1. Light Girls
Posted on ​January 20, 2015​ by ​itgirlworld​ in ​African American Women​, ​Empowerment​,
women
Story by Taylor Cross​: As Seen On ​Revolt TV
Last night Bill Dukes premiered “Light Girls”, the highly anticipated antithesis to
the documentary “Dark Girls”, which reveals the colorism issue in the black
community. This follow up had many women wondering if this story was even
necessary considering the implication that lighter skin is already more favored. In
a recent interview with the LA Times Dukes is asked why he would do “Light
Girls” after the success of “Dark Girls”. Dukes responds by saying, “Pain has no
color, but there’s a separation socially. It’s assumed that light­skinned women
have no problems or issues, but they are judged before you know who they are.”
(​http://www.latimes.com/entertainment/tv/showtracker/la­et­​ light­girls­
bill­duke­20150117­ story.html)
“Light Girls” provides insight on the other side of the issues allowing there to be a
true dialogue where normally swept under the rug. Celebrity influencers recount
their experiences with being a lighter complexion and how that often times was
perceived as a blessing and a curse. The judgment that comes along with being
fair skinned including the constant question, what are you? “There’s a safety in

2. being able to categorize you or categorize a person,” Tatyana Ali explains. “You
can assign all of your preconceived ideas about who this person is, the type of
person they are, what kind of behavior you can expect from them ­only if they
know what you are.”
Not being black enough to fit in with the blacks and not white enough for the
whites left many lighter skinned women with no sense of true belonging and
under valued. The dangers of being disliked and bullied as a child was
heightened for lighter complexions that were made to feel like their color was
more special yet hated.
Actress Essence Atkins recalls the shame she felt while growing up for having
light skin and long hair. “I’m sure that it feels like, Oh poor little you, light girl.
Everyone was kind of paying attention to you,” she says. “But the lightness of my
skin didn’t insulate me from questioning my worthiness of being black.”
The documentary takes viewers back to the beginning of this complexity through
slavery, colonization, passing for white in order to partake in white privilege,
colorism in different countries, products that are marketing to promote skin
lightening, light skin preference among black men, white beauty standards in the
media, and lighter skin being only a fetish or trophy. The documentary also

3. touches on social media outlets and hashtags like #TeamLightSkin or
#TeamDarkSkin driving a wedge in the race at a young age.
In order to heal from the travesty that has overtaken our sense of self worth,
black women must learn self­love and own up to what we have done to
perpetuate self­hate. We have to save ourselves, and rise­up in revolution no
longer measuring our value by the color of our skin but instead the content of our
character.