consistent messaging like this from birth (this is a tv show marketed to children) is why black kids grow up with internalized self hatred and inferiorization. why the legit think european beauty standards are the zenith of human beauty and they are the bottom. hence why it takes years for some them to grow to love and accept themselves.
now maybe this episode of this show ultimately ends up with a message of self acceptance and acknowledgement that black beauty is beauty is beautiful without the need to straighten one’s hair, lighten the skin and etc. maybe. i don’t know. some of these cartoon actually did take the time to spread such messages to kids BUT would any of us be surprised if it didn’t? i know i wouldn’t be. i wouldn’t be surprised if they “helped” her by straightening her hair and thus “rescuing” her from her shame and pain. Thus programming our kids (who then become adults with this programming) that their natural beauty (kinky hair, big lips, brown skin, brown eyes, curvy bodies and etc) are things to be ashamed of and the only path out of that shamefulness is to do everything possible to copy whiteness. Be it socially, mentally or physically. Cast aside your shameful, inferior Blackness for the beauty and glory of whiteness. Those who overcome that programming only do so after decades of struggle. Many don’t. This is the psychological warfare that Black people face in this white supremacist culture. Daily.
for (white) ppl making excuses, here’s the full episode
just as i thought. no positive message. they just wrote that in to fuck with black girls and to make them believe their natural beauty is shit.
the lesson here: be aware of what your black children or any black child under your care is watching. there are literally cartoon created to destroy their self esteem.
In a 22min episode a cartoon decided to dedicate 1 minute to just make fun of natural black beauty so that little black girls (who will grow up to be women and most to be mothers) will have this thought that their natural God given beauty is something to be ashamed of, is inferior to white “beauty” and since they possess these traits they too are inferior.
1 minute may seem like a small thing but it’s the compound affect. It’s this minute laid on top of other messages sent through TV, magazine, music, music videos, news, movies, advertising, beauty products (or the lack thereof) and more that build this internalized self hatred that so many of us spend a lifetime overcoming. A constant and consistent barrage of messages that you are inferior they keep coming at black people. A psychological warfare that so many of us aren’t even aware is happening. This is social engineering at its finest and worst.
Hence why I never let anyone tell me “it’s only…” Fuckouttahere. These things don’t happen in a vacuum. This shit piles up until next thing you know you have our beautiful brothas and sistas destroying themselves with skin lightening creams, harmful hair straightener products and worse.
