Black Hollywood Sucks at Discussing Colorism

By:  BlackConservative93

Grown-ish is not a bad show honestly, even though I am a conservation and to a degree the themes and plots are overdramatic as it fails in my opinion to relate to the average black girl.  I never met a black girl who was preachy about #BlackLivesMatter or more racial conscious than me.  Regardless of my criticism, I liked the show for its eye candy stars Yara Shahidi and the twins, Chloe x Halle.

For most dark skin girls who were drawn to this spin-off of Black-ish, it fails to portray dark skin girls and both series fail in discussing colorism and interracial relationships.  For the episode of Grown-ish titled “It’s Hard Out Here For a Pimp” (season 1, episode 10), the twins are at a party and are annoyed with the abundance of interracial couples, particularly with black men with…yes, you guessed it white women.

One of Zoey’s (Yara Shahidi) love interests, Aaron (Trevor Jackson) realizes that he is color struck for light skin Afro-Arab women, yet in reality it puzzles me on why this is an issue when both twins could be concerned light skin as well.  Everyone knows that Aaron’s crush is still Zoey who in real-life is Afro-Arab, yet in the Black-ish series she is a product of a black father and biracial mother.  So, the episode falls flat even harder when it is discovered that Aaron has a light skin mother.  Then, it is not self-hate?

The episode also blamed dating apps for not finding matches based off of race and skin tone.  As I mentioned in an article a couple months, black women are not techno-savvy with online dating and they need some work.  I am not the only one noticing this problem, hence vloggers like Christelyn Karazin and Chrissie have discussed ways for black women to find Mr. Right online.  In my opinion, black women are behind in the online dating pool due to these reasons:

• Lack of interest (They get the app just for fun.)
• Weak profiles (Yeah, one picture is not convincing me that she is even a real person.)
• No life (If all their pictures are in the bathroom or house then she has no life.)
• Not truthful
• Homeless (Yes, it is a real problem in finding girls using dating apps for a free place to stay in exchange for sex.)
• Weight (Unfortunately, it is a turnoff, it does not make me or less of man for being with them. These women need to stop using their weight as a charity case.)

Yet, the problem with these overdramatic episodes of colorism or black men’s dating preferences is that my views or the conservative perspective is ignored, yet being a critical contributor to the discussion is the very reason for me being a writer.  Granted, white and mixed girls are seen as trophies to black men, yet in my observations I do not see the lonely dark skin girl who never gets a man.  These days black women seem to stay in relationships or at least have options.

The other side of the coin has to be shown as the truth reveals that not all black men have options even if they want light skin or white girls.  Secondly, black women need to stop blaming random black male celebrities for the supposed increase of interracial relationships.  I remember black media outlets calling out Tiger Woods for not having a black girlfriend; sure, he has a problem, but then again he is a lame.  I highly doubt he is attending galas and press conferences where black women are common.  Where are the black golf wives of the Masters or PGA Tour?  Despite the endorsements and money made, golf is not a sport that is popular in the black community and there is no notoriety for black women to even want to be a part of those circles.  So, I would conclude that black women are single because they are not just limiting their racial dating pool, but they also only want black men to be either athletes or thugs.

Before Grown-ish or Black-ish can tackle colorism again, they need to put dark skin women accountable for playing into stereotypes, such as being fat, ugly, man-ish and baby mommas.  Maury does not have a shortage of black women willing and waiting to show their ass on television looking for their fathers or baby daddies.  Black television shows need to stop attacking black men for their dating preferences.  First off, how can Jazz and Sky (the twins) be mad at them when they go to a predominantly white institution?  Despite the success of the show, it is running on thin ice as like most liberal shows (targeting teens) mixed women end up as the universal voice of black women.  Hopefully, season 2 will be damage control for the need of dark skin actresses as many fans have demanded on Twitter.

Unfortunately, liberals are creating their own problem in promoting colorism as this same issue was brought up by The Grapevine review of Dear White People.  Mixed/light skin/foreign women have been the voice of African Americans from Zendaya, Tessa Thompson, Cardi B, Beyonce, Halle Berry, Lisa Bonet, Amandla Stenberg, Rihanna, Jurnee Smollett-Bell and the list can go on; yet Hollywood is failing dark skin girls when young actresses like Ryan Destiny (Star), Keke Palmer, Letitia Wright (Black Panther), Skai Jackson, Tanyell Waiver (Ma), Milauna Jackson, Justine Skye and of course the list will go on.  But before any black platform can blame black men they need to look at who they are casting as black.