Please watch this. It left me completely overwhelmed.

[CatWoman]

Young student's documentary leaving audiences stunned

Kiri Davis is a young filmmaker whose high school documentary has left audiences at film festivals across the country stunned -- and has re-ignited a powerful debate over race.

http://www.komoradio.com/home/video/5001856.html?video=pop&t=a

[villager]

1. thanks. Powerful -- and sad. But, at least Kiri Davis has sparked

a necessary conversation....

[Rosemary2205]

2. Stunning isn't it.

granted the test was only in one small area of NYC and we don't know if it's indicative of the nation as a whole (I suspect it is) - but no child should grow up with the idea that their skin color is "bad".

I had seen this on my local news within the last few weeks and had forgotten about it. To those who do not understand why we still need affirmative action and the congressional black caucus, perhaps his film could shed some light.

[Kookaburra]

3. WOW!!!

Speechless.

[Rose Siding]

4. That is overwhelming

I'm glad Ms Davis made that film.

[sinkingfeeling]

5. I have tears running down my cheeks right now. It breaks my heart

that after all these years, black kids still have the idea that white is 'better' and that they can't be princesses because of their skin color. Why aren't they being taught that in other countries they reign supreme?

[hashibabba]

6. OMG, that is so sad. I can't believe we haven't come nearly as

far as we thought, if at all, have we? Apparently we just know how to keep our prejudices more hidden than we did way back when if little African American kids still think there is something wrong with their color. This is just awful.

[Seen the light]

7. Amazing

I don't even know what to say to that.

[TahitiNut]

8. One of the cruelest crimes against humanity of all ...

... is destroying a child's dreams and hopes for their future. It's a crime that cannot be tolerated.

[Tierra_y_Libertad]

9. Great find! Racism is still the lipsticked elephant in the room. K&R

It's nicely decorated, perfumed, and "respectable", but it's still there, quietly destroying lives.

[ThomCat]

10. It's a damned shame.

:(

Racism is alive and well. No matter how much people want to deny it, or make excuses for it it's blatant. It's so blatant that even young children see it often enough and with enough emphasis that they internalize it. This test proves that.

And some threads here at DU prove racism is alive and well too. :(

[GardeningGal]

11. Wow - brought tears to my eyes. n/t

[applegrove]

12. That is just awful.

[yodermon]

13. i am very surprised to find that i am weeping after seeing this n/t

[UTUSN]

14. My dial-up stops-up and "buffers" forever. n/t

[Swamp Rat]

15. k&r

:cry:

[Straight Shooter]

16. "Which is the doll that looks most like you?" The little girl shoved the black doll toward Kiri.

Almost every question that was asked, the children would pick up the white doll, but in this instance the little girl looked like she was in serious conflict, and then she just shoved the black doll toward Kiri, did not even pick it up, it was so distasteful to her to identify herself with that black doll.

Those children are so gorgeous, they're beautiful, and they can't even see it.

:cry:

[IndyOp]

17. Link to complete film on Google - "A Girl Like Me"

http://video.google.com/videoplay?docid=1091431409617440489

Devastating. Not unexpected.

[phylny]

18. What killed me was the little girl who was asked,

"Which one looks like you?" and the girl touched the white doll twice tentatively, then resigned, chose the other, correct doll.

Breaks my heart.

[ms liberty]

19. Heartbreaking...

I feel sick that the results of this experiment still mirror the findings from so long ago. Have we learned nothing?

Remember a month or two ago the test that was posted here that claimed to be able to detect bias? I think it was a Harvard test. I took the one on race. At the end, it said my score showed me to be 'slightly' more favorable to people with darker skin...in other words it told me that I showed more prejudice against white people than people of color. I was so relieved, and thankful that it showed me to be as unbiased to color as I have always felt myself to be. I'm a southern white woman - my family have been southern americans on both sides for almost 250 years; my father is quite bigoted, but my mother never was, and she was the parent who raised me. I'm proud of my southern heritage, although I can't feel pride for the bigotry and hate that has been associated with the south, and practiced by some southerners; but I also feel anger sometimes. I think that by pinning it as a 'southern' thing, we've provided an excuse for the rest of the country to avoid the realization that bigotry knows no geographic location, and bigots can be and are, found anywhere in this country, and the world.

I grew up in Tampa, and went to school with people of all colors...even before desegregation (which started when I was in elementary school), mainly because of the large Cuban population. Even in the 60's, Tampa was multicultural, and multinational for that matter. I grew up believing that quote of MLK's that people should be judged by the content of their character rather than the color of their skin.

I thought we were farther along the path than this video shows. I've always felt that it might take a couple or three generations to purge ourselves of this form of discrimination. I'd begun to hope that we might be moving faster than that. Here in the rural NC county where I live and was born, I see a lot of young people now who are dating or married to someone of another race. This would have been unheard of even 20 years ago.

But I guess we're not as far along as I thought. This upsets me more than I can articulate.

I appreciate your posting this. I don't like it, but we have to face the issues...ignoring them, and sweeping them under the rug will only postpone our ability to get beyond it and come to a day of fairness, justice and equality for all people. And children won't grow up learning to view themselves as 'bad'.

I hope no one takes offense, or flames me for expressing myself here, or for sharing some of my history and my thoughts. I offer them in sincerity, and honesty. I want us all to live in a better world. And I'm devastated that even in this, we're not progressing as a nation.

[Sequoia]

20. Unreal

When I was in first grade my grandmother returned from the store and said she didn't get me a baby doll because the only one left was a black baby. I told her I would've wanted it anyway. Her answer was something like white girls don't play with black dolls, only black was not the word of choice.

Years later I was at Toys R Us to get a doll for my little girl. The only one left was..you guessed it...a black doll. I got it for her anyway and she played with it. She was like 2 or 3 and I wanted her to learn to love all children of color. I told her we were all God's children and one color was not better than the other.

What a sad movie this was. The little girl picking out the doll that was more like her even after she had chosen it as the bad doll. Just heartbreaking.

[ms liberty]

21. Thank you - this is a great story you've told here...

It makes me feel a little better to hear it. It's 5:56 pm as I write this, and I'm still haunted by that video. I feel such anger and sadness...so much injustice, visited upon the innocents. Thanks for lifting it, if only a little bit. We can get past this, someday, but it takes people like you and me teaching our children a different and better way of thinking.

[Sequoia]

25. Thank you.

I forget what doll it was I gave to my child. It was back around 1998 or so and she'd wanted it. I must say I hesitated at first but thought back to when I was a little tyke, so said to myself, a doll is a doll, and a kid's a kid. She didn't mind one bit and took that doll everywhere. The looks on some people's faces was priceless. She now has an American Doll her neighbor friend got for her with tan skin.

[donco6]

24. Good for you.

What a good start for your daughter.

[Quixote1818]

22. I would be careful calling this video conclusive

I think this needs more testing under different circumstances. I would like to see what the results would be in a country or tribe that only knows Black people or where blacks run the government. You might still get the same result.

I have heard that referees tend to give more favorable calls to the team dressed in white even if they are primarily black players and tend to rule against the team dressed in black even if they are primarily white players.

I am not sure this is a racial thing or a color thing. The color black often perceived as bad and the color white as pure and from heaven. If you had 21 white kids I bet 1/3rd would pick the black baby. It may be that 2/3rd of most people just prefer the color white to the color black. If you put a black checker and a red checker on the table 2/3rd of kids would probably pick the red checker. Would that mean they are prejudice against Indians? Probably not.


I don't think this was done scientifically or with enough tests to give a conclusive result as to what is going on here.

On Edit: I would also like to see a test where their is a Native American doll and an Oriental Doll to chose from. I know those little Indian dolls with the feather in their hair were very popular when I was growing up. I am a male but if I had several different dolls out in front of me and one had a really cool feather and head band I would have picked that one. If their was a black GI Joe on the table I would have picked that over a white Ken doll.

[donco6]

23. Kick - please take time to watch this short film.

Man - that's just so sad. Especially the little boy who said, "Because it's white!"

[malaise]

26. No surprise

The self esteem of young Afro-American children is destroyed daily. Most images of their people are negative. I remember my aunt giving me a doll looking like me real early. It annoyed my mum but did wonders for me.