Wow, that was POWERFUL! I can't wait to see the entire documentary.

Looks to be a great documentary when it comes out. I also commend you on the editing. GREAT JOB!

damn i want to see this film!!

As Black women/people we still have a deep rooted shame about whom and what we are and what we look like. Our feelings about good and bad hair are part of the ongoing internalized slavery that we act out on self, our children and others. This is just not academic; it is emotional trauma. We have to surrender to a therapeutic process to heal it. If you can not go outside with nappy hair then you have been institutionalized about beauty.



This is not to say that black women who relax their hair are not beautiful but if you don’t have an emotional choice and feel that nappy hair is ugly then you have a problem. I stopped relaxing my hair when I was 14 and now I am 57 and will die with nappy hair. My grown daughter wears her hair nappy and I did not want her to see me wearing my hair relaxed when she was a child. I am also paper bag brown so I grew up in a somewhat safe space ( not too dark/insane) lets heal this and it starts on the inside first:
I want to see the whole documentary: When ????????????

I watch all kind of documentaries about the African American's and I see now that this reason "is no different to what were are facing all over the world. And that is and will be slavery consequence and how we portray are selfs during the aftermath. I hope within the 100 hundred years we as (any) people of color. Can break that chain again as we seem to no see them doesn't mean it isn't there. Mather a fact this is the result of ignore that mentality slavery with in the mind.

Black is beautiful.

jez, what happens with people. im white but i love black people the same. i think to have that chocolate colour on ur skin is what God made u special. black is beautiful

Wow...I can't wait to see this!!

Speechless! When can we see the whole film???

wow this is heart breaking shocking but real. This subject needs to be addressed and spoken about. The shooting editing is amazing. will this be released in the UK. I didnt think that you had this issue in the states. I just thought it was a UK thing

Great video! I would love to show this on my channel! It's a network for women of color.

So there comes a time with every artist where they feel a sense of jealousy at another for making the art they always wanted to make. This looks amazing and very well done, please take my professional jealousy as a sign of deep respect.

re damn diculous.......so unaware that this is still an issue that we even acknowledge.....get a life people it is 2011, btw get some self esteem too
a Dark skinned girl

This was awesome! Thank you

My hair is standing on my arms!! Thank you so much for this video. I was just having a conversation yesterday about the mean comments people say when speaking to me without even realizing how hurtful it is. Ex: How many times has a lighter skinned person told me they are trying to get out the sun b/c they don't want to get black! WAIT - black like me? SMH! I can relate to wanting to scrub the black off. Those days are long gone and I'm so proud to be a melanated sister!

Pretty Good..... as for me, I never knew what side of the color wheel I was on... am I brown enough, or too light to be accepted? I think this all depends on where you live and how you were raised, and most of all I think that once we as Black people learn to unify, we can then learn to accept each other. Dark Skinned girls/women used to pick on me all the time and would examine my hair (which they still do) to see if it its really mine... I remember ppl would say that I was light and I would deny it. I accept who I am now! And Thank God for making me different... not having to prove, answer to, compare myself to anybody!!!!! Everybody was picked on....not only did black women pick on my color they also would pick on me for being too small saying "black women aren't shaped like me"... I thank God for the comments made to me, because I'm stronger, wiser, smarter because of it....

Wow, I truly can not wait to see the whole movie, very good stuff. I really want to make a documentary on black people and how many of them deem natural black hair as ugly, especially after an argument I had with my mother about me letting my hair grow out and her seeing it as ugly but my sister's relaxed straight her is beautiful.

It pains me heavily as someone who's very prideful in being myself and in being black to hear comments like that and this whole thing about dark skin being unacceptable is highly problematic and a danger to our race as people. There's so much brainwashing and self hate to the point that anything deemed naturally black is deemed as ugly or even our roots being seen as sinful.

I can totally relate to some of those stories and am saddened that this is still going on in the Black Community.The self-hate and brainwashing about what is real beauty is still alive and well..
When is this coming out and where can we see it??

this made me cry , because when i was little i used to get this same treatment even though my mother is a fair skinned woman

I can't relate,..I long for the summer so I can layout and get my chocolate tan. People look at me like I'm crazy on the beach but the regulars know and are use to me.
I hate what the winter does to my complexion. I'll keep praying for all the dark skin girls that arnt aware yet. All the complexions are beautiful,... all of them.

Check out my blog article which addresses these issues surrounding the skin color and hair texture of black women. It has photos, videos, and poems. I would use this as a teaching tool for young African-Americans. Takes 1-2 hrs to view all the materials...10 videos, 2poems, 2 short articles. meeshe011.blogspot.com/2011/05/skin-color-and-hair-texture-black.html

Here is a link to a discussion about the blog posting on Huffington Post's Facebook page:
facebook.com/topic.php?uid=18468761129&topic=18857

Mr. Duke doesn't pull any punches with his work. This is no exception. Right on the nose. His Faces of HIV production is equally as direct. Tieuel Legacy! Motion

It saddens me to know that we are still locked in the slave mentality when it comes to viewing ourselves as attractive or beautiful. My mother is dark skinned, and I remember her pointing out a girl across the street, saying that she was pretty as she had 'good hair' and was light skinned. That hurt me so much, which was strange as she was darker than me with shorter hair length! I just couldn't understand why those were important. I am an 'inbetweener', but I AM BLACK! I used to wish I was darker as my skin colour changes with the weather. In the winter it goes patchy and only when I got a lovely even dark colour in the summer did I like it. I love my colour now and have never thought of anyone as less than me if they were darker in fact I used to envy the darker girls. We need to teach our children to love themselves and our race with all of our beautiful diversities.

This was difficult to watch. I was a little dark girl who grew up in the south. I experienced every emotion depicted in this preview. I cannot believe how much it still pains me to relive those moments. However, I thank God that I learned to see myself through the eyes of love and not the eyes of ignorance. I am beautiful!

Looking forward to the full documentary. However, I was not crazy about the how it left me hanging, in this place of melancholy~~the blues mindset this preview projected.

We all have stories about this form of self-hatred, not just within the Black Community but in every ethnic group on this planet. There is a theme song: "I am not good enough, here is why, and I have proof." Within the Black community, although it is generally accepted and understood that it started with slavery, others believe it is institutionalized racism and the white supremacy mindset that has been left unchecked and intact since the enslaved were freed that feeds into an inherited sense of not being enough.

I do hope to see interwoven in the documentary a rhythm that can be felt from deep within (for that is where the change has to take place) that we are like the stars in the sky, numerous, each uniquely and radiant and that shines within us is the Love the created us all.

As the saying goes, "beauty is in the eye of the beholder," wanting to be seen as aesthetically beautiful can be a trap and a way to validate and reinforce a sense of unworthiness that is the root cause of pain and suffering that begins when the consciousness of self begins to unfold.

Beauty is an attribute of Love to be experienced in the moment. Although a physical attribute can be perceived, judged, preferred, etc., it can only be seen from within the lens of self. Simply stated, you see and react to what you believe and most of the beliefs are hidden. In watching this preview, the universe presented to me yet another opportunity to look at and experience those unquestioned/unexamined beliefs.

When its all looked at, I keep coming back to the same place: I am God's* Beloved Child with Whom it is Well Pleased.

*Universe, Diving Love, etc.

thanks so much for this video. i look forward to the entire film and hope there is a balance to show that those of us who grew up in conscious environments who didn't experience this ... we exist as well.

it's amazing how superficial human beings are though we're supposed to be the intelligent species. color of one bodily organ? not realizing that melanin is beneficial both aesthetically and practically? ignoring that who a person is has nothing to do with color of skin? we may as well be orangutans with such low order thinking.

it's also interesting how the cycle works: society decides that dark is ugly rather than lovely, so over time even dark people internalize it. their internalization decreases their self-esteem (even though we all know their worth isn't limited to skin). low self esteem drops their head and makes them shrink back. that lack of confidence in turn validates the false notions of their worth. and the cycle continues.

come quickly, LORD!

btw ... the dad and mom of the little girl who said "'cause she black" etc. should be ashamed not just for failing to teach their child about verbs but for failing to combat the terrible notions about color she obviously adopted :(

also ,,, i've heard that "i'm not black i'm caribbean" and "i'm not black i'm spanish" stuff. it's bizarre considering that 95% of slaves were taken to parts of the hemisphere other than north america! if anything, it's they who are the MOST black and the americans who are watered down.

Shades of Black is a beautiful children's book by Sandra L. Pinkney and Myles C. Pinkney. It is celebrating all of our wonderful differences and making us proud to be us and not ashamed. I brought if for my daughter, but used it in school with children of all races to aid me in teaching them that even though we all look different we are, beautifully unique. Irregardless of our appearance we should think anyone is better than anyone else. I am of mixed parentage and I have enough love in me for myself and others to be humbled by God's wonderful human race.

i just have to ask WHO ARE THESE PEOPLE who are still in this mindset? who the heck are the colorstruck folks that so damaged these women ... and where do they live???!!!

by God's grace, my family cast off these notions GENERATIONS ago.

i just want to shake the crazies who continue to insist on passing this madness on to their kids.

who the heck ARE they???

smh.

Wow...this was so profound. As a girl in the middle not light or dark, I personally have never experienced this sort of treatment, although ,I was definitely aware of the acute Colorism within OUR community, this was so difficult to watch...why are we still inflicting so much pain on each other over skin color...we are all Beautiful...every amazing hue of Blackness is indeed Beautiful...and to see that yet another generation is buying into the lighter is better scenario is really heartbreaking.

Growing up, I always had a positive image of myself. My father always told me how pretty mt brown skin was. He knew that the world might try to make me think differently. His wisdom and love allowed me to see that we brown/black girls are indeed pretty and just as good. Im in the middle of releasing my very first children's book. How ironic that I would come across this preview. Check us out at : browngirlsareprettytoo.com !

I very much look forward to this documentary, and especially sharing it with my friends and my audience.

Watching this video took me back to a place that I've been reflecting on the past few weeks.

As a teenager I was a tall, lanky *no curves to save my life. Think Popeye's Olive Oil. :)* dark-skinned girl who always had her head buried in a book. I was not exactly the standard of beauty for teenage boys. What was the most hurtful was being rejected by black boys. There was nothing special about me in their eyes. I wasn't fair, did not have light eyes and my hair wasn't especially long. I was just black. Nothing "exotic" to speak of. Even more horrifying, I was unfortunate enough to be a "homely" dark girl without the proverbial "ghetto booty." If you're homely and black, the least you can do is have "junk in your trunk."


Those awkward teenage years were exacerbated by:

a) the lack of beauty role models with my skin tone, body type and hair texture;

and

b) the bully who made it his business to torture me.

My bully was an overweight and tar-baby-dark guy who girls completely ignored. As author Richard Sennet points out in Respect in a world of inequality, “The condition of "not being seen" had produced a desire to avenge." Truer words were never spoken as it related to this situation. To make matters worse, this bully saw in me his most hated feature. Every day he was forced to confront the thing about himself that caused him the most grief (his skin color).

As a teen, I did not have the knowledge of self to know that his issues with me ran deeper than he cared to realize. I was only the face of his problems and therefore an easy target to confront. His real issues stemmed from generations of black self-hate that was encouraged during times of slavery when the darker slaves were relegated to picking cotton and working in the fields while the lighter ones (those who more closely resembled their European masters - usually as a result of interracial rape) were able to remain as house slaves and have the opportunity to be educated.

Since I did not have that wisdom, my years were spent trying to get me to a standard of beauty that would be valued. Day in and day out I prayed and begged God to give me the type of butt that black boys would appreciate. While I had the butt aspect covered with God, I used Ambi (and some of you probably know it well) religiously and with the urgency of a death row inmate eating his last meal. As for the hair, I had that covered with a combination of hot combs, relaxers, and braids. Whatever style would make me seem more attractive.

It wasn't until years later (hello Black Studies classes in college!) that I had the strength to confront my color demons and work through the self-hate. While I was fortunate enough to have that opportunity, I've often wondered whether my bully had the same chance. I hope it's true, but who knows. You can't combat issues that you never actually acknowledge. As the say in AA (or so TV tells me), the first step is admitting you have a problem.

Of the issues that I am dealing with today, I'm happy to report that my outside beauty is no longer one of them - mostly. While I do have those rare moments when my thoughts are transferred back to those teenage years, it never lasts for long. For those moments, I surround myself with uplifting scriptures, poems and songs.

For those sisters in the documentary, I send prayers and good thoughts that they can internalize the lesson of 1 Samuel 16:7 The LORD does not look at the things people look at. People look at the outward appearance, but the LORD looks at the heart.”

Thanks,

M
everythingiric.com

This is so inspiring. i can't wait to watch it and then help to promote it to everyone i know.

Too bad I didnt learn about this until I went to college.Our babies need to see documentaries like this one,it broke my heart to see the maybe 5 or 6 year-old girl in the film to point out that the dumb,ugly girl had the darkest skin,poor baby.Afraid to know what she thinks about herself as such a young age....smh!

Can't wait to finish seeing this film!

Great piece and needed. Keep doing what you do.

I deeply CELEBRATE my dark skin!!!!! YES! However, I too prayed to have lighter skin when I was growing up! That was before I learned that I am the mother of all creation. I was the first. My skin is the beginning. Ashe' I share about this in my workbook, Celebrate HER NOW! YES! Thank you for this documentary! Thank YOU! Ashe.

lulu.com/content/paperback-book/celebrate-her-now/241548

Hello there,

I am interested in having tis film at my film festival this year. We are the Roxbury International Film Festival and we are locate in Boston MA. Our festival is July 28-31st. Please contact me at tbrownrff@gmail.com

Thanks,

Terri Brown
RIFF Progeam Manager
roxburyfilmfestival.org

is this directed by THE Bill Duke...or just coincidence?

officialbillduke.com/

wait, IT IS!!!! sooooooo awesome!!!!

Great Work.

I love Black People, Black woman.. Dark Woman, who show the world their beautiful skin and Curls, Locks, Fros, real hair.. beautiful black women... I LOVE YOU, God Loves you.. so please love yourselves... this documentary Looks very good, well put together, I will watch the entire thing when it is released . Pace... -yah

man this is brilliant; i would have opened the video up w/that ignorant dude saying he doesn't like dark skinned girls though...

but this is brilliant either way. kudos.

Chilling...I had no idea this was an issue. Hope to see this film soon!

Wonderful work! This trailer brought tears to my eyes.

To those who commented that the women in this documentary need to get self esteem, thank you for giving a real time example of the pain of this issue. Your lack of compassion illustrates a core issue in the black community. These women are sharing their most painful experience with the world and I commend them for their honesty and courage.

For those who spoke about the challenges of being light skinned and teased by dark skinned girls, I say to you...we all have been teased for being different. I offer that those dark skinned girls who tormented you were also facing challenges. Being perceived as ugly, having bad hair, dirty skin, not getting dates... I'm sure they took their pain out on you and that is unfortunate for us all because it tears us all apart. But, the subject of this particular documentary is not about the pain of being a light skinned woman in this country. This documentary is the untold story of the Dark skinned women in this country.

To hear that Black Man say he doesn't want a dark skinned woman on his arm, and to hear one of the women say that she only was pursued by black men in secret was so sad.

Human beings all want to be validated and respected. That's all. When we are able to see the beauty in everyone, to forgive and to love ourselves unconditionally we can heal everything.

I'm a dark girl and I was told I was ugly by some ignorant black people. Some were dark skinned and some were light. But, my Mother, my Aunties, my father and sister told me I was beautiful, intelligent, with a big heart and could accomplish anything I set my mind to, and I believed my family.

The most heartbreaking part of this clip was the little girl who associated being dark with everything negative. It's important to show that black is beautiful in all shades. Why do people yearn to get tan? Interesting. Telling these stories is so important because it exposes the fear and ignorance and causes it to just evaporate. Seeing the young girl talk about natural hair being "dirty" just made feel sorry for her ignorance.

It's the 21st century, time to heal the wounds of slavery within the black community, unite and embrace one another in sister and brotherhood. Work thru our differences, only then can we expect to be able to work on our differences with the rest of the world and achieve inner and outer peace.

I remember as a young girl, sitting around the Thanksgiving table in the South, my grandfather, who was dark-skinned and married to my grandmother, who could pass for white, with 3 similarly complexioned daughters, remarked that I was the darkest one in the family. I distinctly remember jumping up from the table and running, crying down the hall...distraught over the remark. I used to ask my mother why my grandmother and aunts were white and my grandfather and my dad were dark? Why was I dark? (and my grandfather was actually darker-skinned than me). That remark hurt me to the core and to this day, I remember that feeling like it was yesterday.

I love my complexion today. I'm medium brown, with longer relaxed hair...I kind of feel like I straddle two worlds...the dark-skinned girl and the "wanna-be type". I can't wait for this film to be released. I have a teenaged brown-skinned daughter, whom I've never broached this subject with. We live in California, in an area where we are minority. I'm interested to know what her experience has been and how she views herself. I think she is beautiful.

While I appreciate the effort and the message of this film... I don't agree with the timing and the topic.

Briefly, the problem is bigger than skin color. Black people as a whole need to develop love for black culture... history, language, mannerism, etc.... and find strength and freedom in that LOVE. From there, love for skin color and other difference will follow.

Thank you.

Great work ! finally some one post some good stuff on vimeo!

Devils Advocate : If a black man prefers a woman with a light skin....how exactly is he brainwashed or Ignorant?

I wonder, just because women can cry out, does it make any more suffering than Dark-skin Men?
Isn't this skin issue same across genders? Why is made such a big gender issue by the feminists?

This video hits so close to home. As an dark-skinned woman I have heard it all. Felt the pain of being pushed to the side or left out because of complexion. This was not committed by other races it was by other black folks. As the only dark-skinned female in my family for a long time, it was diffult being "you are so pretty for a dark skinned girl". I look forward to the release!

Man, this is POWERFUL! The woman with the white hair really brought it home for me. I have ppl from other cultures who tell me CONSTANTLY how beautiful my skin is...CONSTANTLY!! Yet my ppl see no beauty in me. I don't believe I've ever had a man tell me I was beautiful. No black man, anyway. I came close to it a few years ago...I now sport natural hair. A "TWA" (teenie weenie afro) and the brother behind the counter WHISPERED to me "I like your hair. I wish more sistas would wear their hair like you." OMG. This is sooo sad and I'm sorry that it this thinking is STILL with us. Lawd, who will comfort me. Lawd, help us all.

Sooo looking forward to this release!!
Good work Chan!

Great documentary! I can't wait to see the final production. I've experienced this from both ends of the color spectrum of my race...being too light to some and being called really dark skinned by those who were much lighter than I. But I love myself including my complexion!

Wow. Amazing and really moving. Those women are gorgeous and I hope making this movie helps.

Beautiful Simply, Simply Beautiful

'Dark Girls' will be an excellent spotlight on a long overdue issue affecting the black community, colorism and racist. Big up to Bill Duke. I HAVE TO BLOG THIS! popwife.com/2011/05/watch-dark-girls-documentary-trailer-video/

Dark Girls!! Cant wait to see it!!

My daughter who is 20 sent this to me and I am glad that she did. Me being a Chocolate sister from California my father was military and I grew up with high self esteem. I am dark with long hair so I got my fair share growing up but it did make me stronger....

this shit is crazy........ none of this mattered to me until i started dating .....almost all of the women in my family are some shade of brown...... leaning towards the dark side.... one woman that i dated in particular made me VERY aware of the issues darker skin women deal with..... her level of self esteem / self worth had an effect / affect on me in our relationship..... she had issues with her hair, size of her lips, the build of her body ( look good to me) ....it added to the list of regular problems....on top of me working with women as a stylist & make up artist...then i dated a woman whose skin tone was right on the thin line.... she would tell me how the girls @ spelman pretty much tried to make her choose what side of the color line she was on...... then i fooled around with a very light skin woman that told me that black / dark skin people treated her like she wasnt black enough..... then when i started teaching i saw what lil girls do to each other in school..... HAIR & SKIN COLOR are the main topics / reasons for almost every fight.....

Wonderfully produced and powerfully displayed! I'd be interested to hear some Black men's experiences as well, knowing my own challenges as a child. Great job!

This needs to be talked about as much as possible within our own communities. We really act like it doesn't exist when I see it every day on the streets and within mainstream and Black-run media. In my own documentary, The Black Girl Project (blackgirlproject.com), one of the young women I interviewed talks about buying bleaching cream when she was 7/8 years old. It's really horrible how we treat one another, particularly when there is so much stacked up against us.

Looks great. This really hit home.Growing up I've always heard "she's pretty for a black girl" or the most hurtful of all time "Is she adopted?".Even though I have a very diverse family,The stigma is still thick,couldn't fit in with my mothers family as they all have long flowing "asian" texture hair and in attempt to stop drawing "negative" attention to myself they proceeded to solve this with giving me a perm! My father's family although shared my woolly hair texture are an extremely lightskinned set of people,my significantly darker hue drew all sorts of whisperings and atrocities.That being said I fully accept myself and my characteristics for what they are,I don't hold any grudges against my family either,deep down I'm sure they all meant well,hear no evil,see no evil.

Wow. Powerful. Thank you!

Powerful and emotional! Can't wait to see the final documentary. Great work.

Wow I found this absolutely heartbreaking! I feel that dark skinned black women are the most beautiful. But I have seen this prejudice from Jamaica to London to New England to LA. Someday we will all see he beauty of the entire spectrum of skin color.

This will be a potent and emotionally charged documentary. When we will see it and how wide spread will its availability is more to the question...

Slavery created a continuing Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder among the Black community and the symptoms of mental illness that it spawn are rarely, if ever, addressed on a wider community level.

The sickness in the hearts and minds of far too many African Americans of whose skin color runs the gamut (as very light skinned Blacks also get a social drubbing) will be hard to heal, when it's not publicly acknowledged as mental illness from PTSD that needs to be treated.