Hey, hey, hey. That last move
should be like snatch.

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Down. Y'all hear that pause.

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Like, snatch...

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Alex Germain:
I could go on and on about

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why I wanted to be a part of
the Miss Black America pageant,

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but to keep it
short and sweet,

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I needed something
that represented me.

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I needed to feel as though

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I mattered
and my voice mattered,

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and I could be a reflection
to other girls who-

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I was once in their position,
and I can say,

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"I'm going to do that
one day."

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Growing up, there's no one who
looked like me in my classes.

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Not my teachers
or the administration

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or my best friends.

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I remember vividly.
I believe it was sixth grade.

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I would walk into
the playground after lunch,

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and all the boys line up

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and they start making
monkey noises at me.

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It affected me in ways
that I didn't know

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would carry on into
my adulthood.

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Hi, Mommy.

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So, it wasn't until college,

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where I had to
let that go.

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I had to be strong
in myself

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and let those voices go.

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Even now that I'm 22
and I'm Miss Black New Mexico--

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The first one, might I add--

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There's times where
it still gets to me.

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You have to be
your biggest motivator.

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The eyelashes and lipstick,
that doesn't mean anything.

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I literally had to tell
myself I was beautiful.

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I had to tell myself every day

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what I loved about myself.
Every day.

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What's this?

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I think when you
see a pretty girl,

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you don't really think
that they have issues,

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but when you
don't love yourself,

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you don't love anything.

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So, getting to the place
where I could even compete

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to be Miss Black New Mexico,
and then winning,

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it kind of feels like
I can't stop now.

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What else can I do?
What else can I conquer?

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I'm just laid back, chill,

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00:14:22,687 --> 00:14:25,603
wear some sweat pants
and some sneakers.

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I walk out the door,
I still get cute.

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00:14:28,084 --> 00:14:32,262
But you know, chilling.
I've always been chilling.

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I was scared.
I did not like the plane.

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00:14:38,747 --> 00:14:41,619
The plane is moving.
It's shaking.

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00:14:41,706 --> 00:14:43,273
This is not
what I signed up for.

250
00:14:43,360 --> 00:14:44,796
Let's turn around.
Let's go back.

251
00:14:46,624 --> 00:14:49,323
I was expecting the girls
to be really mean.

252
00:14:49,410 --> 00:14:50,715
Like, I was, like, "Oh, my God."

253
00:14:50,846 --> 00:14:52,543
Like, they're so serious.
Like, oh, my gosh.

254
00:14:52,674 --> 00:14:54,937
But then,
when I walked in the hotel,

255
00:14:55,024 --> 00:14:56,286
they embraced me with open arms.

256
00:14:56,417 --> 00:14:57,592
They were, like,
"Oh, my God, girl.

257
00:14:57,722 --> 00:14:59,855
You in the pageant?"

258
00:14:59,986 --> 00:15:01,944
It was so hard

259
00:15:02,075 --> 00:15:06,166
to not be a tomboy,
considering the fact

260
00:15:06,296 --> 00:15:09,909
that I don't know how
to walk in heels.

261
00:15:10,039 --> 00:15:13,086
'Cause they said, "Oh, no.

262
00:15:13,173 --> 00:15:14,957
You can't walk
around like that."

263
00:15:15,044 --> 00:15:16,872
Like, doo-doo-doo. No.

264
00:15:17,003 --> 00:15:19,440
You need to walk around
like you know what you're doing.

265
00:15:19,570 --> 00:15:21,572
So, I practised and practised,

266
00:15:21,703 --> 00:15:23,705
and apparently,
they say I'm doing a good job.

267
00:15:23,835 --> 00:15:24,836
Thank you.

268
00:15:26,621 --> 00:15:28,928
Do you mind if I recite a poem?

269
00:15:29,015 --> 00:15:32,627
I look at my eyes
and I see beauty.

270
00:15:32,757 --> 00:15:36,544
I have my mother's eyes,
and they shimmer like jewellery.

271
00:15:36,674 --> 00:15:38,720
I had to upchuck the critique

272
00:15:38,850 --> 00:15:41,375
that I needed to
better my physique.

273
00:15:41,505 --> 00:15:45,422
And I learned to love myself,
not in vain and in conceit.

274
00:16:44,873 --> 00:16:49,182
My first song
"Video",

275
00:16:49,312 --> 00:16:52,141
that song taught me a lot
about people.

276
00:16:52,272 --> 00:16:54,143
Because literally,

277
00:16:54,274 --> 00:16:56,015
the whole time I was writing it,
I just thought,

278
00:16:56,145 --> 00:16:59,714
this is how I want people
to understand who I am.

279
00:16:59,844 --> 00:17:01,542
And then it came out,
and people were telling me

280
00:17:01,629 --> 00:17:03,022
that that's how they felt,
and I was, like,

281
00:17:03,152 --> 00:17:04,414
"Oh. Oh, right."

282
00:17:04,545 --> 00:17:07,852
We all feel insecure
about something.

283
00:17:07,983 --> 00:17:11,769
We all have, like, a part,
a place inside of us

284
00:17:11,900 --> 00:17:13,641
that we're insecure
about something.

285
00:17:13,771 --> 00:17:15,164
I don't have
better words than that.

286
00:17:15,295 --> 00:17:17,819
And we wonder if
that makes us flawed,

287
00:17:17,949 --> 00:17:20,517
and if that flaw makes us
unworthy of being loved,

288
00:17:20,604 --> 00:17:22,302
and if that unworthiness
means that we'll never--

289
00:17:22,432 --> 00:17:24,478
You know, like,
there's a place that we--

290
00:17:24,608 --> 00:17:26,610
It's like an unravelling
that can happen

291
00:17:26,741 --> 00:17:28,395
just from one little thing.

292
00:17:28,525 --> 00:17:30,658
Just because we live in
this world that tells us

293
00:17:30,788 --> 00:17:32,138
somebody's perfect,
but you're not.

294
00:17:36,142 --> 00:17:38,231
Cheryl:
Black has always been cool.

295
00:17:38,318 --> 00:17:39,667
Beauty is different.

296
00:17:39,797 --> 00:17:42,583
In the realm of beauty,
Black is not cool.

297
00:17:42,713 --> 00:17:45,716
In beauty culture,
Black has to be minimized

298
00:17:45,847 --> 00:17:46,978
as much as possible,

299
00:17:47,109 --> 00:17:48,937
or exoticized in a certain way

300
00:17:49,068 --> 00:17:51,679
where you really
see the difference.

301
00:17:51,809 --> 00:17:55,987
I always go back to
Olympia's maid.

302
00:17:56,075 --> 00:17:57,685
Well, they call it "Olympia,"

303
00:17:57,815 --> 00:17:59,643
the Edouard Monet "Olympia."

304
00:17:59,774 --> 00:18:03,473
Well, Olympia's maid is
standing right behind her.

305
00:18:03,560 --> 00:18:05,693
And for nearly over a century,

306
00:18:05,823 --> 00:18:09,871
white art historians had talked
about Monet's "Olympia,"

307
00:18:10,001 --> 00:18:12,091
and they never mentioned
the Black woman

308
00:18:12,221 --> 00:18:13,614
standing behind her.

309
00:18:13,744 --> 00:18:15,616
They just don't see us.

310
00:18:15,746 --> 00:18:17,835
It took a Black woman in,
like, 1992

311
00:18:17,922 --> 00:18:19,707
to suddenly say,
"What about Olympia's maid?

312
00:18:19,837 --> 00:18:21,187
Have you noticed?"

313
00:18:21,317 --> 00:18:22,884
And they were like,
"Oh. We never noticed her."

314
00:18:22,971 --> 00:18:25,278
How could you not notice her?

315
00:18:32,067 --> 00:18:33,851
I don't think
I ever made a decision

316
00:18:33,982 --> 00:18:36,550
to study beauty. I gradually
found myself doing it.

317
00:18:36,680 --> 00:18:38,465
And I just followed
the arguments.

318
00:18:38,595 --> 00:18:41,729
So, I've worked on issues
of reproductive rights,

319
00:18:41,859 --> 00:18:44,166
of women's rights,
of global justice.

320
00:18:44,297 --> 00:18:45,907
And gradually, I began to see

321
00:18:45,994 --> 00:18:48,649
that appearance and beauty was
becoming more and more dominant

322
00:18:48,779 --> 00:18:49,911
in young women's lives,

323
00:18:50,041 --> 00:18:52,740
and that this was
an issue of justice, too.

324
00:18:52,870 --> 00:18:55,438
Beauty is becoming
an ethical ideal.

325
00:18:55,525 --> 00:18:58,528
And by this,
I mean it's the value framework

326
00:18:58,659 --> 00:19:00,226
that we build our lives around.

327
00:19:00,356 --> 00:19:02,402
That we judge
ourselves and others

328
00:19:02,532 --> 00:19:05,056
on how much we
conform to the ideal.

329
00:19:05,187 --> 00:19:06,928
That the more we make
the appearance grade,

330
00:19:07,058 --> 00:19:08,799
the better we
believe ourselves to be.

331
00:19:08,930 --> 00:19:10,279
The less we make
the appearance grade,

332
00:19:10,410 --> 00:19:11,846
the more we fail.

333
00:19:11,933 --> 00:19:21,943
♪

334
00:19:31,387 --> 00:19:34,216
When I was younger,
I think I had an idea

335
00:19:34,347 --> 00:19:36,740
that there was only
one type of beautiful.

336
00:19:36,871 --> 00:19:38,394
Mm-hm.

337
00:19:38,525 --> 00:19:42,398
And in terms of my, like,
definition of beauty changing,

338
00:19:42,485 --> 00:19:44,574
it's been trying to,
like, teach myself

339
00:19:44,705 --> 00:19:47,664
that there are so many
different types of beautiful.

340
00:19:47,795 --> 00:19:50,014
When I was younger,
I used to think that, like,

341
00:19:50,145 --> 00:19:52,756
the only way you could be
pretty was if you were white

342
00:19:52,887 --> 00:19:54,932
and if you had
more straight hair,

343
00:19:55,063 --> 00:19:58,197
and if you, like, only had
a certain type of body.

344
00:19:58,284 --> 00:20:02,549
And if you were anything
different from that, then you--

345
00:20:02,679 --> 00:20:04,681
Maybe you could be,
like, pretty,

346
00:20:04,812 --> 00:20:07,249
but you could never be,
like, truly beautiful.

347
00:20:07,380 --> 00:20:09,860
My whole life
I've been, like, battling.

348
00:20:09,947 --> 00:20:13,603
Sort of, like,
apologizing for who I was

349
00:20:13,734 --> 00:20:16,867
or what I looked like.
Even, like, as a kid,

350
00:20:16,998 --> 00:20:19,392
wearing braids to school
and wanting to take them out

351
00:20:19,522 --> 00:20:21,437
because I knew they
were a Black thing,

352
00:20:21,568 --> 00:20:24,527
and I didn't want to
be associated with that.

353
00:20:24,658 --> 00:20:27,617
Sometimes I also feel,
like, guilt as well.

354
00:20:27,748 --> 00:20:31,012
Like, sometimes I just
see my Blackness as, like,

355
00:20:31,142 --> 00:20:33,884
something weighing me down.
When, like...

356
00:20:34,015 --> 00:20:37,410
it just should be
something to celebrate.

357
00:20:37,540 --> 00:20:39,281
I remember last summer,

358
00:20:39,412 --> 00:20:40,891
there's this guy that
I was, like, think--

359
00:20:41,022 --> 00:20:42,763
I kind of liked him,
and I told my friend,

360
00:20:42,893 --> 00:20:44,504
who's another guy,
and they were friends.

361
00:20:44,634 --> 00:20:47,855
Kind of a bad mistake,
but he was, like,

362
00:20:47,985 --> 00:20:49,509
"Oh, yeah, like,
he thinks you're hot."

363
00:20:49,639 --> 00:20:52,860
He said, "You're the hottest
Black girl I've ever seen."

364
00:20:52,990 --> 00:20:56,733
And I was, like, oh, okay. Yeah.
I'm the hottest Black girl.

365
00:20:56,820 --> 00:20:58,648
Like that had to be said.

366
00:20:58,779 --> 00:21:00,955
And that's always a thing.
Like, my Blackness

367
00:21:01,042 --> 00:21:03,566
will be put
in front of everything.

368
00:21:03,697 --> 00:21:06,613
I'm not just going to be pretty
because I'm pretty.

369
00:21:06,743 --> 00:21:08,702
I always heard, "You're very
pretty for a Black girl."

370
00:21:08,789 --> 00:21:11,574
And it wasn't until I got
older that I realized--

371
00:21:11,661 --> 00:21:16,187
I unpacked that sentence,
that it's literally saying,

372
00:21:16,318 --> 00:21:18,886
"Despite being Black,
you're very pretty."

373
00:21:19,016 --> 00:21:22,019
And it's such a back-handed--
It's not even a compliment.

374
00:21:22,106 --> 00:21:25,545
You're saying that
I'm really lucky that I'm pretty

375
00:21:25,675 --> 00:21:28,417
because I'm Black, and I have
that fighting against me.

376
00:21:33,901 --> 00:21:38,079
Pageantry made me aware
of this concept of beauty

377
00:21:38,209 --> 00:21:40,168
that was being applied to me,

378
00:21:40,299 --> 00:21:42,649
but a greater society dictated

379
00:21:42,779 --> 00:21:46,609
what exactly
the standard would be.

380
00:21:46,696 --> 00:21:48,045
The pageant would
release the head shots

381
00:21:48,176 --> 00:21:49,308
of all the girls competing

382
00:21:49,438 --> 00:21:51,397
a few weeks before
the competition,

383
00:21:51,527 --> 00:21:54,617
and all of
the pageant commentators

384
00:21:54,748 --> 00:21:58,142
in the community would get
on this message board forum

385
00:21:58,273 --> 00:22:01,842
and start to chatter about,
uh, their predictions

386
00:22:01,972 --> 00:22:03,757
for what was going to happen.

387
00:22:03,887 --> 00:22:06,455
Who was going to be the cream
that would rise to the top?

388
00:22:06,542 --> 00:22:09,502
And I was so
confident in myself,

389
00:22:09,632 --> 00:22:12,809
because I'd done so well
for the last several years,

390
00:22:12,940 --> 00:22:15,638
that I knew I had
to be the frontrunner.

391
00:22:15,725 --> 00:22:20,121
And the first comment
that I saw was,

392
00:22:20,251 --> 00:22:23,254
"No. Her features
are too ethnic."

393
00:22:24,647 --> 00:22:28,172
I knew exactly what that meant.

394
00:22:28,303 --> 00:22:31,698
My nose was too broad.
Lips, too full.

395
00:22:31,828 --> 00:22:34,353
I looked too Black.

396
00:22:34,483 --> 00:22:37,878
And it shook me.

397
00:22:38,008 --> 00:22:40,924
And it shocked me,
and it pissed me off.

398
00:22:41,055 --> 00:22:44,841
I actually came to a point where
I appreciated that comment,

399
00:22:44,928 --> 00:22:48,497
because for the first time,
I felt like somebody was honest

400
00:22:48,628 --> 00:22:51,457
about what their
feedback really was.

401
00:22:51,544 --> 00:22:53,981
Why I had been so successful,

402
00:22:54,111 --> 00:22:55,635
racked up all the awards
you can imagine,

403
00:22:55,722 --> 00:22:57,288
but still couldn't quite win.

404
00:22:57,419 --> 00:22:59,116
Why I had gotten
the feedback that

405
00:22:59,247 --> 00:23:01,641
"We just want to
soften your look."

406
00:23:01,771 --> 00:23:03,120
And I thought,
what does "soften" mean?

407
00:23:03,251 --> 00:23:04,600
I'll wear lilac. I'll wear pink.

408
00:23:04,731 --> 00:23:06,515
I don't know if it
goes well with my skin.

409
00:23:06,602 --> 00:23:08,604
But I can soften.
I can do highlights.

410
00:23:08,735 --> 00:23:10,824
And ultimately,
it wasn't about softening.

411
00:23:10,954 --> 00:23:13,957
It wasn't about styling.
It was about somebody

412
00:23:14,044 --> 00:23:18,179
who was finally nasty enough
or ballsy enough

413
00:23:18,309 --> 00:23:21,051
to say what it was.
I was too damn ethnic.

414
00:23:22,618 --> 00:23:25,316
And that stuck with me
for a long time.

415
00:23:27,231 --> 00:23:30,234
I never internalized
that feedback, right?

416
00:23:30,365 --> 00:23:31,845
Because I never took it

417
00:23:31,975 --> 00:23:35,022
as a statement on my worth,

418
00:23:35,152 --> 00:23:39,592
but I did take it
as a real recommendation,

419
00:23:39,722 --> 00:23:42,029
a valid recommendation,
for what had to happen

420
00:23:42,159 --> 00:23:44,988
if I wanted to be
successful in this space.

421
00:23:45,119 --> 00:23:47,295
I had to change
the ways in which

422
00:23:47,426 --> 00:23:49,297
I looked too ethnic to people

423
00:23:49,428 --> 00:23:52,474
who are uncomfortable
with my Blackness.

424
00:23:53,954 --> 00:23:57,871
I had to learn
to contour my face

425
00:23:58,001 --> 00:24:01,048
and style myself

426
00:24:01,178 --> 00:24:03,224
to draw away from features

427
00:24:03,311 --> 00:24:06,314
that are so distinctly Black.

428
00:24:06,445 --> 00:24:09,317
And I got really good at it.

429
00:24:09,448 --> 00:24:11,972
I am really good at it,

430
00:24:12,102 --> 00:24:14,104
but it was a means to an end.

431
00:24:14,235 --> 00:24:18,500
I never believed I needed
to look that way

432
00:24:18,631 --> 00:24:22,243
to be beautiful, to be Ryann,
to be great, to be excellent,

433
00:24:22,373 --> 00:24:24,071
but I did to win.

434
00:24:51,185 --> 00:24:53,709
Little white kids would
always comment on your hair.

435
00:24:53,796 --> 00:24:55,929
"Oh, it's so big.
You look like a lion."

436
00:24:56,059 --> 00:24:58,497
You know? Like,
"You look like an animal."

437
00:24:58,627 --> 00:24:59,715
You know? It'd just be, like--

438
00:24:59,846 --> 00:25:02,675
No one else says
that to anybody else.

439
00:25:02,805 --> 00:25:04,503
It took me a while to realize,
like, no.

440
00:25:04,633 --> 00:25:06,156
This is just how it is,
you know?

441
00:25:06,287 --> 00:25:08,332
It's going to be easier
for them. It just is.

442
00:25:08,463 --> 00:25:12,902
I was, like, bullied a lot
when I was younger.

443
00:25:13,033 --> 00:25:16,645
Like, the very, like,
overtly racist things

444
00:25:16,776 --> 00:25:19,605
from a very young age
that obviously skewed

445
00:25:19,735 --> 00:25:23,043
my perception of beauty
and, like, Blackness and myself.

446
00:25:23,173 --> 00:25:25,524
Most of was just kind of,
like, little stuff

447
00:25:25,654 --> 00:25:27,134
that I've internalized.

448
00:25:27,264 --> 00:25:29,397
The bigger stuff
is kind of, like,

449
00:25:29,528 --> 00:25:31,355
the unspoken things
that people say.

450
00:25:31,486 --> 00:25:33,183
'Cause they're going to be,
like, "You look like poo.

451
00:25:33,314 --> 00:25:34,663
You look like a monkey."

452
00:25:34,794 --> 00:25:36,839
Like, "Is your hair real?

453
00:25:36,970 --> 00:25:39,494
Can I touch it?
Can I play with it?"

454
00:25:39,625 --> 00:25:42,018
Like, my least favourite
thing is when, like,

455
00:25:42,149 --> 00:25:43,716
people play with my hair
and I tell them to stop,

456
00:25:43,803 --> 00:25:45,152
and they're like,
"I'm not going to stop."

457
00:25:45,239 --> 00:25:46,240
I'm, like, "What?"

458
00:25:46,370 --> 00:25:49,156
Like, "What are you doing?"

459
00:25:49,286 --> 00:25:50,766
As a consequence
of trivializing beauty,

460
00:25:50,897 --> 00:25:52,072
a number of things happen.

461
00:25:52,159 --> 00:25:55,466
The first is that
we don't take seriously

462
00:25:55,597 --> 00:25:57,773
beauty as a topic for research.

463
00:25:57,904 --> 00:26:00,689
So, we are not looking
at what it means

464
00:26:00,820 --> 00:26:02,822
for our young people
and, in fact,

465
00:26:02,952 --> 00:26:06,086
our older people, too,
when they value beauty most.

466
00:26:06,216 --> 00:26:08,349
The second thing that happens
is we largely treat it as

467
00:26:08,479 --> 00:26:10,438
a matter of individual choice.

468
00:26:10,525 --> 00:26:13,572
That means that we don't
take account of just how much

469
00:26:13,702 --> 00:26:15,051
the demands of
beauty are rising.

470
00:26:15,182 --> 00:26:18,315
We leave it up to
individuals to resist.

471
00:26:18,446 --> 00:26:20,230
So, one of the very
few things that we do

472
00:26:20,317 --> 00:26:21,754
when it comes to
the harms of body image

473
00:26:21,884 --> 00:26:23,538
is talk about resilience.

474
00:26:23,669 --> 00:26:25,714
And by "resilience,"
we mean that individual,

475
00:26:25,845 --> 00:26:27,455
they should be resilient.

476
00:26:27,586 --> 00:26:30,806
How is an individual
going to be resilient

477
00:26:30,937 --> 00:26:32,808
against the dominant
beauty ideal?

478
00:26:32,939 --> 00:26:34,941
Right? That's a ridiculous
thing to ask.

479
00:26:35,071 --> 00:26:38,814
We need to think much more
about how we change the culture.

480
00:26:40,642 --> 00:26:41,991
I think when

481
00:26:42,122 --> 00:26:45,125
I discuss my childhood,

482
00:26:45,255 --> 00:26:48,389
with growing up with white kids,

483
00:26:48,519 --> 00:26:51,610
I think that subconsciously,

484
00:26:51,740 --> 00:26:54,003
I try to water it down.

485
00:26:54,134 --> 00:26:56,789
There's a lot of trauma
that we all go through.

486
00:26:56,919 --> 00:26:58,660
We just don't
recognize it as trauma,

487
00:26:58,791 --> 00:27:00,619
and we don't get
the help for it.

488
00:27:00,706 --> 00:27:03,578
And I think that
with Black women,

489
00:27:03,709 --> 00:27:06,233
before we're even born

490
00:27:06,363 --> 00:27:09,018
people have an idea
of how we should act,

491
00:27:09,105 --> 00:27:10,803
when we should act
a certain way

492
00:27:10,933 --> 00:27:12,718
and how we go about things.

493
00:27:12,848 --> 00:27:15,068
So, if I already
am born into a box,

494
00:27:15,198 --> 00:27:18,419
you're not giving me any freedom
to self-identify who I am.

495
00:27:18,506 --> 00:27:20,856
You're not giving me
any freedom to evolve.

496
00:27:20,987 --> 00:27:23,032
You're just keeping me
in that box.

497
00:27:26,557 --> 00:27:29,735
Narrator:
Then, in 2013,

498
00:27:29,865 --> 00:27:34,000
a new movement emerged
that celebrated Black women

499
00:27:34,130 --> 00:27:37,003
for persevering
through adversity.

500
00:27:37,133 --> 00:27:40,049
Black Girl Magic became.

501
00:27:48,536 --> 00:27:51,321
Popularized by CaShawn Thompson

502
00:27:51,452 --> 00:27:52,932
and inspired by
Michelle Obama's speech

503
00:27:53,062 --> 00:27:54,847
at the Black Girls Rock Awards,

504
00:27:54,977 --> 00:27:57,327
Black Girl Magic ushered in

505
00:27:57,458 --> 00:28:00,330
an era of Black women
embracing themselves

506
00:28:00,461 --> 00:28:02,637
in all their glory.

507
00:28:05,727 --> 00:28:07,686
It's in the midst of this

508
00:28:07,816 --> 00:28:11,690
that a shocking revelation
unfolded in the media,

509
00:28:11,820 --> 00:28:14,736
one that no one anticipated.

510
00:28:14,867 --> 00:28:18,305
Rachel Dolezal:
So, my name is Rachel Dolezal,

511
00:28:18,435 --> 00:28:21,221
and I have, for my entire life,

512
00:28:21,351 --> 00:28:25,965
felt a connection to Africa

513
00:28:26,052 --> 00:28:30,534
and to, um, the original woman,

514
00:28:30,665 --> 00:28:32,058
which is a Black woman.

515
00:28:32,188 --> 00:28:35,148
But my very first memory is,

516
00:28:35,278 --> 00:28:37,672
at four, drawing a picture.

517
00:28:37,759 --> 00:28:39,282
You know, 'cause there was,
like, you know,

518
00:28:39,413 --> 00:28:40,719
"Draw a picture of yourself."

519
00:28:40,849 --> 00:28:44,331
And I drew a picture
of myself, smiling,

520
00:28:44,418 --> 00:28:47,551
and I had brown skin
and I had curly braids

521
00:28:47,682 --> 00:28:49,162
and lipstick.

522
00:28:50,816 --> 00:28:53,862
And I was smiling, and it was,
like, the happy picture.

523
00:28:53,993 --> 00:28:57,300
And I just remember
the reaction to that.

524
00:28:57,431 --> 00:28:59,302
They're, like,
"What is wrong with you?

525
00:28:59,389 --> 00:29:01,827
"That's not you.
You don't have brown skin.

526
00:29:01,914 --> 00:29:03,306
You don't have--
That's not--"

527
00:29:03,393 --> 00:29:06,875
And feeling like I was--

528
00:29:07,006 --> 00:29:09,225
Like there was
something wrong with me.

529
00:29:09,356 --> 00:29:11,401
We are her birth parents.

530
00:29:11,532 --> 00:29:13,621
And we do not understand

531
00:29:13,752 --> 00:29:16,189
why she feels it's necessary

532
00:29:16,319 --> 00:29:19,105
to misrepresent her ethnicity.

533
00:29:19,235 --> 00:29:20,584
Rachel:
In 2015,

534
00:29:20,715 --> 00:29:23,196
my biological parents
went on national television

535
00:29:23,326 --> 00:29:27,113
and told the world that
my life was a lie

536
00:29:27,243 --> 00:29:30,377
and that I am really white,

537
00:29:30,507 --> 00:29:33,989
and that I was conning
and defrauding people.

538
00:29:37,819 --> 00:29:41,083
I've gotten a lot of hatred from

539
00:29:41,214 --> 00:29:44,391
many different groups,
I would say, since then,

540
00:29:44,521 --> 00:29:47,742
and especially just
shaming and ridicule.

541
00:29:47,829 --> 00:29:50,484
I've been called
an insult to white women

542
00:29:50,614 --> 00:29:53,443
and an insult to Black women.

543
00:29:53,574 --> 00:29:56,882
White women are angry,
because I did what they

544
00:29:57,012 --> 00:30:00,494
never would do,
and went further.

545
00:30:00,624 --> 00:30:02,409
Like, I put 100 on 10.

546
00:30:02,539 --> 00:30:03,976
Like, I didn't just
be a white ally

547
00:30:04,063 --> 00:30:05,455
and do a little bit.

548
00:30:05,586 --> 00:30:10,286
I cancelled my white privilege,
I cancelled my hair.

549
00:30:10,417 --> 00:30:12,985
For Black women, I feel like
it's a reaction to pain.

550
00:30:13,115 --> 00:30:14,464
It's like a trigger.

551
00:30:14,595 --> 00:30:16,597
Like, I'm a trigger, um,

552
00:30:16,727 --> 00:30:20,253
to Post-Traumatic Stress.

553
00:30:20,383 --> 00:30:23,212
When it comes to white men,

554
00:30:23,343 --> 00:30:27,608
that's the group
that I am

555
00:30:27,738 --> 00:30:31,220
the most scared of on
a level of threat,

556
00:30:31,351 --> 00:30:34,789
because that's mostly
the white supremacy folks.

557
00:30:37,923 --> 00:30:47,933
♪

558
00:30:59,727 --> 00:31:09,693
♪

559
00:31:30,714 --> 00:31:33,761
This pageant is
a beautiful thing,

560
00:31:33,892 --> 00:31:36,982
because it's still needed
in the Black society.

561
00:31:38,809 --> 00:31:44,859
♪

562
00:31:44,946 --> 00:31:48,689
The reason why I feel that

563
00:31:48,819 --> 00:31:53,128
I still had that
insecurity growing up was

564
00:31:53,215 --> 00:31:57,176
because it really didn't
matter how much my parents

565
00:31:57,306 --> 00:31:58,786
influenced it,
at the end of the day,

566
00:31:58,917 --> 00:32:00,353
the media is still out there.

567
00:32:00,440 --> 00:32:01,789
- The media.
- The media.

568
00:32:01,920 --> 00:32:02,921
- The media.
- The media.

569
00:32:03,051 --> 00:32:06,315
In media,
when I saw Black women appear,

570
00:32:06,446 --> 00:32:08,274
how they
were represented, right?

571
00:32:08,404 --> 00:32:12,278
They were, um, somebody's
caretaker or maid, right?

572
00:32:12,408 --> 00:32:15,759
They were the help
or, uh, they were this

573
00:32:15,846 --> 00:32:19,415
over-sexualized, exoticized,

574
00:32:19,546 --> 00:32:20,764
frankly piece of meat.

575
00:32:20,895 --> 00:32:22,679
Somebody's video girl,

576
00:32:22,766 --> 00:32:24,768
or they're the angry
Black woman,

577
00:32:24,855 --> 00:32:27,162
and those were
the three options

578
00:32:27,293 --> 00:32:30,339
for the type of Black woman
I was going to see.

579
00:32:30,426 --> 00:32:33,516
The Mammy, Sapphire,
and Jezebel stereotypes,

580
00:32:33,603 --> 00:32:36,650
they're deeply
rooted in history.

581
00:32:36,737 --> 00:32:40,219
They haven't gone away,
they've just changed

582
00:32:40,349 --> 00:32:43,265
and morphed into different kinds

583
00:32:43,352 --> 00:32:46,225
of stereotypes and images,

584
00:32:46,312 --> 00:32:49,706
but the essence
remains the same.

585
00:32:49,837 --> 00:32:52,535
You were a deadbeat
the day my sister married you,

586
00:32:52,666 --> 00:32:55,451
and you still a deadbeat today.

587
00:32:55,582 --> 00:32:57,932
Don't get smart with me, girl,
my pressure's already up.

588
00:32:58,019 --> 00:33:01,022
Dr. West: Sapphire was
a character on the old

589
00:33:01,153 --> 00:33:04,112
Amos 'n' Andy radio shows.

590
00:33:04,243 --> 00:33:06,506
I think now we
know her more as this

591
00:33:06,636 --> 00:33:09,335
Angry Black Woman stereotype.

592
00:33:10,466 --> 00:33:12,251
Who drank my apple juice?

593
00:33:12,381 --> 00:33:14,731
Chris! Get in the bathroom

594
00:33:14,862 --> 00:33:16,472
and wipe the pee
off the toilet seat.

595
00:33:16,559 --> 00:33:18,692
If she looks at me
one more time cross-eyed,

596
00:33:18,822 --> 00:33:20,215
I'm going to
gut her like a fish.

597
00:33:20,346 --> 00:33:23,305
Dr. West: Sapphire was married
to another character,

598
00:33:23,436 --> 00:33:27,179
Kingfish, and she was always
berating him,

599
00:33:27,309 --> 00:33:30,269
very negative,
very critical of him.

600
00:33:30,399 --> 00:33:34,012
He was sort of
always looking

601
00:33:34,099 --> 00:33:36,057
for a way to make
a quick buck.

602
00:33:36,188 --> 00:33:38,364
She would always
berate him about

603
00:33:38,494 --> 00:33:40,670
just being lazy and shiftless.

604
00:33:40,801 --> 00:33:42,368
Now, wait a minute here.

605
00:33:42,455 --> 00:33:43,804
I think the delegation should
vote on

606
00:33:43,891 --> 00:33:46,154
who's going
to carry the money.

607
00:33:46,285 --> 00:33:49,418
Alright, vote!

608
00:33:49,549 --> 00:33:51,159
I vote for Sapphire.

609
00:33:52,465 --> 00:33:53,596
I vote for Sapphire.

610
00:33:54,815 --> 00:33:56,469
I vote for Sapphire.

611
00:33:56,556 --> 00:33:58,166
That settles that.

612
00:33:58,297 --> 00:34:00,821
Dr. West: That image
served several purposes.

613
00:34:00,951 --> 00:34:05,391
One, it made Black women's
anger seem not justifiable,

614
00:34:05,521 --> 00:34:08,785
um, but almost a comedy,

615
00:34:08,916 --> 00:34:11,962
and it made it easy to assume

616
00:34:12,050 --> 00:34:16,880
that this is why Black women
are sexually undesirable,

617
00:34:17,011 --> 00:34:19,231
because they are
so mean and nasty,

618
00:34:19,361 --> 00:34:21,363
and perpetually angry,

619
00:34:21,494 --> 00:34:24,105
and can fly off
the handle at any moment.

620
00:34:24,236 --> 00:34:28,588
You know, the reason why
it was created is to justify

621
00:34:28,718 --> 00:34:31,069
the lived reality of Black women
in the Black community,

622
00:34:31,199 --> 00:34:34,072
whether that be,
um, economic realities,

623
00:34:34,202 --> 00:34:36,552
employment realities,
the family structure,

624
00:34:36,683 --> 00:34:38,772
the reason why we're--
we can't get married.

625
00:34:38,902 --> 00:34:40,730
It's due to the Sapphires.

626
00:34:40,861 --> 00:34:44,386
We continue to see the Sapphire
moving into the 21st century.

627
00:34:44,517 --> 00:34:47,215
We can look at the way in which
Michelle Obama was characterized

628
00:34:47,302 --> 00:34:49,957
as this kind of
militant angry Black woman.

629
00:34:50,088 --> 00:34:52,829
Well, you know, I think one
way people are going to try

630
00:34:52,916 --> 00:34:55,484
to defeat Obama is to somehow
prove he's other,

631
00:34:55,615 --> 00:34:56,659
he's not one of us.

632
00:34:56,790 --> 00:34:57,878
If they can't
prove he's a Muslim,

633
00:34:58,008 --> 00:35:00,446
then let's prove his wife
is an angry Black woman.

634
00:35:00,576 --> 00:35:03,101
And who are the Black women you
see on the local news at night

635
00:35:03,231 --> 00:35:05,799
in cities all over the country?

636
00:35:05,886 --> 00:35:07,409
They're usually
angry about something.

637
00:35:07,540 --> 00:35:09,629
They've had a son who's been
shot in a drive-by shooting,

638
00:35:09,759 --> 00:35:12,371
they are-- they are angry
at Bush or something...

639
00:35:12,501 --> 00:35:14,895
So, you don't really
have a profile

640
00:35:15,025 --> 00:35:16,679
of non-angry Black women...

641
00:35:16,810 --> 00:35:20,988
You just sort of think,
"Dang, you don't even know me."

642
00:35:21,119 --> 00:35:23,817
But then you sort of think,
"Well, this isn't about me."

643
00:35:23,947 --> 00:35:27,212
This is about the person
or the people who write it.

644
00:35:27,342 --> 00:35:30,302
Like, how does this woman,
who we would think is, like,

645
00:35:30,432 --> 00:35:33,131
the quintessential
definition of respectability,

646
00:35:33,261 --> 00:35:37,700
having Ivy League degrees,
become the Sapphire?

647
00:35:37,831 --> 00:35:40,834
And more importantly, why aren't
we allowed to be angry?

648
00:35:40,964 --> 00:35:44,664
If something tragic happens
in my life, as Black people,

649
00:35:44,794 --> 00:35:47,710
we should be allowed
to cry, to scream, to yell,

650
00:35:47,841 --> 00:35:49,364
to have the same
exact responses,

651
00:35:49,495 --> 00:35:52,367
especially to the systematic
racism that we experience

652
00:35:52,498 --> 00:35:55,805
on a day-to-day basis.
That's okay. We're human.

653
00:35:55,936 --> 00:35:58,504
Are they going to see us?

654
00:35:58,634 --> 00:35:59,635
I've got the exposure down.

655
00:35:59,766 --> 00:36:00,810
- Okay.
- Hold on, hold on, hold on.

656
00:36:00,941 --> 00:36:02,812
Want you to get
my good side. Come on.

657
00:36:02,943 --> 00:36:05,032
Photographer:
I'm going to get you...

658
00:36:05,119 --> 00:36:06,729
- Turn around.
- I was going to say...

659
00:36:06,860 --> 00:36:08,166
Give me a couple pictures.

660
00:36:08,296 --> 00:36:10,951
I've worked with
colleagues whose exposure

661
00:36:11,081 --> 00:36:13,083
to women of colour has
been limited largely

662
00:36:13,171 --> 00:36:14,781
to what they've seen on TV.

663
00:36:16,957 --> 00:36:19,742
And if all they've ever ingested
are three stereotypes

664
00:36:19,873 --> 00:36:24,269
of what a Black woman is,
then to encounter something

665
00:36:24,399 --> 00:36:28,490
that is distinctly different
or doesn't fit one of those

666
00:36:28,621 --> 00:36:31,232
is... mind-blowing,
it's confusing, it's upsetting,

667
00:36:31,363 --> 00:36:32,886
it's discombobulating.

668
00:36:33,016 --> 00:36:36,498
They have to make sense
of what they're encountering,

669
00:36:36,585 --> 00:36:39,197
and there are only three models
for what a Black woman can be,

670
00:36:39,284 --> 00:36:42,896
and this, this sort of
competent, confident, outspoken

671
00:36:43,026 --> 00:36:47,161
Black woman just must
be the Angry Black Woman.

672
00:36:48,597 --> 00:36:50,251
Whoo.

673
00:36:50,382 --> 00:36:53,123
Well, I was cast to be

674
00:36:53,254 --> 00:36:55,865
one of five panellists on a...

675
00:36:55,952 --> 00:36:58,259
Kind of like
the Survivor of novels.

676
00:36:58,390 --> 00:37:00,043
It was a battle show.

677
00:37:00,174 --> 00:37:02,176
You read a book,
you defend your book,

678
00:37:02,307 --> 00:37:04,222
you make it to the end,
the winner,

679
00:37:04,352 --> 00:37:07,094
the author gets to be crowned,

680
00:37:07,181 --> 00:37:08,922
you know,
the book of the year.

681
00:37:09,052 --> 00:37:11,968
It's important for us to really
look at what book is going to

682
00:37:12,099 --> 00:37:16,146
have Canada open their eyes
to what is happening on today,

683
00:37:16,234 --> 00:37:18,714
and yes, we celebrate
and we heal and we Kumbaya

684
00:37:18,845 --> 00:37:20,325
and we light--

685
00:37:20,412 --> 00:37:22,936
But, Jully, what about what's
happening with ourselves?

686
00:37:23,066 --> 00:37:24,503
- I mean--
- That's good, that's amazing.

687
00:37:24,633 --> 00:37:26,331
We got to change the world,
but people are really,

688
00:37:26,461 --> 00:37:28,420
there are a lot of, like,
screwed up people in the world.

689
00:37:28,550 --> 00:37:31,249
There's a lot of colonial
privilege happening.

690
00:37:31,379 --> 00:37:35,644
Jeanne Beker, you know,
interjected as I was speaking,

691
00:37:35,775 --> 00:37:38,778
it had nothing to do with her,
like, zero, but she's going

692
00:37:38,908 --> 00:37:40,127
into the finals now.

693
00:37:40,258 --> 00:37:43,391
She totally spoke over me

694
00:37:43,522 --> 00:37:48,222
and, basically,
as I went to respond,

695
00:37:48,353 --> 00:37:51,356
not react, I was exactly
where my feet were.

696
00:37:51,443 --> 00:37:55,360
What are we doing to change
the current circumstances?

697
00:37:55,490 --> 00:37:57,536
We just had a Pope say
he's not saying "I'm sorry"

698
00:37:57,666 --> 00:38:01,627
to Indigenous Canadians
when he said that in 2015.

699
00:38:01,757 --> 00:38:04,847
It is happening right now.
It's got to change.

700
00:38:04,978 --> 00:38:06,240
Yes, we forgive,
I believe in Jesus.

701
00:38:06,371 --> 00:38:08,068
But why are you
attacking me, Jully?

702
00:38:08,198 --> 00:38:09,504
Why are you attacking me?

703
00:38:09,591 --> 00:38:12,638
"But Jully,
why are you attacking me?"

704
00:38:16,816 --> 00:38:18,470
I actually did that same thing.

705
00:38:18,600 --> 00:38:20,994
I was like,
"Did anybody, like..."

706
00:38:22,735 --> 00:38:26,826
And it's as if
my mom, grandmother,

707
00:38:26,956 --> 00:38:28,871
my nieces, my sisters,

708
00:38:28,958 --> 00:38:31,700
every Black woman, girl, child

709
00:38:31,831 --> 00:38:34,877
that I've ever known,
experienced,

710
00:38:35,008 --> 00:38:39,578
directly or indirectly,
it's like they were all sitting

711
00:38:39,708 --> 00:38:42,102
on my shoulders,
every last one of them,

712
00:38:42,232 --> 00:38:45,888
and I was able to respond.

713
00:38:46,019 --> 00:38:48,500
Oh, the truth hurts. I didn't
say anything to attack you,

714
00:38:48,630 --> 00:38:49,892
Jeanne Beker.

715
00:38:50,023 --> 00:38:51,024
I said nothing
about Jeanne Beker.

716
00:38:51,154 --> 00:38:52,286
No, no. I'm just saying--

717
00:38:52,417 --> 00:38:53,940
Did I say anything
about Jeanne Beker?

718
00:38:54,070 --> 00:38:57,422
I just feel that you're speaking
to me like I don't believe that.

719
00:38:57,552 --> 00:38:58,858
I totally get
what you're saying.

720
00:38:58,988 --> 00:39:00,120
So, let me tell you
what you just said.

721
00:39:00,250 --> 00:39:02,688
"I feel like."
So, whatever you're feeling,

722
00:39:02,775 --> 00:39:04,559
take it to the altar,
'cause I'm not the one that's

723
00:39:04,690 --> 00:39:06,344
responsible for your feelings.

724
00:39:06,474 --> 00:39:09,738
Everybody who had some
pigment on their skin

725
00:39:09,869 --> 00:39:12,828
came to me with a story saying,
"Wow, thank you for speaking up,

726
00:39:12,959 --> 00:39:16,441
because I have been
labelled aggressive and angry

727
00:39:16,571 --> 00:39:20,183
and attacking,
when really I'm educated

728
00:39:20,270 --> 00:39:24,536
and I have an opinion,
and it was my right

729
00:39:24,666 --> 00:39:26,451
to speak at that moment.

730
00:39:26,625 --> 00:39:36,199
♪

731
00:39:36,330 --> 00:39:38,724
I'm constantly thinking
about what it means to be

732
00:39:38,811 --> 00:39:40,247
the Sapphire,
and the angry stereotype.

733
00:39:40,378 --> 00:39:43,903
So, instead of being able to
react the way that I want to

734
00:39:44,033 --> 00:39:46,645
in any capacity, in any space
where it's not all Black,

735
00:39:46,775 --> 00:39:51,693
I need to readjust, rethink,
and then act accordingly,

736
00:39:51,780 --> 00:39:53,129
because I don't
want to be labelled

737
00:39:53,260 --> 00:39:55,175
as the Angry Black Woman,
because if I am,

738
00:39:55,305 --> 00:39:58,613
you know, I could be
considered unemployable.

739
00:39:58,700 --> 00:40:00,920
"She can't work here,
she's too rash,

740
00:40:01,050 --> 00:40:03,836
she doesn't know how to
talk to people, she's too loud,"

741
00:40:03,966 --> 00:40:06,404
and that has very
material consequences.

742
00:40:08,318 --> 00:40:10,277
Dr. Thompson: Black women have
always had to make claims

743
00:40:10,408 --> 00:40:13,933
of we're women, too,
and so, what is that claim?

744
00:40:14,063 --> 00:40:15,630
What does that really mean?

745
00:40:15,717 --> 00:40:17,980
It means that
we are vulnerable,

746
00:40:18,111 --> 00:40:21,027
it means that
we have feelings.

747
00:40:21,157 --> 00:40:23,986
The public image of
Black womanhood is that,

748
00:40:24,073 --> 00:40:25,945
man, we've got it together,
we're strong,

749
00:40:26,075 --> 00:40:28,643
or strong and we're angry,

750
00:40:28,774 --> 00:40:31,429
we're always aggressive.

751
00:40:31,559 --> 00:40:33,300
You know, I think about it.
Like, a couple years ago

752
00:40:33,431 --> 00:40:37,391
I gave a TED Talk, and they
took a series of pictures

753
00:40:37,522 --> 00:40:41,090
in promotion of the TED Talk,
many pictures.

754
00:40:41,221 --> 00:40:45,225
Me smiling, me, like, animated,
and then they asked for one

755
00:40:45,355 --> 00:40:48,707
shot with my arms crossed,
looking, like, mean-grill,

756
00:40:48,837 --> 00:40:51,797
and what picture did
they use in promotion?

757
00:40:51,927 --> 00:40:55,496
I was the only person.
Arms crossed, mean grill.

758
00:40:55,583 --> 00:40:59,152
Every other speaker was smiling,
and I thought to myself,

759
00:40:59,282 --> 00:41:03,461
"Whoever chose this doesn't
even realize that in their head,

760
00:41:03,548 --> 00:41:05,288
that's what
Black women look like."

761
00:41:05,375 --> 00:41:09,031
So many times I have
been kind of cut down

762
00:41:09,162 --> 00:41:10,250
to the Angry Black Woman.

763
00:41:10,380 --> 00:41:12,470
I take up space,
my hair takes up space,

764
00:41:12,600 --> 00:41:17,387
my whole self takes up space,
and there are lots of...

765
00:41:17,518 --> 00:41:21,696
There are many times that people
have been threatened by that.

766
00:41:21,827 --> 00:41:24,569
And, so, yeah, that title
of the Angry Black Woman,

767
00:41:24,699 --> 00:41:27,746
has definitely been put
on me to delegitimize things

768
00:41:27,833 --> 00:41:31,837
that I'm saying, to, um...

769
00:41:31,967 --> 00:41:33,752
to silence me. To silence me.

770
00:41:33,926 --> 00:41:43,892
♪

771
00:41:54,120 --> 00:42:04,043
♪

772
00:42:21,147 --> 00:42:31,157
♪

773
00:42:43,517 --> 00:42:48,609
♪

774
00:43:00,621 --> 00:43:02,797
And what Mr. Johnny
going to do when he come home

775
00:43:02,928 --> 00:43:05,452
and find a coloured
woman in his house?

776
00:43:05,583 --> 00:43:08,498
It's not like I'd be fibbing.

777
00:43:08,629 --> 00:43:12,938
Dr. West: The Mammy is
a really interesting image.

778
00:43:13,068 --> 00:43:16,028
I really need a maid.

779
00:43:16,158 --> 00:43:19,858
It wasn't really
common or popular

780
00:43:19,988 --> 00:43:21,816
during the enslavement period.

781
00:43:21,947 --> 00:43:25,211
It came about
after the Civil War,

782
00:43:25,298 --> 00:43:28,170
when the South had lost,

783
00:43:28,301 --> 00:43:32,435
and it was this notion
of a benevolent South,

784
00:43:32,566 --> 00:43:34,786
where everybody was happy,

785
00:43:34,916 --> 00:43:37,571
where she was plump and well-fed

786
00:43:37,702 --> 00:43:40,792
and Mammy sat on the porch
and she rocked the children.

787
00:43:40,922 --> 00:43:43,882
Come here and sit on
Mammy's lap like you used to.

788
00:43:48,713 --> 00:43:50,236
Oh, my baby.

789
00:43:54,022 --> 00:43:56,634
From slavery through
to the reconstruction era

790
00:43:56,764 --> 00:44:00,202
until today, the Mammy image
has served the interests

791
00:44:00,333 --> 00:44:02,291
of mainstream white America.

792
00:44:02,422 --> 00:44:05,294
During that time, the image
of the Mammy spread

793
00:44:05,381 --> 00:44:07,906
through minstrel shows,
in literature,

794
00:44:08,036 --> 00:44:10,212
in popular songs, radio shows,

795
00:44:10,343 --> 00:44:12,432
as dolls, as household items,

796
00:44:12,562 --> 00:44:15,304
and in numerous
marketing campaigns.

797
00:44:15,435 --> 00:44:18,438
It also gave birth to one
of the most recognizable

798
00:44:18,525 --> 00:44:21,310
trade names
in North America.

799
00:44:26,272 --> 00:44:30,015
The pancake mix of Aunt Jemima,
a slave in a box,

800
00:44:30,145 --> 00:44:33,975
as one historian put it,
was a national sensation,

801
00:44:34,106 --> 00:44:37,979
and by 1910,
more than 120 million

802
00:44:38,066 --> 00:44:41,940
Aunt Jemima breakfasts
were being served annually,

803
00:44:42,027 --> 00:44:44,029
but the company understood that

804
00:44:44,159 --> 00:44:46,292
they weren't
just selling pancakes,

805
00:44:46,422 --> 00:44:48,860
they were selling
the Mammy fantasy.

806
00:44:50,035 --> 00:44:51,471
I was called
Aunt Jemima while I was

807
00:44:51,601 --> 00:44:53,778
in Miss America by
one of the volunteers.

808
00:44:53,908 --> 00:44:55,301
She was, like,
an older white woman

809
00:44:55,431 --> 00:44:57,129
and she'd been volunteering
for Miss America for years.

810
00:44:57,259 --> 00:44:58,696
'Cause I had curlers in my hair,
and, mind you,

811
00:44:58,826 --> 00:45:00,523
my other white roommates
and Miss America contestants

812
00:45:00,654 --> 00:45:02,743
had curlers in their hair, too,
but because I had a scarf

813
00:45:02,874 --> 00:45:04,484
around it, because I wanted
to keep it tight,

814
00:45:04,614 --> 00:45:06,791
she said, "Well, don't you
just look like Aunt Jemima."

815
00:45:06,878 --> 00:45:08,183
I wasn't going to
complain about it,

816
00:45:08,314 --> 00:45:09,707
because I didn't want
to ruffle any feathers,

817
00:45:09,837 --> 00:45:11,317
and I just told
the Black security.

818
00:45:11,447 --> 00:45:15,190
He's like, "We don't tolerate
things like that in this system.

819
00:45:15,321 --> 00:45:17,845
That's not okay." So, he ended
up telling the higher ups

820
00:45:17,932 --> 00:45:20,369
for the Miss America board,
and when she found out that,

821
00:45:20,500 --> 00:45:21,980
I guess, something was said
or got to the board

822
00:45:22,110 --> 00:45:24,983
and potentially her volunteer
position was going to be revoked

823
00:45:25,113 --> 00:45:27,376
she came to me
and instead of apologizing said,

824
00:45:27,507 --> 00:45:30,075
"Well, I'm sorry.
It wasn't personal.

825
00:45:30,162 --> 00:45:31,511
I'm from a different era.

826
00:45:33,208 --> 00:45:35,907
Can you tell them
I didn't mean it?"

827
00:45:36,037 --> 00:45:38,561
I mean, this is the reality,

828
00:45:38,692 --> 00:45:41,086
and that was in, what, 2015?

829
00:45:41,216 --> 00:45:43,131
And of course, you know,
the Miss America organization

830
00:45:43,262 --> 00:45:44,437
took a stance on it and said,

831
00:45:44,567 --> 00:45:45,917
"We don't tolerate
those things."

832
00:45:46,047 --> 00:45:47,701
I do think she was released,
but I saw photos

833
00:45:47,832 --> 00:45:49,398
where she was back just
two years later.

834
00:45:49,572 --> 00:45:59,495
♪

835
00:46:15,381 --> 00:46:17,818
So entrenched
and beloved was Mammy

836
00:46:17,949 --> 00:46:20,690
that the first Black woman
to win an Academy Award

837
00:46:20,821 --> 00:46:25,565
for Best Supporting Actress
was Hattie McDaniel in 1939.

838
00:46:25,695 --> 00:46:28,263
This is one of
the happiest moments of my life,

839
00:46:28,394 --> 00:46:30,962
and I want to thank each
one of you who had a part

840
00:46:31,092 --> 00:46:33,138
in selecting me
for one of the awards.

841
00:46:33,268 --> 00:46:35,357
McDaniel played
Scarlet O'Hara's sassy

842
00:46:35,488 --> 00:46:37,011
but loyal servant.

843
00:46:37,142 --> 00:46:39,013
This was such an achievement,

844
00:46:39,100 --> 00:46:42,451
it took 51 years before
a second Black actress,

845
00:46:42,582 --> 00:46:45,019
Whoopi Goldberg,
would win an Oscar.

846
00:46:45,150 --> 00:46:48,240
McDaniel's fame was so great,

847
00:46:48,370 --> 00:46:50,938
that when she died
she received not one,

848
00:46:51,069 --> 00:46:54,507
but two stars on
Hollywood's Walk of Fame,

849
00:46:54,637 --> 00:46:58,554
and she was honoured
with a US postage stamp.

850
00:46:58,641 --> 00:47:01,035
Why was McDaniel's so popular?

851
00:47:01,166 --> 00:47:05,083
Few people realize that
she appeared in over 300 films,

852
00:47:05,213 --> 00:47:08,260
but it was almost exclusively
playing sassy,

853
00:47:08,390 --> 00:47:12,003
opinionated Mammies and maids
and house servants.

854
00:47:12,177 --> 00:47:22,056
♪

855
00:47:37,767 --> 00:47:41,728
Dr. West: The internalization
of those images tell you,

856
00:47:41,859 --> 00:47:43,904
"I don't need to
take care of myself,

857
00:47:44,035 --> 00:47:46,689
I just need to take
care of other people

858
00:47:46,820 --> 00:47:49,910
at the expense of taking
care of my own health."

859
00:47:50,041 --> 00:47:54,523
So, I think that is something
I worry for Black women with.

860
00:47:54,654 --> 00:47:56,569
Dr. Thompson: I actually
wrote an article about it.

861
00:47:56,699 --> 00:47:59,354
"I'm Not Your Nice Mammy"
or something like that.

862
00:47:59,485 --> 00:48:02,401
They called it that,
because I was sick and tired

863
00:48:02,531 --> 00:48:05,230
of white women that I knew
in my life acting as if

864
00:48:05,317 --> 00:48:07,580
I needed to nurture them.

865
00:48:07,710 --> 00:48:09,669
I'm not here to nurture you,

866
00:48:09,756 --> 00:48:12,237
make you feel good,
feel good on your own.

867
00:48:12,367 --> 00:48:14,848
I got my own problems.
Who's going to help me out?

868
00:48:14,979 --> 00:48:18,025
So, emotional labour
is a real thing,

869
00:48:18,112 --> 00:48:20,462
and a lot of white women
don't realize it,

870
00:48:20,593 --> 00:48:22,856
but they, too,
have drank the juice

871
00:48:22,987 --> 00:48:24,423
of their own victimhood.

872
00:48:24,553 --> 00:48:25,903
Something happens at work,
they're like,

873
00:48:26,033 --> 00:48:27,556
"You see how they treat women?"

874
00:48:27,687 --> 00:48:30,342
It's like,
"Honey, aren't you CEO?"

875
00:48:31,821 --> 00:48:33,214
You know? Like, what are
you complaining about?

876
00:48:33,345 --> 00:48:36,261
I'm in the mailroom.
Like, perspective.

877
00:48:36,391 --> 00:48:38,741
So, their perspective is off,
and why is it off?

878
00:48:38,872 --> 00:48:43,311
Because it's been a century
of film and television

879
00:48:43,442 --> 00:48:45,183
sending that same message.

880
00:48:45,313 --> 00:48:48,316
You are victims,
you need to be saved.

881
00:48:48,447 --> 00:48:51,145
No image of a Black
woman has been more adored

882
00:48:51,276 --> 00:48:54,279
than the Mammy for over
a century.

883
00:48:54,366 --> 00:48:58,109
Historian Catherine Clinton
outlines that Mammy was created

884
00:48:58,239 --> 00:49:01,199
as unattractive to sell the idea

885
00:49:01,286 --> 00:49:04,115
that no reasonable white man
would choose a fat,

886
00:49:04,245 --> 00:49:07,379
elderly Black woman
over his wife,

887
00:49:07,509 --> 00:49:10,860
the idealized white woman.

888
00:49:10,991 --> 00:49:14,255
So, the de-eroticization of
Mammy meant that the white wife

889
00:49:14,386 --> 00:49:17,955
and by extension,
the white family was safe.

890
00:49:18,085 --> 00:49:21,784
But in truth, the Mammy
was re-imagined to hide

891
00:49:21,915 --> 00:49:25,136
an extensive history of
sexual violence and rape

892
00:49:25,266 --> 00:49:27,442
against Black women.

893
00:49:27,573 --> 00:49:31,272
You see Mammies were
often young and very slim,

894
00:49:31,403 --> 00:49:33,622
or even children,
like Harriet Tubman

895
00:49:33,753 --> 00:49:37,757
who was seven when she
had to care for a baby.

896
00:49:38,801 --> 00:49:41,717
But to make a history
of rape palatable,

897
00:49:41,848 --> 00:49:45,895
another stereotype was created,
that of the Jezebel.

898
00:49:51,379 --> 00:49:52,990
Are you gonna hurt me?

899
00:49:53,120 --> 00:49:56,384
The Jezebel stereotype is
a stereotype that came out

900
00:49:56,515 --> 00:49:59,953
of slavery that said that Black
women who were enslaved

901
00:50:00,084 --> 00:50:01,346
were hyper-sexual.

902
00:50:01,476 --> 00:50:03,522
So, it's the complete
opposite of the Mammy.

903
00:50:03,652 --> 00:50:04,697
I'm so afraid right now.

904
00:50:06,046 --> 00:50:07,439
They have no control
over their urges,

905
00:50:07,569 --> 00:50:09,136
they want sex all the time.

906
00:50:09,223 --> 00:50:13,097
And so, rape could not be
considered a criminal act,

907
00:50:13,184 --> 00:50:14,576
if you are doing it

908
00:50:14,663 --> 00:50:16,709
to someone who is
constantly hungering for sex.

909
00:50:16,839 --> 00:50:20,321
It's almost like you
can't rape the un-rapeable.

910
00:50:20,452 --> 00:50:23,542
So, it made it easier
certainly to believe

911
00:50:23,629 --> 00:50:27,633
that rape couldn't exist
against African American

912
00:50:27,763 --> 00:50:29,026
or Black women.

913
00:50:29,156 --> 00:50:33,291
So, it made it seem that
rape wasn't an issue.

914
00:50:45,520 --> 00:50:47,740
But the awful truth
was that the image

915
00:50:47,827 --> 00:50:50,873
of the seductive,
alluring, lude Black woman

916
00:50:50,960 --> 00:50:53,702
was created to
negate the systemic

917
00:50:53,833 --> 00:50:57,315
and violent sexual
exploitation of Black women.

918
00:50:57,445 --> 00:51:01,884
Patsey's experience in 12 Years
A Slave exemplifies this,

919
00:51:02,015 --> 00:51:05,018
whereby Epps, freely and legally

920
00:51:05,105 --> 00:51:07,934
rapes her with no consequences.

921
00:51:08,065 --> 00:51:12,721
Some sources estimate that 58
percent of all enslaved women

922
00:51:12,852 --> 00:51:16,943
aged 15 to 30 were sexually
assaulted by slave owners

923
00:51:17,074 --> 00:51:18,858
and other white men,

924
00:51:18,988 --> 00:51:21,948
and the legal system
allowed for this.

925
00:51:22,079 --> 00:51:23,950
Black women have
never been protected

926
00:51:24,081 --> 00:51:25,865
when it comes to their bodies,
but I think,

927
00:51:25,995 --> 00:51:28,955
even after slavery
had officially ended,

928
00:51:29,086 --> 00:51:32,611
the reality is Black women
were still being raped

929
00:51:32,741 --> 00:51:34,091
on a massive scale.

930
00:51:34,221 --> 00:51:37,181
And it couldn't be prosecuted
in the correct way.

931
00:51:37,268 --> 00:51:40,706
We see our activists such as
Ida B. Wells, Rosa Parks,

932
00:51:40,793 --> 00:51:43,056
who were working
on behalf of Black women

933
00:51:43,187 --> 00:51:44,318
that were being raped.

934
00:51:44,449 --> 00:51:46,755
Rape was used as
a form of control.

935
00:51:46,842 --> 00:51:48,844
It was a way to say,
"Hey, you know,

936
00:51:48,975 --> 00:51:50,324
this is what I'm going
to do to your family,

937
00:51:50,455 --> 00:51:52,631
"this is what I'm going to do to
the women in your community.

938
00:51:52,761 --> 00:51:54,198
"You need to get
out of my community.

939
00:51:54,328 --> 00:51:55,895
"You need to behave in
the way that I'm telling you

940
00:51:56,025 --> 00:51:57,157
that you need to behave,
and if not,

941
00:51:57,288 --> 00:51:58,680
these are going to be
the consequences."

942
00:52:02,031 --> 00:52:06,775
Narrator: 1959, the year a white
man was first convicted

943
00:52:06,862 --> 00:52:09,691
of raping a Black woman
in America.

944
00:52:09,822 --> 00:52:12,651
It was the case of
Betty Jean Owens

945
00:52:12,781 --> 00:52:16,394
who was discovered by
the police bound, gagged,

946
00:52:16,481 --> 00:52:19,310
and lying on the backseat
floorboards of a car

947
00:52:19,440 --> 00:52:21,355
where her four white assailants

948
00:52:21,442 --> 00:52:25,142
had just raped her seven times.

949
00:52:25,272 --> 00:52:26,795
They confessed to the rape,

950
00:52:26,926 --> 00:52:29,015
there were
eye-witness testimonies,

951
00:52:29,146 --> 00:52:31,365
and significant
physical evidence,

952
00:52:31,496 --> 00:52:35,500
but the prosecutor's tactic to
characterize Owens as a Jezebel

953
00:52:35,630 --> 00:52:39,156
who therefore could
not have been raped.

954
00:52:39,286 --> 00:52:42,550
The judge sentenced
the men to life imprisonment.

955
00:52:42,681 --> 00:52:46,250
Six years later, however,
David Beagles was paroled.

956
00:52:46,380 --> 00:52:50,297
He then tracked down a woman
he believed was Betty Jean Owens

957
00:52:50,428 --> 00:52:52,169
and murdered her.

958
00:52:54,301 --> 00:52:58,784
With an estimated 1 to
1.5 million Black women

959
00:52:58,914 --> 00:53:00,960
being raped during slavery,

960
00:53:01,090 --> 00:53:04,311
followed by a reign of
sexual violence terror

961
00:53:04,442 --> 00:53:06,966
during the Jim Crow era,

962
00:53:07,096 --> 00:53:11,144
even today,
Black women remain unprotected.

963
00:53:15,496 --> 00:53:17,455
Malcolm X:
The most disrespected person

964
00:53:17,542 --> 00:53:20,675
in America is the Black woman.

965
00:53:20,762 --> 00:53:24,157
The most unprotected person
in America is the Black woman.

966
00:53:24,244 --> 00:53:27,769
The most neglected person in
America is the Black woman...

967
00:53:27,943 --> 00:53:37,866
♪

968
00:53:55,232 --> 00:53:58,496
There is a legacy of Black women
experiencing some type

969
00:53:58,626 --> 00:54:00,411
of sexual violence
or sexual harassment

970
00:54:00,541 --> 00:54:02,239
and it being thrown
under the rug

971
00:54:02,369 --> 00:54:03,805
and not fully
and adequately addressed.

972
00:54:15,948 --> 00:54:23,912
♪

973
00:54:26,872 --> 00:54:28,743
I am the girl
who survives depression

974
00:54:28,874 --> 00:54:30,484
on the daily,

975
00:54:30,571 --> 00:54:32,747
but as I grew older,
things got intense.

976
00:54:32,878 --> 00:54:34,488
My innocence was
lost in this city.

977
00:54:34,619 --> 00:54:37,056
I was raped and molested,
the men weren't tested.

978
00:54:37,186 --> 00:54:39,754
The days went by but
the stain multiplied.

979
00:54:39,885 --> 00:54:42,061
I stopped speaking out,
'cause no one believed me,

980
00:54:42,191 --> 00:54:44,629
living as a Black woman
sure ain't easy.

981
00:54:46,761 --> 00:54:49,851
I was 14, so...

982
00:54:49,938 --> 00:54:52,767
And it happened a couple times.

983
00:54:52,854 --> 00:54:56,554
When that happened,
instead of it making me become

984
00:54:56,684 --> 00:54:58,904
a stronger person...
I mean, I was stronger,

985
00:54:58,991 --> 00:55:02,255
but my high school experience,
like, I didn't feel strong.

986
00:55:02,386 --> 00:55:05,171
I didn't feel like
I could even speak out.

987
00:55:05,302 --> 00:55:06,781
Ain't nobody going
to believe me anyway,

988
00:55:06,912 --> 00:55:08,870
'cause when I did,
people wasn't even believing me.

989
00:55:09,001 --> 00:55:11,743
I was... They're like,
"Oh, you're just being a child."

990
00:55:11,873 --> 00:55:15,137
"No, I'm being a teenager,
letting you all know, like,

991
00:55:15,224 --> 00:55:18,880
this happened to me
by my own people."

992
00:55:19,011 --> 00:55:21,492
It's just so much that
goes in with it and I feel like

993
00:55:21,622 --> 00:55:25,496
Black women are raped a lot,
or molested a lot,

994
00:55:25,626 --> 00:55:29,238
and it's like,
there's so many untold stories,

995
00:55:29,369 --> 00:55:31,545
and we just
keep it to ourselves.

996
00:55:31,632 --> 00:55:33,330
It's like, even if we tell them,

997
00:55:33,460 --> 00:55:35,375
it's like,
"Well, will you receive it?"

998
00:55:35,506 --> 00:55:36,942
"Are you really
gonna hear us out?

999
00:55:37,072 --> 00:55:39,597
You know,
are you gonna do anything?"

1000
00:55:39,727 --> 00:55:41,512
You know,
so it's just really hard,

1001
00:55:41,642 --> 00:55:43,644
and when you don't get that,
it's like,

1002
00:55:43,775 --> 00:55:46,473
"Well, then there's no point,"
you know?

1003
00:55:46,604 --> 00:55:48,693
Sometimes you don't even
feel like speaking out.

1004
00:55:51,913 --> 00:55:54,960
At parties, people will be like,
"Can you twerk?

1005
00:55:55,090 --> 00:55:57,615
"Like, can you twerk for us?
Like, teach us how to twerk."

1006
00:55:57,745 --> 00:55:59,704
And I'll be like,
I don't know how to do that.

1007
00:55:59,834 --> 00:56:02,620
Like, and I'm just not
going to do that for you,

1008
00:56:02,750 --> 00:56:04,404
just because you think
I have the butt for it,

1009
00:56:04,535 --> 00:56:06,145
or you think that
because I'm Black

1010
00:56:06,275 --> 00:56:08,190
I should be able to do that.

1011
00:56:08,321 --> 00:56:13,021
People also assume that
I'm like, a lot more,

1012
00:56:13,152 --> 00:56:15,284
like, promiscuous.

1013
00:56:15,415 --> 00:56:17,374
Like, I don't really
know how to say this,

1014
00:56:17,461 --> 00:56:19,332
but I'm just not.

1015
00:56:21,116 --> 00:56:23,684
Like, I don't have-- I think
like, being very comfortable

1016
00:56:23,815 --> 00:56:25,469
in your sexuality is
very, very important,

1017
00:56:25,599 --> 00:56:28,820
but I just am not at
this stage in my life,

1018
00:56:28,950 --> 00:56:30,865
where, like,

1019
00:56:30,996 --> 00:56:34,521
I am enjoying that
as much as people think I am.

1020
00:56:34,608 --> 00:56:35,870
Brittany:
We live in a society

1021
00:56:36,001 --> 00:56:38,830
where sexuality has been
absolutely commodified.

1022
00:56:38,960 --> 00:56:40,658
But I think in regards to
the Black community,

1023
00:56:40,788 --> 00:56:42,877
and whether or not
we have bought into that,

1024
00:56:43,008 --> 00:56:46,011
again,
it comes down to the money.

1025
00:56:46,141 --> 00:56:49,971
And I think we certainly see
that in the Hip Hop culture.

1026
00:56:50,058 --> 00:56:53,932
Don't get me wrong, I absolutely
want to give our rappers,

1027
00:56:54,019 --> 00:56:55,847
our video vixens agency.

1028
00:56:55,977 --> 00:56:57,501
I certainly want to be
able to say that they can

1029
00:56:57,631 --> 00:56:59,981
own their sexuality and they can
do it in front of camera,

1030
00:57:00,068 --> 00:57:01,635
and they can do it for money.

1031
00:57:01,766 --> 00:57:03,332
And that's their agency,
and that's their choice,

1032
00:57:03,463 --> 00:57:04,856
and they may feel
empowered by that.

1033
00:57:04,986 --> 00:57:06,814
But I also think we
need to look at it again

1034
00:57:06,945 --> 00:57:09,774
under this umbrella of
oppression and commodity

1035
00:57:09,861 --> 00:57:12,559
and the fact that
our bodies are sellable.

1036
00:57:12,690 --> 00:57:15,040
So, I think, yes,
there are elements of,

1037
00:57:15,170 --> 00:57:16,650
not only
the mainstream community,

1038
00:57:16,781 --> 00:57:18,957
but our own personal community
buying into this capitalist

1039
00:57:19,087 --> 00:57:22,221
notion that sex sells
and Black women's bodies sell.

1040
00:57:22,351 --> 00:57:23,875
That's my theory,
that they feel as though,

1041
00:57:24,005 --> 00:57:28,793
in order to be
attractive to all masses,

1042
00:57:28,880 --> 00:57:31,230
I have to show
less and less and less.

1043
00:57:31,360 --> 00:57:35,234
I also have to be
kinkier about my sexuality.

1044
00:57:35,321 --> 00:57:37,149
Sex sells,
but sex sells differently

1045
00:57:37,279 --> 00:57:38,759
when it comes to Black women.

1046
00:57:38,846 --> 00:57:40,369
And we are in a time to be like,

1047
00:57:40,457 --> 00:57:43,503
"Yeah, this is my sex life
and you can't shame me for it.

1048
00:57:43,634 --> 00:57:46,898
But I feel like,
we've now crossed the line,

1049
00:57:46,985 --> 00:57:49,117
and that's the only
way to be successful.

1050
00:57:49,248 --> 00:57:53,121
I think this image gives--
It's a false illusion

1051
00:57:53,252 --> 00:57:55,341
that they're really
controlling their sexuality.

1052
00:57:55,472 --> 00:57:59,345
But are they really controlling
it by creating these images,

1053
00:57:59,476 --> 00:58:03,828
or are they just mimicking
who and what they're told

1054
00:58:03,958 --> 00:58:06,700
they should be,
because that's who Black women

1055
00:58:06,831 --> 00:58:09,573
have depicted as for centuries?

1056
00:58:20,105 --> 00:58:22,107
♪

1057
00:58:22,237 --> 00:58:24,457
India Arie:
In the music industry,

1058
00:58:24,544 --> 00:58:27,068
99.9 percent of
female artists of any race

1059
00:58:27,199 --> 00:58:30,071
are having to play
the Jezebel role.

1060
00:58:31,943 --> 00:58:33,727
Matter of fact,
let me rephrase that.

1061
00:58:36,338 --> 00:58:40,734
99.9 of Black female artists
have to play the Jezebel role.

1062
00:58:40,865 --> 00:58:44,695
In my mind,
85 percent of other races

1063
00:58:44,782 --> 00:58:46,914
of female artists
have to play the role.

1064
00:58:47,045 --> 00:58:50,178
You know, like, diversity in
the Black community,

1065
00:58:50,309 --> 00:58:53,530
the biggest artists, you can
look at the Billboard right now

1066
00:58:53,660 --> 00:58:58,404
and they all fit into
the Jezebel stereotype,

1067
00:58:58,535 --> 00:59:03,191
because that's what they need
you to be to make them money.

1068
00:59:03,278 --> 00:59:05,019
When I think about myself,

1069
00:59:05,150 --> 00:59:07,369
you know, of course I've
questioned it like, before,

1070
00:59:07,500 --> 00:59:10,590
and I was like, "Do I really
like, have to do that?

1071
00:59:10,721 --> 00:59:14,072
Like, do I really have to...
you know, be sexy?"

1072
00:59:14,159 --> 00:59:16,291
Sex is always gonna sell,
I believe.

1073
00:59:18,424 --> 00:59:21,383
But can we get some diversity?

1074
00:59:21,514 --> 00:59:24,125
Like, and when can we
get it again?

1075
00:59:24,256 --> 00:59:26,737
And can it be diversity
where you don't have to be

1076
00:59:26,867 --> 00:59:29,043
a once in a lifetime great,
like Aretha Franklin

1077
00:59:29,174 --> 00:59:32,133
for people to allow
you to be heavier,

1078
00:59:32,264 --> 00:59:35,223
or darker, or different?

1079
00:59:35,354 --> 00:59:37,748
Like, can't you just be
a nice artist who is good?

1080
00:59:37,922 --> 00:59:41,012
♪

1081
00:59:41,142 --> 00:59:43,101
Dr. West:
I think you have to understand

1082
00:59:43,231 --> 00:59:44,755
with all of these images,

1083
00:59:44,885 --> 00:59:48,541
it's much like going
through life,

1084
00:59:48,672 --> 00:59:52,023
looking at yourself
in a cracked mirror.

1085
00:59:52,153 --> 00:59:55,069
The mirror is cracked
and it's warped,

1086
00:59:55,200 --> 00:59:56,680
and it's distorted

1087
00:59:56,810 --> 00:59:59,465
like when you go
to a fun house.

1088
00:59:59,596 --> 01:00:01,859
And you're saying,
"That's not who I am.

1089
01:00:01,989 --> 01:00:04,818
That's not who
I know myself to be."

1090
01:00:04,949 --> 01:00:07,691
But every media
image you see,

1091
01:00:07,821 --> 01:00:12,086
that's what's getting
reflected back to you.

1092
01:00:12,217 --> 01:00:14,828
You're saying no,
that's not how I am.

1093
01:00:14,959 --> 01:00:17,091
And then,
when you get angry about it

1094
01:00:17,222 --> 01:00:20,355
and you try to assert
your own individuality,

1095
01:00:20,442 --> 01:00:23,663
people say, "Well, see?

1096
01:00:23,794 --> 01:00:25,622
That's actually who you are."

1097
01:00:44,815 --> 01:00:46,120
Please, listen to the words,

1098
01:00:46,251 --> 01:00:48,122
and I hope that it
resonates with you.

1099
01:00:48,209 --> 01:00:49,341
This song is titled "Melanin".

1100
01:00:49,428 --> 01:00:51,648
♪

1101
01:01:27,858 --> 01:01:32,514
I was always compared to my
sister growing up.

1102
01:01:32,601 --> 01:01:34,038
My sister's lighter than me,

1103
01:01:34,168 --> 01:01:36,388
so it was a compliment at first,
but then I'm like,

1104
01:01:36,518 --> 01:01:40,261
"Mm. Well I want to be
beautiful in my own way too."

1105
01:01:44,178 --> 01:01:45,832
I came from
a family, from a culture,

1106
01:01:45,963 --> 01:01:48,530
from a social circle
that loved being Black.

1107
01:01:48,661 --> 01:01:51,229
I was taught being Black was
a wonderful thing.

1108
01:01:51,359 --> 01:01:53,187
Nobody ever said anything about
having to change my hair,

1109
01:01:53,274 --> 01:01:55,668
or anything about being what
shade of brown I was.

1110
01:01:55,799 --> 01:01:59,977
I didn't know anything about
that really.

1111
01:02:00,107 --> 01:02:04,590
So in 2013, I released an album
called "Songversation".

1112
01:02:04,721 --> 01:02:06,766
The first single from
"Songversation" was a song

1113
01:02:06,897 --> 01:02:08,159
called "Cocoa Butter".

1114
01:02:08,246 --> 01:02:09,987
We had an image

1115
01:02:10,117 --> 01:02:14,382
that was
the cover of that song,

1116
01:02:14,513 --> 01:02:16,776
and it's funny, like, I'm making
this face right now

1117
01:02:16,907 --> 01:02:18,430
'cause I'm like,
"We just did a photoshoot."

1118
01:02:18,560 --> 01:02:21,781
I had on a cute dress, the light
was blown out real bright,

1119
01:02:21,912 --> 01:02:23,391
the dress had gold reflection,

1120
01:02:23,522 --> 01:02:27,352
the background was gold,
I just looked, to me, gold.

1121
01:02:27,482 --> 01:02:29,006
You know, like, how you look--

1122
01:02:29,136 --> 01:02:31,748
different light does
different things to your skin.

1123
01:02:31,878 --> 01:02:33,750
Science. That's what I saw.

1124
01:02:33,880 --> 01:02:38,058
And then one person said,

1125
01:02:38,189 --> 01:02:41,366
"India Arie meant
so much to my daughter,

1126
01:02:41,496 --> 01:02:44,021
and to see her lighten
her skin like this is..."

1127
01:02:44,108 --> 01:02:45,674
Blah, blah, blah,

1128
01:02:45,805 --> 01:02:47,764
they just went on and on about
how they were mad about it.

1129
01:02:49,504 --> 01:02:52,203
I literally was like,
"What are they talking about?"

1130
01:02:52,333 --> 01:02:54,422
And then, I was said,
"We're still doing this?"

1131
01:02:54,553 --> 01:02:56,337
I said,
"We're still doing this?"

1132
01:02:56,468 --> 01:02:58,209
The Black community we're
still doing colourism?

1133
01:02:58,339 --> 01:02:59,906
That's literally what I thought.

1134
01:03:00,037 --> 01:03:02,953
In our community,
we're propelling

1135
01:03:03,083 --> 01:03:05,433
light-skinned individuals
as the standard of beauty.

1136
01:03:05,564 --> 01:03:07,827
We can date it all the way
back to our entrance

1137
01:03:07,958 --> 01:03:11,788
as enslaved beings
into uh, this country,

1138
01:03:11,918 --> 01:03:14,181
and into the Caribbean
and other surrounding areas.

1139
01:03:14,312 --> 01:03:15,617
You know,
if you were light-skinned

1140
01:03:15,748 --> 01:03:17,445
you were afforded
certain privileges,

1141
01:03:17,576 --> 01:03:19,752
that dark-skinned
individuals were not.

1142
01:03:19,883 --> 01:03:22,407
And then we see that once
slavery is outlawed,

1143
01:03:22,537 --> 01:03:25,453
that the Black
community was actually

1144
01:03:25,584 --> 01:03:27,934
some of the first people
to create particular tests

1145
01:03:28,065 --> 01:03:30,067
around colourism,
namely the comb test.

1146
01:03:30,197 --> 01:03:32,896
If this comb cannot
go through your hair,

1147
01:03:32,983 --> 01:03:35,289
you cannot join this church
or this organization.

1148
01:03:35,420 --> 01:03:36,943
The brown paper bag test.

1149
01:03:37,074 --> 01:03:38,902
If you're darker
than the brown paper bag,

1150
01:03:39,032 --> 01:03:40,555
you cannot join
this organization.

1151
01:03:40,642 --> 01:03:42,514
The blue vein test.

1152
01:03:42,644 --> 01:03:44,733
If we can't see your
veins through your arms,

1153
01:03:44,864 --> 01:03:46,170
you cannot join
this organization.

1154
01:03:46,300 --> 01:03:48,607
So this is something that
has manifested historically

1155
01:03:48,737 --> 01:03:51,305
in our community,
but not to be separated

1156
01:03:51,436 --> 01:03:54,091
from the overarching
frame of white supremacy

1157
01:03:54,221 --> 01:03:55,440
that has created this reality

1158
01:03:55,570 --> 01:03:57,311
and has created
the standard of beauty

1159
01:03:57,442 --> 01:03:59,444
and all that is important
and dominant as whites.

1160
01:03:59,574 --> 01:04:03,927
I remember when I was
in grade 9 or 10

1161
01:04:04,057 --> 01:04:08,192
and men starting to, you know,
show interest in me,

1162
01:04:08,322 --> 01:04:10,716
and that happening
in not a very nice way.

1163
01:04:10,847 --> 01:04:13,893
It was like catcalls.
Like, that was how it started.

1164
01:04:14,024 --> 01:04:17,114
And one of those
catcalls was something like,

1165
01:04:17,201 --> 01:04:20,030
"Look at her with her long
thick hair and her light skin,

1166
01:04:20,160 --> 01:04:21,858
I'd like to breed that."

1167
01:04:21,988 --> 01:04:25,905
And I was just like...
"What does that mean?" You know?

1168
01:04:26,036 --> 01:04:30,823
And that started this really
long and problematic journey

1169
01:04:30,954 --> 01:04:33,130
with understanding
light-skinned privilege.

1170
01:04:37,743 --> 01:04:40,050
I thought that this was
just a New Mexico problem,

1171
01:04:40,180 --> 01:04:42,574
but it's worldwide.

1172
01:04:42,661 --> 01:04:46,970
I see no other culture,
ethnicity, background

1173
01:04:47,100 --> 01:04:50,843
degrade their own women,
except for the Black community.

1174
01:04:50,974 --> 01:04:52,976
I don't see
Hispanic men ever say,

1175
01:04:53,106 --> 01:04:55,326
"I don't date Hispanic women."

1176
01:04:55,413 --> 01:04:58,459
I don't hear white men say,
"I don't date white women."

1177
01:05:00,766 --> 01:05:03,247
But I've heard it time
and time again that Black women

1178
01:05:03,377 --> 01:05:05,466
are not enough for Black men.

1179
01:05:05,597 --> 01:05:08,730
But when it comes
to police brutality,

1180
01:05:08,861 --> 01:05:10,297
when it comes to protesting,

1181
01:05:10,428 --> 01:05:12,517
when it comes to
standing up for Black people,

1182
01:05:12,647 --> 01:05:15,128
it's always the Black women
who have the Black men's back,

1183
01:05:15,215 --> 01:05:17,348
and it's always
the Black women who initiate.

1184
01:05:17,478 --> 01:05:22,135
Why is it that we're okay
to love behind closed doors,

1185
01:05:22,266 --> 01:05:26,270
but once you get big and famous,
we're no longer what you want.

1186
01:05:26,400 --> 01:05:28,533
Oftentimes, when I have
conversations with Black men,

1187
01:05:28,663 --> 01:05:30,839
they will say, "Oh,
it's just my preference."

1188
01:05:30,970 --> 01:05:33,016
And it's like, "Well,
that's not how this works."

1189
01:05:33,146 --> 01:05:36,541
Preferences are created by
some type of external stimuli.

1190
01:05:36,628 --> 01:05:38,369
There's a reason why
you have a preference.

1191
01:05:38,499 --> 01:05:40,632
There's a reason why you
like one colour over the other

1192
01:05:40,762 --> 01:05:41,938
whether you know it or not.

1193
01:05:43,287 --> 01:05:45,376
Some of the most difficult

1194
01:05:45,506 --> 01:05:47,987
and heart wrenching
and challenging conversations

1195
01:05:48,074 --> 01:05:49,380
that I've had with homegirls

1196
01:05:49,510 --> 01:05:50,903
have been around
colourism and shadeism,

1197
01:05:51,034 --> 01:05:53,645
and what it means
to roll as a crew

1198
01:05:53,732 --> 01:05:56,387
and who gets, you know,
picked up when we go out,

1199
01:05:56,517 --> 01:05:57,736
and who doesn't.

1200
01:05:57,866 --> 01:05:59,956
Come in! Well, hello, hello!
Come right in.

1201
01:06:03,133 --> 01:06:04,351
- How you doing?
- Hello, hello, hello.

1202
01:06:04,482 --> 01:06:05,700
How you been, my friend?

1203
01:06:05,831 --> 01:06:09,226
Grab a glass, grab a glass.
I missed you too.

1204
01:06:09,356 --> 01:06:10,705
To us.

1205
01:06:10,836 --> 01:06:11,793
Cheers.

1206
01:06:11,924 --> 01:06:13,099
Okay, we have to clink.

1207
01:06:13,230 --> 01:06:14,840
People ask me, like,
"What are you?"

1208
01:06:14,971 --> 01:06:16,711
And I'm like, "Oh,
I'm half Black, half Spanish."

1209
01:06:16,842 --> 01:06:19,366
- That's what I identify as.
- Right.

1210
01:06:19,497 --> 01:06:21,586
I grew up in a predominantly
white neighbourhood,

1211
01:06:21,673 --> 01:06:23,849
where like, I was--
- One of the few.

1212
01:06:23,980 --> 01:06:27,635
--of a handful of like,
kids that were mixed or Black.

1213
01:06:27,766 --> 01:06:29,724
My dad is Black,
my mom is Spanish.

1214
01:06:29,811 --> 01:06:32,249
But I feel like when you
have a drop of Black in you,

1215
01:06:32,336 --> 01:06:34,251
people look at you as Black,
and I consider myself Black.

1216
01:06:34,381 --> 01:06:36,470
Yeah. And so,
my question to you guys,

1217
01:06:36,601 --> 01:06:40,474
'cause I hear this a lot, of...
"I don't date Black girls."

1218
01:06:40,605 --> 01:06:43,738
But I've been around you guys
and I know boys who are like,

1219
01:06:43,869 --> 01:06:45,218
"I'm trying to holler
at your friend."

1220
01:06:45,305 --> 01:06:47,438
And they always say to me,
"I don't date Black girls,

1221
01:06:47,568 --> 01:06:48,917
- but she's light-skinned."
- What?

1222
01:06:49,005 --> 01:06:50,484
- I hear that a lot.
- They say that?

1223
01:06:50,615 --> 01:06:52,008
A lot of the athletes
that I used to hang out with

1224
01:06:52,095 --> 01:06:54,053
they would say that. They'd be
like, "I don't date Black girls,

1225
01:06:54,140 --> 01:06:55,446
but she's light-skinned--

1226
01:06:55,576 --> 01:06:57,056
You should say, "Well,
she's still a Black girl."

1227
01:06:57,187 --> 01:06:58,231
Well, she's still a Black girl!

1228
01:06:58,362 --> 01:07:01,408
When my mom
was pregnant with me,

1229
01:07:01,539 --> 01:07:03,062
had nightmares
and she would cry because my mom

1230
01:07:03,149 --> 01:07:05,282
was having a baby
with a Black man.

1231
01:07:05,412 --> 01:07:06,631
And she would cry and like,

1232
01:07:06,718 --> 01:07:08,328
I came out light
and she was okay.

1233
01:07:08,459 --> 01:07:11,679
She... yeah.

1234
01:07:11,810 --> 01:07:13,464
I have Black friends,

1235
01:07:13,594 --> 01:07:15,031
but I don't have
a lot of Black friends

1236
01:07:15,161 --> 01:07:17,250
that are Black in
the same way that I am.

1237
01:07:17,381 --> 01:07:19,383
Because a lot of my friends,
you know,

1238
01:07:19,513 --> 01:07:21,428
people think that they're
Spanish or something.

1239
01:07:21,559 --> 01:07:24,127
Like, there's no
mistaking that I'm Black.

1240
01:07:24,257 --> 01:07:27,521
And being a lighter
version of Black

1241
01:07:27,608 --> 01:07:29,915
has always been
way more celebrated.

1242
01:07:30,046 --> 01:07:32,744
I mean, people put it in their
user names for God's sake.

1243
01:07:32,831 --> 01:07:37,140
Light-skinned Princess.
Like, it's like what?

1244
01:07:37,270 --> 01:07:39,794
You know, you never see any
dark-skinned girls doing that,

1245
01:07:39,925 --> 01:07:43,276
because it's never been
a good thing to be dark-skinned.

1246
01:07:43,407 --> 01:07:45,931
I even still remember thinking,
"Oh, at least I'm like,

1247
01:07:46,062 --> 01:07:48,151
not too dark," you know,
"at least I'm like,

1248
01:07:48,281 --> 01:07:50,414
at least a little bit lighter."

1249
01:07:50,544 --> 01:07:52,546
Which is so problematic.

1250
01:07:52,677 --> 01:07:55,636
But I think even in terms of how
we were talking about colourism

1251
01:07:55,723 --> 01:07:58,552
and how like, maybe like,
certain dark-skinned women

1252
01:07:58,683 --> 01:08:03,296
are accepted versus others,
I think every kind of like,

1253
01:08:03,427 --> 01:08:06,908
I guess category of Blackness
has its specific standards

1254
01:08:07,039 --> 01:08:08,171
that you need to meet.

1255
01:08:08,301 --> 01:08:10,912
Being a dark-skinned Black girl,

1256
01:08:11,043 --> 01:08:13,263
I definitely have
noticed differences,

1257
01:08:13,393 --> 01:08:15,526
and even from my sister.

1258
01:08:15,656 --> 01:08:16,918
Like, we're pretty
close in complexion,

1259
01:08:17,049 --> 01:08:19,530
but I'm clearly darker.

1260
01:08:19,660 --> 01:08:22,446
I think mainly, the thing is,
like, with guys,

1261
01:08:22,576 --> 01:08:25,623
and how-- what they
think is attractive.

1262
01:08:25,753 --> 01:08:27,277
You're always categorized.

1263
01:08:27,407 --> 01:08:28,887
You're not just a Black girl,
they'll be like,

1264
01:08:29,017 --> 01:08:30,018
"Oh, is she dark-skinned?"

1265
01:08:30,149 --> 01:08:31,672
"Oh, is she light-skinned?"

1266
01:08:31,803 --> 01:08:33,979
Like, if she's dark-skinned,
"Oh, she's not that pretty,"

1267
01:08:34,110 --> 01:08:36,068
or, like, things like that.

1268
01:08:36,199 --> 01:08:38,462
And I just think,
it's definitely there.

1269
01:08:38,592 --> 01:08:41,204
I'm Rayne's sister,
so I obviously like,

1270
01:08:41,334 --> 01:08:44,555
have some firsthand
experience with her boy drama.

1271
01:08:44,685 --> 01:08:48,211
I've like, seen her friends,
like a good 90 percent of them

1272
01:08:48,298 --> 01:08:50,996
fit the stereotypes of
like the blonde, blue-eyed,

1273
01:08:51,127 --> 01:08:55,000
like, skinny, like,
princess, rich whatever.

1274
01:08:55,087 --> 01:08:57,959
And like,

1275
01:08:58,090 --> 01:09:00,266
I don't really know that
much about their love lives,

1276
01:09:00,353 --> 01:09:02,268
but I know a lot about yours,

1277
01:09:02,399 --> 01:09:05,445
and like, I know,
like, your confidence,

1278
01:09:05,532 --> 01:09:07,708
and like, your personality

1279
01:09:07,839 --> 01:09:10,146
is, like, something that just
draws people towards you.

1280
01:09:10,233 --> 01:09:12,278
But obviously without saying,
like,

1281
01:09:12,409 --> 01:09:15,238
you're an extremely,
exceptionally beautiful person.

1282
01:09:15,368 --> 01:09:17,327
I will not tell you this again,
but you are.

1283
01:09:20,199 --> 01:09:22,114
You know how many
people are never gonna be heard

1284
01:09:22,245 --> 01:09:25,161
just based on them not
being the right shade of brown?

1285
01:09:25,291 --> 01:09:26,858
Or not having
the right hair texture,

1286
01:09:26,988 --> 01:09:29,904
not having the right combination
of brown facial features

1287
01:09:29,991 --> 01:09:31,906
and hair texture? Just "You
don't have the right combination

1288
01:09:32,037 --> 01:09:33,473
"it don't matter
how good you are."

1289
01:09:33,604 --> 01:09:35,258
Do you know how many people
are not gonna be heard?

1290
01:09:35,388 --> 01:09:38,565
I just thought
that we were better.

1291
01:09:39,958 --> 01:09:49,968
♪

1292
01:10:01,284 --> 01:10:11,207
♪

1293
01:10:22,827 --> 01:10:28,615
♪

1294
01:10:28,746 --> 01:10:31,923
Black hair is so versatile.

1295
01:10:32,053 --> 01:10:34,360
Black hair is so natural.

1296
01:10:34,447 --> 01:10:38,059
You can do any hairstyle
with Black hair,

1297
01:10:38,190 --> 01:10:41,193
from a weave to a wig

1298
01:10:41,324 --> 01:10:44,849
to a colour to a relaxer,

1299
01:10:44,979 --> 01:10:46,590
you can just be
extremely creative.

1300
01:10:46,720 --> 01:10:51,116
Black hair, to me,
embodies all textures.

1301
01:10:51,247 --> 01:10:54,772
You can have silk, you can
have cotton, you can have wool,

1302
01:10:54,902 --> 01:10:57,209
and all of that is allowing us

1303
01:10:57,340 --> 01:11:00,343
to have a canvas
to create from.

1304
01:11:00,473 --> 01:11:04,260
So many times people have
tried to diminish our value

1305
01:11:04,390 --> 01:11:06,610
and they have used
our hair against us,

1306
01:11:06,740 --> 01:11:09,134
and one of the reasons
I think other people recognize

1307
01:11:09,265 --> 01:11:10,831
the strength and the power
that's in our hair.

1308
01:11:10,962 --> 01:11:13,051
Like, our hair grows up,
and out.

1309
01:11:13,181 --> 01:11:15,140
And it's in your face,
and it's gorgeous,

1310
01:11:15,271 --> 01:11:17,273
and it's fabulous.

1311
01:11:17,403 --> 01:11:20,885
I believe they see us as--
as "exotic,"

1312
01:11:21,015 --> 01:11:24,236
as glamazons, as eclectic,

1313
01:11:24,367 --> 01:11:27,065
as untouchable, almost.
Unreachable.

1314
01:11:27,195 --> 01:11:30,024
"Oh, she can change her hair
every day if she wants to."

1315
01:11:30,111 --> 01:11:32,462
We have permission
to choose a look.

1316
01:11:32,592 --> 01:11:34,159
But what I think many
of them don't realize

1317
01:11:34,290 --> 01:11:37,118
is oftentimes,
when we're choosing a look

1318
01:11:37,249 --> 01:11:39,730
or choosing a character,
or choosing a persona,

1319
01:11:39,860 --> 01:11:41,297
there are other things
going on inside of us

1320
01:11:41,427 --> 01:11:42,515
that we have had to hide

1321
01:11:42,646 --> 01:11:44,169
in order to get
through certain doors.

1322
01:11:44,300 --> 01:11:46,127
It could be that you
took your dreads out

1323
01:11:46,258 --> 01:11:48,347
or you took your twists out,
or you permed your hair,

1324
01:11:48,478 --> 01:11:50,523
or you put on a weave, but why?

1325
01:11:50,654 --> 01:11:52,656
Outside of just
because you feel like doing it.

1326
01:11:52,786 --> 01:11:54,527
There's that aspect as well.

1327
01:11:54,658 --> 01:11:56,312
Sometimes we just feel
like flipping our look up.

1328
01:11:56,399 --> 01:11:58,357
But there are those
times where it's like,

1329
01:11:58,488 --> 01:12:01,012
"Am I accepted if
I walk through this door?"

1330
01:12:01,186 --> 01:12:06,931
♪

1331
01:12:07,018 --> 01:12:11,327
In Africa, Black women
had ornate hairstyles, right?

1332
01:12:11,457 --> 01:12:13,938
'Cause those hairstyles signaled
whether you were married

1333
01:12:14,068 --> 01:12:17,985
or you were dating, you had
just lost-- your husband died.

1334
01:12:18,116 --> 01:12:20,292
That's what hair was,
it had meaning.

1335
01:12:20,379 --> 01:12:22,773
Suddenly you're in a slave ship
and then you come over here,

1336
01:12:22,860 --> 01:12:25,993
and there's no combs,
there's no products,

1337
01:12:26,124 --> 01:12:28,039
there's no one in the
neighbourhood that does hair.

1338
01:12:28,169 --> 01:12:29,780
You're literally
an enslaved person,

1339
01:12:29,910 --> 01:12:31,999
and your hair is all--
you know,

1340
01:12:32,130 --> 01:12:34,045
my mother would say,
"It all 'out a do," right?

1341
01:12:34,175 --> 01:12:35,873
What are you gonna do?

1342
01:12:36,003 --> 01:12:38,789
So that is actually the
beginning of also the head wrap.

1343
01:12:38,919 --> 01:12:40,530
Because they couldn't
care for their hair,

1344
01:12:40,660 --> 01:12:42,270
they had to cover it.

1345
01:12:49,582 --> 01:12:51,845
So what happens is that,
you know, you have the masters

1346
01:12:51,976 --> 01:12:53,760
who want you to
work inside the house,

1347
01:12:53,891 --> 01:12:55,675
but they want you
to look like them.

1348
01:12:55,806 --> 01:12:57,851
They don't want
you to look like you.

1349
01:12:57,982 --> 01:12:59,984
So then, they start requiring
that if you're gonna work

1350
01:13:00,114 --> 01:13:01,551
in the house,
you have to wear a wig.

1351
01:13:01,638 --> 01:13:09,733
♪

1352
01:13:09,863 --> 01:13:12,997
And so after a while,
think about it, in the psyche,

1353
01:13:13,127 --> 01:13:15,695
you start to see
your hair as a problem.

1354
01:13:15,826 --> 01:13:18,263
You can't care for it,
you have to cover it up,

1355
01:13:18,394 --> 01:13:20,134
when you enter
the plantation home,

1356
01:13:20,221 --> 01:13:22,789
you have to wear
their kind of hair.

1357
01:13:22,920 --> 01:13:25,836
Generation after generation,
you are going to start to think

1358
01:13:25,966 --> 01:13:28,229
your hair is a problem,
and that's what happens.

1359
01:13:28,360 --> 01:13:30,580
So then when we get into
the Reconstruction era,

1360
01:13:30,667 --> 01:13:34,671
post-slavery, so we're in
the 1880s and 1890s now.

1361
01:13:34,801 --> 01:13:37,195
Suddenly African-American
women are like,

1362
01:13:37,282 --> 01:13:38,457
"Well, we're not
enslaved anymore,

1363
01:13:38,588 --> 01:13:40,633
and we want to be beautiful."

1364
01:13:40,720 --> 01:13:44,289
And what is beauty?
Straightened hair.

1365
01:13:44,420 --> 01:13:48,249
And so now let's flash forward,
and enter Madam C. J. Walker.

1366
01:13:48,380 --> 01:13:50,338
Now Madam C.J. Walker says,

1367
01:13:50,469 --> 01:13:51,992
"You have a chance
to be beautiful.

1368
01:13:52,123 --> 01:13:54,691
"And not just that, you can
also be a business owner.

1369
01:13:54,821 --> 01:13:58,564
"Because you can learn
the Madam C.J. Walker system,

1370
01:13:58,695 --> 01:14:01,262
"learn how to shampoo, press,
and curl your own hair,

1371
01:14:01,393 --> 01:14:03,047
"to make it straight,

1372
01:14:03,177 --> 01:14:06,398
"and then you can help other
Black women do the same thing."

1373
01:14:06,485 --> 01:14:08,835
And straightened hair
is also now about progress.

1374
01:14:08,966 --> 01:14:11,055
Straightened hair is about
a new-- they used to say,

1375
01:14:11,185 --> 01:14:14,232
"A new century, a new Negro,"
right?

1376
01:14:14,362 --> 01:14:16,930
So now, straightened hair
is actually this thing

1377
01:14:17,061 --> 01:14:19,542
that is empowering.

1378
01:14:19,672 --> 01:14:22,153
So, for a long period of time,

1379
01:14:22,283 --> 01:14:24,764
straightened hair meant
that you were somebody.

1380
01:14:24,851 --> 01:14:27,027
That you had
dignity for yourself,

1381
01:14:27,114 --> 01:14:28,681
that you were no longer a slave,
you were--

1382
01:14:28,812 --> 01:14:31,989
you were disassociating
from that past.

1383
01:14:33,425 --> 01:14:36,776
This negative stigma that's now
attached to straightened hair

1384
01:14:36,907 --> 01:14:39,997
is really post the 1960s,

1385
01:14:40,127 --> 01:14:43,130
and the back-to-Africa,

1386
01:14:43,261 --> 01:14:45,219
Black is beautiful,
natural movement.

1387
01:14:45,350 --> 01:14:48,048
To where now they would say
"You're straightening your hair,

1388
01:14:48,179 --> 01:14:49,659
"somehow you don't
love yourself."

1389
01:14:49,789 --> 01:14:52,313
Meanwhile,
if we were to go back to 1920,

1390
01:14:52,444 --> 01:14:54,228
"You have straightened hair?
You love yourself!

1391
01:14:54,359 --> 01:14:55,926
"That's why you're
straightening."

1392
01:14:56,056 --> 01:14:59,495
I used to get bullied a lot for
wearing my hair like this.

1393
01:15:02,846 --> 01:15:05,065
A lot of Black men, especially,

1394
01:15:05,196 --> 01:15:08,068
did not view me as beautiful,

1395
01:15:08,199 --> 01:15:10,854
um, because of that...

1396
01:15:10,984 --> 01:15:13,770
so that's something that
really hurt me the most.

1397
01:15:13,857 --> 01:15:15,815
Black women, of course,
were encouraging,

1398
01:15:15,946 --> 01:15:17,208
but of course you get
people telling you,

1399
01:15:17,338 --> 01:15:18,992
"All right, when you
gonna straighten your hair?

1400
01:15:19,123 --> 01:15:20,516
"When you gonna do
something to your hair?

1401
01:15:20,646 --> 01:15:22,213
Your hair, your hair,
your hair," and it's like,

1402
01:15:22,343 --> 01:15:23,910
"All right, y'all, like,
this is my hair, though

1403
01:15:24,041 --> 01:15:25,303
at the end of the day."

1404
01:15:25,433 --> 01:15:28,741
Why do Black men
love straight hair?

1405
01:15:28,872 --> 01:15:33,354
If I could tap into that
consciousness as a Black woman,

1406
01:15:33,485 --> 01:15:36,444
that would have spared me
so many years of heartache.

1407
01:15:36,575 --> 01:15:39,447
I don't know. I mean, I think--
I think we have to think of it,

1408
01:15:39,578 --> 01:15:41,711
Black men are of this culture.

1409
01:15:41,841 --> 01:15:43,756
I used to teach a lot
of visual culture courses

1410
01:15:43,887 --> 01:15:47,760
and there is a quote by
Peggy Phelan, where she says

1411
01:15:47,847 --> 01:15:52,069
"If representation
equalled power,

1412
01:15:52,199 --> 01:15:55,115
"then white women should
be the most powerful women--

1413
01:15:55,246 --> 01:15:57,770
"people in the world,"
because that is actually

1414
01:15:57,857 --> 01:15:59,337
the image that you see the most.

1415
01:15:59,467 --> 01:16:02,253
I challenge everyone to
just start paying attention

1416
01:16:02,383 --> 01:16:04,472
to the images that you
see on a day-to-day basis,

1417
01:16:04,560 --> 01:16:06,692
you're gonna be like, "Oh my
God, Becky is everywhere!"

1418
01:16:06,823 --> 01:16:08,085
You're just
gonna start noticing!

1419
01:16:08,215 --> 01:16:10,304
White women are everywhere,
so think about that.

1420
01:16:10,435 --> 01:16:12,524
Now you're a man,
forget being Black.

1421
01:16:12,655 --> 01:16:15,309
You're just a man.
Everywhere you go,

1422
01:16:15,396 --> 01:16:18,138
you see a beautiful blonde,
typically white woman

1423
01:16:18,225 --> 01:16:19,879
in your face.

1424
01:16:19,966 --> 01:16:22,795
After a while, why wouldn't
you think that that's beauty?

1425
01:16:22,926 --> 01:16:25,102
And why wouldn't you--
even if you fall in love

1426
01:16:25,232 --> 01:16:28,409
with a Black woman,
want her to kinda start to mimic

1427
01:16:28,540 --> 01:16:32,631
that thing that you
probably secretly desire.

1428
01:16:32,762 --> 01:16:35,634
So when I met Kevin,
I think he saw me as white,

1429
01:16:35,765 --> 01:16:39,116
but he also would have dated me
if I was light-skinned Black.

1430
01:16:39,246 --> 01:16:41,161
After we were married,

1431
01:16:41,248 --> 01:16:44,643
he never wanted me
to wear braids.

1432
01:16:44,774 --> 01:16:48,908
never wanted me to wear any kind
of textured hair, anything.

1433
01:16:48,995 --> 01:16:53,826
Wanted me to get my hair
straight and platinum blonde.

1434
01:16:53,957 --> 01:16:55,436
Then I thought, "You know what?"

1435
01:16:55,567 --> 01:16:59,527
"Like, he will be--
it will be better,

1436
01:16:59,615 --> 01:17:02,182
"'cause now we don't have
to do all that other stuff,

1437
01:17:02,313 --> 01:17:05,664
"and we're married, and like,

1438
01:17:05,795 --> 01:17:09,537
"I can help him love
himself as a Black man."

1439
01:17:09,668 --> 01:17:13,324
I-- you know, "I see beauty
and inspiration in Blackness.

1440
01:17:13,454 --> 01:17:16,588
"And he...
like, he'll get there."

1441
01:17:16,719 --> 01:17:21,375
He, on the other hand, wanted me
to be more European and whiter.

1442
01:17:21,506 --> 01:17:25,379
Because the whiter I was,
the more I was a trophy for him.

1443
01:17:25,510 --> 01:17:28,992
Blonde, straight hair,
as skinny as possible.

1444
01:17:29,122 --> 01:17:32,473
He would make comments about,
like, you know,

1445
01:17:32,604 --> 01:17:36,216
like... "No white woman
has that kind of a butt."

1446
01:17:36,347 --> 01:17:40,394
You know, like, "You need to
get a respectable white butt,"

1447
01:17:40,481 --> 01:17:41,874
you know, or whatever.
Just like...

1448
01:17:42,005 --> 01:17:43,920
I'm just, like, I just...

1449
01:17:44,007 --> 01:17:46,052
I don't know, like how do I...

1450
01:17:46,183 --> 01:17:49,665
And I constantly, like,
at the end of the marriage,

1451
01:17:49,795 --> 01:17:53,669
five year marriage, um,

1452
01:17:53,799 --> 01:17:57,716
my spirit was so repressed.

1453
01:17:57,847 --> 01:18:02,155
I don't even see myself as
special or beautiful or anything

1454
01:18:02,286 --> 01:18:05,115
'cause I've been so, like,
crushed into this, like,

1455
01:18:05,245 --> 01:18:08,205
white mould that
he wanted me to be.

1456
01:18:08,335 --> 01:18:12,252
And when I got divorced,

1457
01:18:12,339 --> 01:18:14,298
the first thing I did
was braid my hair.

1458
01:18:17,693 --> 01:18:20,565
The history of Black women
and the legal aspects

1459
01:18:20,696 --> 01:18:24,221
of our hair goes back to
Rogers V. American Airlines.

1460
01:18:24,351 --> 01:18:26,702
Like, that was a pivotal case.

1461
01:18:26,832 --> 01:18:30,488
So Rogers, her name was Rogers,
she was an airline stewardess

1462
01:18:30,575 --> 01:18:33,839
for American Airlines who was
fired for wearing cornrows.

1463
01:18:33,970 --> 01:18:37,887
That case actually
went through the courts,

1464
01:18:38,017 --> 01:18:42,761
and the decision was made
that yes, you can discriminate

1465
01:18:42,848 --> 01:18:44,763
against a Black woman
for her hairstyle,

1466
01:18:44,894 --> 01:18:49,376
because a hairstyle is mutable,
meaning it can be changed.

1467
01:18:49,507 --> 01:18:52,379
The judge said it has
nothing to do with culture,

1468
01:18:52,466 --> 01:18:56,470
it has nothing to do with--
with-- with, like, genetics,

1469
01:18:56,601 --> 01:18:59,996
"She can choose not to wear her
hair that way, she's choosing."

1470
01:19:00,126 --> 01:19:02,302
But what the caveat
is to that case

1471
01:19:02,433 --> 01:19:07,177
is that the judge actually cited
the movie Ten, with Bo Derek,

1472
01:19:07,307 --> 01:19:09,701
and said,
"Well, look at Bo Derek.

1473
01:19:09,832 --> 01:19:13,096
"She is blonde,
blue eyes, and look,

1474
01:19:13,226 --> 01:19:16,534
"she did a movie where
she cornrowed her hair,

1475
01:19:16,664 --> 01:19:18,449
"and now it's not cornrowed."

1476
01:19:18,579 --> 01:19:20,233
He literally said,
in his judgement,

1477
01:19:20,364 --> 01:19:21,800
"We can't understand
why the plaintiff

1478
01:19:21,931 --> 01:19:24,368
"is trying to be like Bo Derek."

1479
01:19:24,498 --> 01:19:27,197
I.e., Bo Derek-- Bo braids,

1480
01:19:27,284 --> 01:19:29,982
so she invented braids
'cause she was in a movie,

1481
01:19:30,113 --> 01:19:32,768
"Why would you want to be like
her? You should be yourself."

1482
01:19:32,898 --> 01:19:37,598
And so that case was a landmark
case because it also signified

1483
01:19:37,729 --> 01:19:41,428
to Black community that again,
the outer world

1484
01:19:41,559 --> 01:19:45,215
seems to think that we
are taking our cues from them,

1485
01:19:45,345 --> 01:19:46,999
meanwhile braiding
goes back to Africa.

1486
01:19:47,130 --> 01:19:48,696
It has nothing
to do with Bo Derek.

1487
01:19:48,827 --> 01:19:51,699
It has nothing to do
with a film. It's historical.

1488
01:19:53,310 --> 01:19:54,833
After that movie,

1489
01:19:54,964 --> 01:19:57,444
suddenly Bo braids
becomes a thing.

1490
01:19:57,575 --> 01:20:01,535
So all the top hair salons
in New York and LA,

1491
01:20:01,622 --> 01:20:03,450
they start doing braids!

1492
01:20:03,581 --> 01:20:05,452
Like, white women start
going into the hair salon

1493
01:20:05,583 --> 01:20:07,367
to get their hair
braided like Bo Derek,

1494
01:20:07,454 --> 01:20:10,109
and it's like, this thing,
like this craze,

1495
01:20:10,196 --> 01:20:12,895
the craze of '81,
it just takes over, right?

1496
01:20:13,025 --> 01:20:14,940
'Cause everybody
is getting braids.

1497
01:20:15,071 --> 01:20:17,638
And so it becomes
this amazing thing,

1498
01:20:17,769 --> 01:20:20,032
and then just like that,
it goes away.

1499
01:20:20,163 --> 01:20:22,165
Just like that, they said,
"Oh, braids are out.

1500
01:20:22,295 --> 01:20:24,428
"Why would you do that?
Black women do that."

1501
01:20:24,558 --> 01:20:26,996
So Rogers V. American Airlines
set a precedent.

1502
01:20:27,126 --> 01:20:31,827
In 2018, there was another
case of hair discrimination

1503
01:20:31,957 --> 01:20:34,525
that went against the precedent,

1504
01:20:34,612 --> 01:20:36,962
and it actually went up
to the Supreme Court.

1505
01:20:37,093 --> 01:20:39,835
That case hasn't
been decided on yet.

1506
01:20:40,009 --> 01:20:49,932
♪

1507
01:20:51,759 --> 01:20:54,371
It's still legal
to fire a Black woman

1508
01:20:54,458 --> 01:20:57,243
because she cornrows her hair
or she has dreadlocks.

1509
01:20:57,374 --> 01:21:00,420
Everything we do
is cool on them,

1510
01:21:00,551 --> 01:21:02,074
but it's not cool on us.

1511
01:21:02,205 --> 01:21:05,512
That's why you see this
abundant amount of boxer braids

1512
01:21:05,643 --> 01:21:08,559
being the new trend,
or cornrows being the new trend.

1513
01:21:08,689 --> 01:21:10,648
Or laying your edges.

1514
01:21:10,778 --> 01:21:13,259
But that's what it is to them,
it's a trend,

1515
01:21:13,390 --> 01:21:15,914
and to us, it's our lifestyle.

1516
01:21:16,045 --> 01:21:20,092
And so when I see Kim K do it
and when I see other celebrities

1517
01:21:20,223 --> 01:21:23,356
doing things like that,
it's disheartening

1518
01:21:23,487 --> 01:21:26,359
because there are so many women
who get discriminated for it.

1519
01:21:26,490 --> 01:21:28,361
There are so many women
who go in for an interview,

1520
01:21:28,492 --> 01:21:30,668
and they won't get
the job based on their hair.

1521
01:21:30,798 --> 01:21:32,713
It's seen as "ghetto."

1522
01:21:32,800 --> 01:21:36,282
It's only ghetto 'til
a Kardashian does it.

1523
01:21:36,369 --> 01:21:39,807
The moment where we really
went into a total frenzy

1524
01:21:39,895 --> 01:21:42,723
talking about appropriation
of our culture, we're like,

1525
01:21:42,854 --> 01:21:46,814
Khloe Kardashian wore two
cornrows straight back,

1526
01:21:46,945 --> 01:21:51,558
and some women's
magazine ran a story

1527
01:21:51,689 --> 01:21:56,476
on "Khloe Kardashian's
daring new boxer braids."

1528
01:21:56,563 --> 01:22:00,132
And every Black woman
in the world

1529
01:22:00,263 --> 01:22:02,178
rolled their eyes in unison,

1530
01:22:02,308 --> 01:22:04,310
like, "Girl,
that is nothing

1531
01:22:04,441 --> 01:22:08,967
but the same cornrows that your
mother sent you to school in."

1532
01:22:09,098 --> 01:22:13,232
What's considered "ghetto"
is now popular. Okay?

1533
01:22:13,363 --> 01:22:15,887
Big lips all of
a sudden is the trend,

1534
01:22:16,018 --> 01:22:19,456
when all along,
we've always had full lips.

1535
01:22:19,586 --> 01:22:23,939
Why does my culture
have to be like a costume?

1536
01:22:24,069 --> 01:22:26,028
Like, I can just--
"Oh, I can just try this on,

1537
01:22:26,158 --> 01:22:28,944
"and look cute for this day,
and then just throw it away."

1538
01:22:30,293 --> 01:22:32,599
Today it's not just
that big butts are celebrated,

1539
01:22:32,730 --> 01:22:35,646
it's like, massive butts
that have been,

1540
01:22:35,733 --> 01:22:37,126
you know, given "help"...

1541
01:22:39,389 --> 01:22:40,694
are what's celebrated.

1542
01:22:40,825 --> 01:22:42,740
There's the famous story
of Saartjie Baartman,

1543
01:22:42,870 --> 01:22:45,830
AKA Hottentot Venus.

1544
01:22:45,961 --> 01:22:50,487
You know, this tragic story
of a woman who was put into a--

1545
01:22:50,617 --> 01:22:52,793
who was stolen from her home,
and was put into a cage

1546
01:22:52,924 --> 01:22:56,188
to be on display, so that
people could gawk and point

1547
01:22:56,319 --> 01:22:59,452
at a woman who had features
that were considered so strange,

1548
01:22:59,583 --> 01:23:02,934
so out of their norm,
so animalistic...

1549
01:23:05,589 --> 01:23:08,505
...that it was considered
worthy to put in a zoo,

1550
01:23:08,635 --> 01:23:11,551
to put in a cage as
spectacle for entertainment

1551
01:23:11,638 --> 01:23:13,249
during a night on the town.

1552
01:23:13,379 --> 01:23:17,644
And that same feature that was
the reason she was dissected

1553
01:23:17,775 --> 01:23:20,386
and was used as
a science experiment,

1554
01:23:20,517 --> 01:23:22,345
and that her body, to this day,

1555
01:23:22,475 --> 01:23:24,869
is still not completely
returned to her homeland,

1556
01:23:24,956 --> 01:23:27,263
is now on
the cover of magazines.

1557
01:23:27,393 --> 01:23:31,006
15 years ago,
we would not have imagined

1558
01:23:31,136 --> 01:23:34,792
a global ideal that required,
um, white women

1559
01:23:34,922 --> 01:23:37,273
to be doing lip fillers
and bum lifts.

1560
01:23:37,403 --> 01:23:41,581
I think the current ideal,
um, is a slightly new moment.

1561
01:23:41,668 --> 01:23:45,281
Now that doesn't in any
way mean that all those old

1562
01:23:45,411 --> 01:23:49,546
colonial hierarchies
aren't still really important

1563
01:23:49,676 --> 01:23:52,462
and influencing, you know,
so there are still very many

1564
01:23:52,592 --> 01:23:55,160
places in the world where fair
is still best, right?

1565
01:23:55,291 --> 01:23:57,989
And that's still true.

1566
01:23:58,120 --> 01:24:00,339
The area that I think is
changing dramatically

1567
01:24:00,426 --> 01:24:02,515
is the thinness with curves.

1568
01:24:02,646 --> 01:24:04,126
And that's partly because

1569
01:24:04,213 --> 01:24:06,258
we now can do buttock implants
and things, right?

1570
01:24:06,389 --> 01:24:08,478
So, there are ways in which
you can make a body bigger

1571
01:24:08,565 --> 01:24:10,045
in the right places, right?

1572
01:24:10,175 --> 01:24:11,394
That wasn't true before.

1573
01:24:11,524 --> 01:24:12,830
So, you can make a body thinner
by dieting.

1574
01:24:12,960 --> 01:24:14,571
Everybody can diet,

1575
01:24:14,701 --> 01:24:17,443
but it doesn't result
in the same bodies, right?

1576
01:24:17,530 --> 01:24:19,706
But you know, um, but um...

1577
01:24:19,837 --> 01:24:22,448
to make a body bigger
only in some places,

1578
01:24:22,535 --> 01:24:24,842
that's a really new possibility.

1579
01:24:24,972 --> 01:24:27,497
But the ideal
that we're ending up with

1580
01:24:27,627 --> 01:24:30,630
is one where it's not European,
either.

1581
01:24:30,717 --> 01:24:33,242
It really is global,
and I think that's something

1582
01:24:33,372 --> 01:24:36,419
that we probably couldn't have
imagined 15 years ago.

1583
01:24:36,549 --> 01:24:39,030
You know what, I think
white people don't know how

1584
01:24:39,161 --> 01:24:41,685
to not be the centre of
the universe, quite frankly,

1585
01:24:41,815 --> 01:24:45,906
and now we see, like, this
shifting global pop culture

1586
01:24:46,037 --> 01:24:47,691
that is American culture,

1587
01:24:47,778 --> 01:24:50,346
that is really just diluted
Black culture,

1588
01:24:50,476 --> 01:24:53,697
and that's got to be really
foreign to folks

1589
01:24:53,827 --> 01:24:57,440
who have always been
the star of the show,

1590
01:24:57,570 --> 01:25:01,835
always been the centre
of the party.

1591
01:25:01,966 --> 01:25:04,882
And I imagine it's got to be
uncomfortable

1592
01:25:05,012 --> 01:25:08,581
to try to navigate
through this world

1593
01:25:08,712 --> 01:25:11,932
where you now share a spotlight
that was always yours.

1594
01:25:12,063 --> 01:25:14,935
This is a really new moment
because, you know,

1595
01:25:15,066 --> 01:25:16,676
in a global world,

1596
01:25:16,763 --> 01:25:20,550
we are moving towards a very
different mixed ideal

1597
01:25:20,680 --> 01:25:22,987
where nobody's good enough
without help.

1598
01:25:23,118 --> 01:25:24,771
So, if you wanted to be
really cynical,

1599
01:25:24,902 --> 01:25:27,470
you might think part of what
happens in a mixed ideal

1600
01:25:27,600 --> 01:25:30,473
is that virtually no one
makes the appearance grade,

1601
01:25:30,603 --> 01:25:35,042
irrespective of race or class,
without help.

1602
01:25:35,173 --> 01:25:37,958
Typically, it's European
women that are doing it,

1603
01:25:38,089 --> 01:25:40,178
and they have all these legions
of followers,

1604
01:25:40,309 --> 01:25:42,920
and beauty brands send them
stuff and send them money,

1605
01:25:43,050 --> 01:25:45,096
and they pretend
and they wash it off!

1606
01:25:45,227 --> 01:25:46,706
And to them, they're doing
nothing wrong.

1607
01:25:46,837 --> 01:25:49,013
For some reason, greater
American culture

1608
01:25:49,144 --> 01:25:51,146
has a fascination with taking,

1609
01:25:51,233 --> 01:25:53,191
whatever has been done
by Black people

1610
01:25:53,322 --> 01:25:55,672
for years and years and years,

1611
01:25:55,759 --> 01:26:00,242
and putting it on a white girl
and calling it the new trend.

1612
01:26:00,372 --> 01:26:03,375
You just kind of have to sigh
and roll your eyes.

1613
01:26:03,506 --> 01:26:06,204
"Okay, sure, girl. Whatever.

1614
01:26:06,335 --> 01:26:08,206
Let me show you what
your next trend's gonna be."

1615
01:26:08,337 --> 01:26:09,599
Black-fishing, yeah,

1616
01:26:09,729 --> 01:26:12,341
you're pretending to be what
you're not.

1617
01:26:12,471 --> 01:26:14,169
People, it happens.

1618
01:26:14,299 --> 01:26:16,040
It's been happening!

1619
01:26:16,171 --> 01:26:17,824
It's been happening,
but you see,

1620
01:26:17,911 --> 01:26:21,915
the thing is now that there's
the means again to see it,

1621
01:26:22,046 --> 01:26:25,092
we're living in
the influencer generation,

1622
01:26:25,180 --> 01:26:27,138
which means
cha-ching-ching-ching.

1623
01:26:27,269 --> 01:26:28,966
There's money to be made.

1624
01:26:29,096 --> 01:26:32,143
It's all about the dollars
and the cents.

1625
01:26:32,230 --> 01:26:36,191
So, when certain models could
look like that look,

1626
01:26:36,321 --> 01:26:39,455
what they perceive
as the look of beauty,

1627
01:26:39,542 --> 01:26:41,152
whether it's the mulatto look

1628
01:26:41,283 --> 01:26:44,329
or that is-- exemplifies beauty,
it's interesting,

1629
01:26:44,460 --> 01:26:46,201
because not all of us
are walking around

1630
01:26:46,288 --> 01:26:48,464
with our natural hair
and chilling.

1631
01:26:48,594 --> 01:26:50,770
I find it extremely offensive!

1632
01:26:50,901 --> 01:26:53,077
Deeply, profoundly offensive,

1633
01:26:53,164 --> 01:26:56,602
because every time
somebody does that,

1634
01:26:56,689 --> 01:27:00,258
they're basically reducing
Blackness to aesthetics.

1635
01:27:00,389 --> 01:27:02,217
"Oh, I just need the lips,
I just darken my skin.

1636
01:27:02,347 --> 01:27:03,696
I just get the thing."

1637
01:27:03,827 --> 01:27:05,176
We're more than that.

1638
01:27:05,307 --> 01:27:06,569
That is not what it means
to be Black.

1639
01:27:06,699 --> 01:27:08,397
Those are just
aesthetics, right?

1640
01:27:08,527 --> 01:27:13,271
I don't understand how someone
willingly, and like,

1641
01:27:13,402 --> 01:27:17,319
spends money and time to, like,

1642
01:27:17,449 --> 01:27:22,280
try to blend themself into
a community that has just like,

1643
01:27:22,411 --> 01:27:27,067
been enduring, like,
everlasting oppression.

1644
01:27:27,198 --> 01:27:31,420
It's like the extremist
of appropriation.

1645
01:27:31,550 --> 01:27:34,074
Like, you're not even just
appropriating my culture

1646
01:27:34,205 --> 01:27:35,641
at this point.

1647
01:27:35,772 --> 01:27:38,644
You're genuinely just
trying to be me.

1648
01:27:43,519 --> 01:27:45,651
Growing up,
you want to be white.

1649
01:27:45,782 --> 01:27:47,218
Like, it's just like how it be.

1650
01:27:47,349 --> 01:27:48,741
Like, every Black girl
goes through it.

1651
01:27:48,872 --> 01:27:49,960
- Yeah.
- Like, you want to be white.

1652
01:27:50,090 --> 01:27:51,614
It ruins you! It's awful!

1653
01:27:51,744 --> 01:27:53,224
Like, it's a terrible
experience.

1654
01:27:53,355 --> 01:27:56,096
So, then to grow up
and to finally, like,

1655
01:27:56,227 --> 01:27:59,274
get into this stage of like,

1656
01:27:59,404 --> 01:28:02,494
"Yes, I love myself.
Blackness, beautiful, yum."

1657
01:28:02,625 --> 01:28:05,584
And then, like, the people
who you wanted to be

1658
01:28:05,715 --> 01:28:07,107
now want to be you.

1659
01:28:07,238 --> 01:28:08,718
- They deny it.
- Yeah.

1660
01:28:08,848 --> 01:28:10,589
They say like, "I didn't know
people thought I was Black."

1661
01:28:10,720 --> 01:28:11,721
Yeah.

1662
01:28:11,851 --> 01:28:12,896
It's like, "Yes, you did.
You know."

1663
01:28:13,026 --> 01:28:14,158
You can look in the mirror,

1664
01:28:14,289 --> 01:28:17,117
only Black people look
like that.

1665
01:28:18,075 --> 01:28:19,772
There's
an entire spectrum

1666
01:28:19,859 --> 01:28:23,036
of appropriating
Blackness, from Rachel Dolezal,

1667
01:28:23,167 --> 01:28:25,474
who, you know,
was appropriating it

1668
01:28:25,604 --> 01:28:27,127
for perhaps different reasons

1669
01:28:27,214 --> 01:28:30,000
than what we see with the Ariana
Grandes or the Kim Kardashians

1670
01:28:30,087 --> 01:28:32,132
or the Instagram models
or video vixens.

1671
01:28:32,263 --> 01:28:34,570
But to me, the entire spectrum
is problematic

1672
01:28:34,657 --> 01:28:36,223
because it's again
appropriating culture.

1673
01:28:36,311 --> 01:28:37,790
It can be washed off,

1674
01:28:37,921 --> 01:28:39,531
and again, that is not the
experience of Black people,

1675
01:28:39,662 --> 01:28:41,707
and anyone that wants to support
the Black community

1676
01:28:41,838 --> 01:28:43,840
should be doing so as an ally,

1677
01:28:43,970 --> 01:28:45,929
rather than centring themselves
and their voices.

1678
01:28:46,059 --> 01:28:49,541
Hmm!

1679
01:28:49,672 --> 01:28:52,152
I think the problem with...

1680
01:28:52,283 --> 01:28:55,852
cultural appropriation

1681
01:28:55,982 --> 01:28:59,769
with regards to Black and white
women in America,

1682
01:28:59,899 --> 01:29:04,034
I think the problem with that
is that the history of race

1683
01:29:04,164 --> 01:29:06,776
is such a painful one,

1684
01:29:06,906 --> 01:29:09,518
that then, to be just be like,
"I like the way this looks!"

1685
01:29:09,648 --> 01:29:13,478
It's so, um...

1686
01:29:13,609 --> 01:29:18,396
it's dismissive of something
that's too profound to dismiss.

1687
01:29:21,399 --> 01:29:23,619
It's hard to expect
a 21-year-old

1688
01:29:23,749 --> 01:29:27,971
who just thinks that Black
people are pretty,

1689
01:29:28,101 --> 01:29:31,714
it's hard to expect them to
understand what they're doing

1690
01:29:31,844 --> 01:29:34,020
and how it is offensive.

1691
01:29:38,547 --> 01:29:41,419
And so, I understand why
they do it,

1692
01:29:41,550 --> 01:29:44,814
because it's beautiful.

1693
01:29:44,944 --> 01:29:49,340
Black and brown people,
brown skin, textured hair,

1694
01:29:49,471 --> 01:29:51,168
it's beautiful.

1695
01:29:51,298 --> 01:29:54,214
They wouldn't be doing it
if it weren't.

1696
01:29:54,345 --> 01:29:57,392
But the fact that
it's causing us so much pain,

1697
01:29:57,522 --> 01:30:00,482
or that it causes so much anger,
which pain, it's all pain.

1698
01:30:00,612 --> 01:30:03,180
The fact that it causes us
pain...

1699
01:30:05,878 --> 01:30:07,793
...my mind is going
back and forth

1700
01:30:07,924 --> 01:30:09,752
because how do you hold someone
responsible for something

1701
01:30:09,882 --> 01:30:11,188
that they just don't know?

1702
01:30:11,318 --> 01:30:13,669
They don't know,

1703
01:30:13,799 --> 01:30:15,888
and since they don't know,
it's flattery.

1704
01:30:16,019 --> 01:30:18,456
When I was wearing braids
in the '90s,

1705
01:30:18,543 --> 01:30:21,372
Black women around me
were saying like,

1706
01:30:21,503 --> 01:30:23,330
"Imitation is the most sincere
form of flattery.

1707
01:30:23,461 --> 01:30:26,246
To copy is to compliment."

1708
01:30:26,377 --> 01:30:30,729
Now, it's like nobody is saying
to copy is to compliment.

1709
01:30:30,860 --> 01:30:35,865
I'm a documentary addict,
basically.

1710
01:30:35,995 --> 01:30:38,258
And so, I literally was like,
"It came out today!

1711
01:30:38,389 --> 01:30:40,347
I got to watch this Rachel
Dolezal documentary on Netflix!"

1712
01:30:40,478 --> 01:30:42,262
Like, the day it came out.

1713
01:30:42,393 --> 01:30:45,135
And I had, um...

1714
01:30:45,265 --> 01:30:47,224
compassion for her.

1715
01:30:47,311 --> 01:30:52,055
She wants to be Black
from a place of love,

1716
01:30:52,185 --> 01:30:55,841
and it's sad, actually,
because...

1717
01:31:00,063 --> 01:31:01,978
I didn't feel like for her
it was coming from a place

1718
01:31:02,108 --> 01:31:04,546
of trying to gain something.

1719
01:31:04,676 --> 01:31:07,549
'Cause she lost everything and
she's still not living as white.

1720
01:31:07,679 --> 01:31:10,639
My only issue with
Rachel Dolezal

1721
01:31:10,769 --> 01:31:14,251
is just as we can't deny
the fact of our birth,

1722
01:31:14,381 --> 01:31:16,471
nor should you.

1723
01:31:16,558 --> 01:31:18,908
You have a fact of two
white parents.

1724
01:31:19,038 --> 01:31:20,779
It's facts!

1725
01:31:20,910 --> 01:31:22,955
You have to start to,

1726
01:31:23,086 --> 01:31:25,436
the cognitive dissonance
that you've created,

1727
01:31:25,567 --> 01:31:27,743
you have to un-dissonance it!

1728
01:31:27,873 --> 01:31:29,832
Okay, you have to come together.
You are a white person.

1729
01:31:29,962 --> 01:31:32,878
You can choose to live as Black.

1730
01:31:33,009 --> 01:31:34,793
I don't have an issue, honestly,

1731
01:31:34,924 --> 01:31:37,100
I really don't have an issue
if she wants to choose,

1732
01:31:37,230 --> 01:31:39,755
but stop denying your lineage.

1733
01:31:39,842 --> 01:31:41,278
That's where I have an issue
with her,

1734
01:31:41,408 --> 01:31:43,149
because I can never get
afforded --

1735
01:31:43,280 --> 01:31:46,239
I am never afforded the right
to deny that I'm Black.

1736
01:31:46,326 --> 01:31:48,154
I can't just decide one day

1737
01:31:48,241 --> 01:31:49,939
and show up and start
telling people,

1738
01:31:50,069 --> 01:31:52,681
"No, guys, I'm really white.
Believe me.

1739
01:31:52,811 --> 01:31:55,031
No, no, I know my hair's kinky,
but no, no, no, I am."

1740
01:31:55,161 --> 01:31:57,686
They would think I was crazy,

1741
01:31:57,816 --> 01:32:00,558
and yet, here is this person
doing the same thing.

1742
01:32:00,689 --> 01:32:02,560
Blonde one day,

1743
01:32:02,691 --> 01:32:05,563
then come in with her little
two-strand twists the next day.

1744
01:32:05,694 --> 01:32:09,698
I can't go back to whiteness.

1745
01:32:09,828 --> 01:32:13,092
Literally, like I would...

1746
01:32:13,223 --> 01:32:18,054
that to me, that is suicide
of me, of me.

1747
01:32:18,184 --> 01:32:21,274
Um, so I don't know
where to go

1748
01:32:21,405 --> 01:32:23,276
'cause I don't want to
offend people, right?

1749
01:32:23,407 --> 01:32:25,017
I'm not like living my life

1750
01:32:25,104 --> 01:32:27,716
in order to try and, like,
make people upset.

1751
01:32:27,846 --> 01:32:30,501
Are there days when I wish

1752
01:32:30,632 --> 01:32:32,721
that I just solidly fit
into a goddamn box?

1753
01:32:32,808 --> 01:32:34,505
Yes.

1754
01:32:34,636 --> 01:32:36,594
I think that might be
kind of nice,

1755
01:32:36,725 --> 01:32:40,816
like in some way just being
like, not having that conf--

1756
01:32:40,946 --> 01:32:42,948
you know, that constant
chaos and confusion

1757
01:32:43,035 --> 01:32:44,820
around the colour line.

1758
01:32:44,907 --> 01:32:47,692
But, this is my journey,

1759
01:32:47,823 --> 01:32:51,000
you know, and I'm in between,
in whatever way.

1760
01:32:51,130 --> 01:32:54,743
I think the anger
in seeing things

1761
01:32:54,873 --> 01:32:56,658
that we've been shamed for

1762
01:32:56,788 --> 01:33:01,184
celebrated on women
who are not Black is natural.

1763
01:33:01,314 --> 01:33:04,970
For me, to be angry about it,

1764
01:33:05,101 --> 01:33:08,539
would frankly, hurl me into
a state of constant rage

1765
01:33:08,626 --> 01:33:10,323
that I just can't afford.

1766
01:33:10,410 --> 01:33:15,198
I, for my own mental health,
have to roll my eyes at it.

1767
01:33:15,328 --> 01:33:19,594
There are a lot of things
that Black people,

1768
01:33:19,724 --> 01:33:22,988
Black women face that are
directed at us

1769
01:33:23,075 --> 01:33:25,425
that no one else has to endure.

1770
01:33:25,556 --> 01:33:30,256
I have to pick my battles,
and tackle the...

1771
01:33:30,387 --> 01:33:33,520
the most damaging
of those first.

1772
01:33:33,651 --> 01:33:38,482
And one day, I think I'll have
the luxury of, you know,

1773
01:33:38,613 --> 01:33:41,877
righteous indignation about a
Kardashian wearing box braids.

1774
01:33:42,007 --> 01:33:45,054
But for now, I just,
"Okay, girl."

1775
01:33:45,184 --> 01:33:49,014
I'll laugh it off,
I'll laugh it off.

1776
01:33:58,981 --> 01:34:01,766
Woman:
You, no, you didn't!

1777
01:34:09,644 --> 01:34:10,819
Woman:
Yes, girl!

1778
01:34:54,427 --> 01:34:58,083
Oh!

1779
01:35:27,243 --> 01:35:29,071
I see a lot of growth,

1780
01:35:29,201 --> 01:35:32,639
embracing your melanin,
the skin that you're in.

1781
01:35:32,770 --> 01:35:36,556
Embracing your natural hair,
and I like that that's a trend.

1782
01:35:36,687 --> 01:35:38,080
You know, I know some people
are like,

1783
01:35:38,210 --> 01:35:40,169
"Oh, my God, it's a trend."

1784
01:35:40,299 --> 01:35:42,519
Girl, isn't this what y'all
been wanting?

1785
01:35:42,649 --> 01:35:44,303
To be a trend.

1786
01:35:44,434 --> 01:35:46,958
I'd rather self-love be a trend
then anything negative,

1787
01:35:47,045 --> 01:35:50,919
'cause now we are stepping
back into our power.

1788
01:35:51,049 --> 01:35:53,965
Let's keep embracing that beauty

1789
01:35:54,096 --> 01:35:56,925
because it's always been here
and it ain't going away!

1790
01:35:57,055 --> 01:35:58,404
Nope!

1791
01:35:59,928 --> 01:36:02,452
Alexandra:
The world's different,

1792
01:36:02,582 --> 01:36:05,150
but the prejudices that are
there 50 years ago,

1793
01:36:05,281 --> 01:36:06,717
they're still here today.

1794
01:36:06,848 --> 01:36:08,632
It really hasn't changed.

1795
01:36:08,719 --> 01:36:10,416
I'd like to say we've come
a long way,

1796
01:36:10,547 --> 01:36:12,941
but when you look at
the underlying principles

1797
01:36:13,071 --> 01:36:15,291
that we've fought,

1798
01:36:15,421 --> 01:36:18,642
they're still there
and they're still permanent.

1799
01:36:18,773 --> 01:36:21,210
I am here today, and I feel
beautiful in my skin

1800
01:36:21,340 --> 01:36:24,604
and who I am,
and how I walk into a room,

1801
01:36:24,735 --> 01:36:27,129
I feel that way because
I made myself that way.

1802
01:36:27,259 --> 01:36:28,870
I don't need your recognition,

1803
01:36:29,000 --> 01:36:30,480
but I do need you to understand

1804
01:36:30,567 --> 01:36:32,525
that when you take
something from us,

1805
01:36:32,656 --> 01:36:33,875
give us credit where it's due.

1806
01:36:44,015 --> 01:36:46,104
Hi!

1807
01:36:46,235 --> 01:36:48,106
Hi, how are you?

1808
01:36:48,237 --> 01:36:49,804
It's good to see you.

1809
01:36:49,934 --> 01:36:51,370
- Hey, y'all!
-Hi!

1810
01:36:51,501 --> 01:36:52,937
Give me one second,

1811
01:36:53,068 --> 01:36:54,678
I'm just going to set some stuff
up for you guys.

1812
01:36:54,809 --> 01:36:57,420
I know, this is what everybody
comes to see, anyway.

1813
01:36:57,550 --> 01:36:59,030
Oh!

1814
01:37:01,554 --> 01:37:03,992
All right, y'all.
How's it going?

1815
01:37:04,122 --> 01:37:07,734
I am an entrepreneur,
a tech entrepreneur, actually.

1816
01:37:07,865 --> 01:37:09,519
And I guess you guys
probably guessed

1817
01:37:09,649 --> 01:37:11,477
that I'm Miss Black America,

1818
01:37:11,608 --> 01:37:14,132
and I became the 50th
anniversary Miss Black America

1819
01:37:14,263 --> 01:37:15,568
about a year ago.

1820
01:37:15,699 --> 01:37:17,092
And now, I get the privilege

1821
01:37:17,222 --> 01:37:20,269
of representing a historic
organization

1822
01:37:20,399 --> 01:37:22,967
that was at the forefront
of making strides

1823
01:37:23,054 --> 01:37:25,491
for Black women in America,

1824
01:37:25,622 --> 01:37:28,494
ensuring that we have positive
representation in media

1825
01:37:28,625 --> 01:37:30,801
and that we could be a part
of the discussion

1826
01:37:30,932 --> 01:37:32,629
about what it meant
to be beautiful

1827
01:37:32,759 --> 01:37:35,980
and exceptional and intelligent.

1828
01:37:36,111 --> 01:37:38,026
Thank you, guys, so much for
having me here at BELA.

1829
01:37:38,156 --> 01:37:39,418
It was really an honour.

1830
01:37:39,549 --> 01:37:42,291
I believe that every young woman
that is here today

1831
01:37:42,421 --> 01:37:45,642
has the power and opportunity
to change our world

1832
01:37:45,772 --> 01:37:47,383
in a fundamental way,

1833
01:37:47,513 --> 01:37:49,211
and I will be back!

1834
01:37:49,341 --> 01:37:50,865
Thank you for having me!

1835
01:37:50,952 --> 01:37:55,173
50 years ago, women who were
competing for Miss Black America

1836
01:37:55,260 --> 01:37:59,308
just wanted to hear that they
were allowed to be beautiful.

1837
01:38:02,050 --> 01:38:04,922
The world, the America
in which we exist,

1838
01:38:05,053 --> 01:38:07,969
has certainly changed and
evolved for Black women,

1839
01:38:08,099 --> 01:38:10,797
but oddly enough,
I find that in 2019,

1840
01:38:10,928 --> 01:38:13,931
we're still fighting
just to be human.

1841
01:38:14,018 --> 01:38:17,282
It almost seems as though
in many regards

1842
01:38:17,413 --> 01:38:21,156
we have taken steps back
as a culture.

1843
01:38:21,286 --> 01:38:24,637
You know, I, on some level,

1844
01:38:24,768 --> 01:38:28,293
wish that we were
just fighting

1845
01:38:28,424 --> 01:38:30,774
to be allowed to be beautiful,

1846
01:38:30,861 --> 01:38:32,254
to be told that we were
beautiful

1847
01:38:32,384 --> 01:38:34,560
and desirable and attractive.

1848
01:38:34,647 --> 01:38:38,086
I find that the fights
that I'm having now

1849
01:38:38,216 --> 01:38:41,567
are fights for survival.

1850
01:38:41,698 --> 01:38:45,528
Fighting to know that our
government doesn't believe

1851
01:38:45,658 --> 01:38:47,617
that I could be shot dead
in the street,

1852
01:38:47,747 --> 01:38:50,794
and that the person who did it
could walk away scot-free

1853
01:38:50,881 --> 01:38:53,753
if they wore a badge.

1854
01:38:53,840 --> 01:38:56,321
I wish I were concerned solely

1855
01:38:56,452 --> 01:38:58,802
about whether or not people
thought I was beautiful.

1856
01:40:56,311 --> 01:41:06,234
♪

1857
01:41:12,631 --> 01:41:22,206
♪