CNN Study: White and black children biased toward lighter skin

http://www.cnn.com/2010/US/05/13/doll.study/index.html

Good morning Curlies -

Just thought I would share this with you all to spark some dialogue and discussion. I found the results of this study to be quite disturbing, and it reminds me of the important role that I have as a mother to equip my daughters with the knowledge and education to deal with the fact that this issue is STILL pervasive in our society!!

And the fact that, even in 2010, I will have to address this with my children on an INTER-RACIAL as well as an INTRA-RACIAL level is MINDBLOWING!!! UGH!!!!

It is, in my opinion, unrealistic to suggest to our children not to "see race." Nothing is wrong with recognizing that people are different colors. The problem is when you attach judgements along with it!!!

Sound off curlies!!

What are your thoughts?

Because I am currently writing a paper for school that somewhat involves this topic - I am not surprised at all. There is much older research that shows the same facts presented in this article.

Children can't help but to see race because society shoves it in their face early with cartoons. I recall as a child getting excited with I saw one cartoon character that looked like me. It may seem silly now but cartoons are what are important to children.

Usually on television shows that children watch, darker skinned characters are the minority and that is even if they are present at all

ITA. That's why my husband and I intentionally only allow our children limited viewing of TV, and only cartoons with diverse characters or race neutral, such as the Backyardigans -my personal favorite and also created by an African American woman.

We also surround them with racially diverse, race neutral, or African American reading material. One of their FAVORITE books is "I Love My Hair" by Natasha Tarpley, as well as Spike and Tonya Lee's book, "Please Baby, Baby Please"

They did not have any Disney princess "stuff" until Princess Tiana came on the scene. Now everything I see with her on it, I support.

My goal is to have my girls as comfortable as possible in their own skin, so that when we have to confront having these conversations with them, they already have a foundation for being secure in who God made them.

EXHALE, ITA with what you are doing. I have a daughter who is 1, and at this point she loves to play with anything. When i do purchase toys for her, I do try to get african american things. I love tiana, and when my daughter saw her she said zaria?(thats her name). I love the fairies and there is an AA fairy but its hard finding her. I want my daughter to know its ok to love her skin and her hair and all that God made her to be.

I think it's a very sad thing going on with this little kids but it's not their fault. I remember when I was younger I always thought exactly like this children, even when I was still in Nigeria and everyone in my surrounding was black, I still had the wish that I'd be light skinned or white. It's just a thing that the children can't help. Even in the black community lighter skinned people are prefered.

I saw that yesterday. Super depressing to watch haha. When I have kids, I'm going to make sure I teach them to love themselves as well as loving everyone else, regardless of their skin color. They'll be exposed to things of EVERY race. Not only will they be watching shows with white and black kids, they'll watch shows with Native American kids, and Korean kids, and Iraqi kids as well. I hate when parents feel the need to just expose their children to only shows with black kids on them cause that can definitely create a superiority complex as well. There's no reason why anyone of a certain race should feel inferior because of their skin color.

@Lumii, I grew up in a very urban part of Houston and I was picked on because I was lighter, I do not think light is right in no way and I shy away from people who think this. I feel so sad people hate because someone is too dark or too light
@Karyn, i agree with you if a child is exposed to all races they will not feel inferior because of their own skin color. I teach my children to love themselves INSIDE and OUTSIDE, and judge people according to their actions and I get flamed for doing so all the time.

That study was very interesting. I think it was sad that the first child did not like his complexion. The boy who made the comments about some people not liking the black kid probably heard that stuff from his parents or maybe not. I try not to expose my kids with that stuff I just let them know that we are all the same and we just look different and if everyone looked the same we would all be very boring. The last girl in the blue shirt was brilliant, she had the best answers and seems to be very smart for her age. I am biracial (half black and half white) and when I was younger I used to hate my complexion. I grew up in a neighborhood where my mother was the only white person so I used to wish that I looked like everyone else complexion and hair wise. As I got older I learned to appreciate my hair and complexion. My kids used to say I was yellow and their dad was purple and they are brown lol.

@Karyn I agree with you 100%.

It is all well and good to limit discussions with children who don't fall in the category of the negativity to the 'everybody is the same,' theory and 'don't judge a book by it's cover," but when you have 60+% to 70+% of children in both race groups and across both age groups spew negative stereotypes about the people that are YOUR complexion, or your children's complexion, a little more attention, effort, and obligation is required to build self-esteem, and self-love...

This was very sad. I'm not surprised either though.

So I did the study with my daughter and she was totally unbiased.

My daughter said:

Dumb child was the white child because she said a bad word. (lol? There's a little girl in her class who says bad words, uh oh!)

The pretty child was the darkest child

The nice child was the middle child

The smart child was the white child

The mean child was the second white child

The cool child was the darkest child

The pretty child was the middle child

As you can see, she's all over the place.

If anyone wants to try the study:

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I also watched all the other videos. I think there were four total. Very sad.

Okay I did the study with my 5 year old and I asked which one is the nice one and he said I don't know they all look the same. Than he said he couldn't see the darkest ones face(his vision isn't that great) but when looked closely said that the darkest child was the nice one. He than said that the lightest child was the bad one and than I realized after that he was just picking them to make sure they all were something different. He didn't want to leave any of them out lol. When he was in pre k3 he was the only black child in his class. The majority was white and there were about 4 asian kids and one indian child. That is partly why I don't try to let him see the difference because I did not want him to feel like an outcast or anything. Thankfully no one treated him different. When he started regular preschool there were about 4 or 5 other children of the same race as him and he did notice because he said that he had friends that were brown like him so he does pay attention to these things but I don't make a big deal out of it. If something comes up were it is necessary to explain something to him than I most definitely will or when he is older when he can understand better.
I did not realize there were other videos, I will have to watch those also.

I watched the report on CNN the other night. It is very depressing to know/ confirm that not much has changed since the original study over 40 years ago. My issue is while we are building up our children to love themselves, to respect themselves and others , society is teaching all children these negative stereotypes. When will the bad actions of one african american person (arab, mexican... any one of color) not be the damnation of the entire race? When one white person commits a crime or does something wrong - the entire race is not labeled as awful. I think when that day happens, the world will be an entirely different place.

I think I am going to try this with my godson.

A's responses were too cute. It's amazing what you will learn from asking random questions.

This isn't surprising at all for a variety of reasons. Just take some of the discussions that we've had in this forum. Why do we NEED to type our hair? Why do we receive negative comments about out hair? Yes, in 2010 with a Black president racism still happens. Did we really need a movie about Good Hair? Do we need movies about the angry black woman or the tired black men? Do we really need to have discussions about which race of women are better? And we wonder why are kids are messed up?

Actually, I'm up early because I have to go to my son's school and talk to the principal, the dean and hopefully the school police about an incident that happened last month where my child was called a nigga by a white student. Yes, I said last month! Why? Because the school refuses to answer my questions. They refuse to tell me what punishment was administered. The child was never suspended, never made to apologize, and the school refuses to coordinate a meeting with both parents. They want me to be ok with this and the fact that the very next day the two boys had to sit next to each other in another class. Again, I'm not surprised at all about this video.

No, I'm not surprise and honestly I don't think we will ever be color-blind or free of racism. When it comes to race we have to deal with each other on a individual basis. I don't fault people for their biaises or what some call prejudice. You can believe or feel whatever you want to feel about me. I don't take away from anyone's experiences - I understand that there are people in this world that make it hard to believe there are good, nice, loving people in it. However, if I, personally, haven't done anything to you then I deserve common human respect. When that is missing then we have a serious problem. You can believe black women are all manner of evil, but if I haven't done all manner of evil to you then you better treat me with the respect you would want me to treat you with.

Wow, SisterBoyd! How old is your son? Please keep us posted on what the outcome is.

I posted this on my FB yesterday. I found it very disturbing and especially interesting that a woman who lives in Georgia is saying her child feels this way because she is not exposed. Come on now. You're in Georgia. I've been there. It's not a white out there. Maybe in some parts, just like other parts have primarily other races. These things are learned, at home, in the media, etc and obviously there's no need to "teach" it. Newday, I think you are exactly right because that IS what happens. Society has always done it and continues to perpetuate the stereotypes. And who is behind that particular machine? That's who needs to be addressed. The drivers, not the bit players.

This was hard to watch but at the same time, like everyone else, it doesn't surprise me not one bit. Racism is still alive and well in this world and as long as it is you'll see children being raised the same way. I don't really agree with mothers who only choose to buy their children African American toys, books, movies or the likes because to me that's still teaching them to prefer one color over another which eventually turns into racism. Remember, your intentions may mean well but children don't follow the same logic as we do so be careful of what you are doing and how you are presenting the message. There's more than one race in this world so why not purchase things of all races and while you're at it teach them how to respect each race with love and kindness, the way God loves us!


We can't only rely on material things like toys, movies, and books to help our children relate to themselves. Children learn from what they hear and see from us. It was really sad to see that young black boy say he didn't like his skin color...why? Does his father live with him to be a living example of a black father figure and something to emulated? We as black people dog our own race and our children hear us! Why would a little black boy want to be black if his mother always talks about his no-good father not paying child support or his father sleeping around? Why would a little black girl want to be black if her mother is constantly gossipping about another black woman calling her a heiffer and what-not?

Here's a better picture: My daughter, 3 years old, wasn't afraid of spiders until she saw my reaction to them. Now she's afraid of them.
What kind of reaction does your child see from you?