Scrolling through Youtube while on my way home from a trip to Destin, Florida, I came across a disturbing video called “Doll Test”. This nine minute video featured a man asking several black children questions regarding a black and a white baby doll. These children answered questions such as which doll is pretty or ugly, and which doll is bad or nice. I was shocked and saddened at the answers, but then the man asked a child why was the doll he picked seemed ugly and he answered “he’s black”. This video, and the comments of the children were shocking to me. It also drew memories from of mind from similar incidents. During a coloring activity with the Kindergarten at Boys and Girls Club, I asked the children what color should the hand be,and they all shouted to me “White” ; they were the surest they could be. A young, around third or fourth grade, complimented me with a “you’re pretty.” I opened my mouth to tell her thank you before she blurted out that it was because I’m ‘light-skinned’. When I told her she was pretty as well, she shook it off because she was ‘black’. …show more content…
These events impacted me so much because it also made me think about how I used to treat my youngest sister Alaila. This is turn made me realize how I too view myself and others. Alaila is the lightest member of her immediate family, her mother, father, and all her siblings significantly darker than her. We all used to pick on her for her skin color, and she become raging mad and throw crying fit. I never understood why she be so hurt about until now. She was hurt because she didn’t like being different from everyone else. She didn’t feel like she belonged and she could never shake it because we were constantly reminding her that she wasn’t. I was teaching my little sister that she wasn’t ‘right’ just because she was a different color than