"Why are they black?" Video

Taeti

There's a video going around called "Why are they Black?" Where a white white (European?) girl is in a park with her white mother. In case you haven't seen it and don't want to look it up, here's the jist:

White girl sees a black girl playing with some kind of pottery wheel and a black mother watching her from a bench. White girl asks her own mom, who's on the phone, why they are black, which gets the black mother and daughters attention. White mom gets off the phone and scolds her daughter for asking

"Sarah, don't say that!". White girl- "But why are they black?". Mom goes off on a touchy-feely speech about how black is beautiful, which it absolutely is, and God made them first, which yes the first people were black. She says God made his "first baby black" and fell in love with it. Mom also says black is "pure". While this is happening people say black mom is glaring at the white mom but that's probably just her face in my opinion. Then white girl looks disappointed or "like she's second best" as one commenter put it and asks why they're white. White mom pauses and says God was walking through a park and saw one of his black children making a doll from white clay and had gotten covered in the clay *camera pans over to black girl playing with pottery wheel* "God was amused by this" and made white people, or as she puts it "all the shades of white" which I guess includes all the other ethnicities? White mom then goes on to say "but inside we all are Black. We all are same". White girl smiles over to black mother and her daughter and walks over to them I guess to play with the black girl.

Poll question is what do ya'll think of this video? I'm needing a controversial topic to write over and this video could do.

Would you teach your kids this exact message or would you change it up?

Do you like that she used religion in her message?

Would you prefer something more scientific?

Do you feel she lied to her daughter either by adding religious views into her explanation, or because she didn't quote the bible at all?

If you would change anything what would it be or would/have you used a different explanation? Share if you want! I need secondary opinions for my paper. Add anything else you'd like to say too. Appreciate it ladies!

1.2k views • 0 upvotes • 39 comments

COMMENT (39)

li

Posted at
I watched that recently and it was the most cringe worthy thing I've seen in a while. I felt like it was a racist trying not to be racist, like really really hard. It was almost embarrassing to watch. 

li

li • Oct 25, 2016
I wonder how the black actress felt while filming this.

te

terra • Oct 25, 2016
^ that part was wild, but that's exactly how I felt after watching it.

Ta

Taeti • Oct 25, 2016
The way it was taken was pretty weird but I think what she's saying is pretty weird too. maybe like a different message is have a speech for this type of stuff ready instead of making it up on the spot.

te

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that video is absolutely atrocious.

te

terra • Oct 25, 2016
😂😂😂 exactly!

Ta

Taeti • Oct 25, 2016
I laughed when I heard that part. I was thinking 'ok because there's no light, or?'

te

terra • Oct 25, 2016
My number one reason is because of the inaccuracies. I don't care about the religion people raise their children in, but disseminating a video so preposterous is my threshold. My second reason is I don't believe everyone is black "on the inside". That's just foolish.

🏳

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This is a pretty important thing to teach kids about so they don't end up racist and ignorant, so I really don't think lying and sugar coating things will do kids any good. Just tell them how it is and teach them to be respectful. How was something like "everyone is simply different and that's okay" not enough of an answer for a young child? That's probably less confusing anyway. 

Ce

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I saw that today. That's certainly not we explained it to our son. I understand that the overall message was to teach children to accept all races, but I feel this specific story was akin to telling your child that the stork delivers babies instead of just telling them the about reproduction. Religion aside, why not just tell them the truth? You're never too young for the truth, even if it's "dumbed down".

Ta

Taeti • Oct 25, 2016
For a 5 yo that's a nice way to put it I think. Thx

Ce

Ce • Oct 25, 2016
When it came time to explain it to our son, who realized I looked different from him and his other mother because I'm white and she's not, we gave a mini lesson about melanin and how it's means nothing about the person. We also compared it to why some of his kitties are black, while the other is grey another brown. They're all still cats and regardless of the color they had their own individual personalities, but we still love all the cats the same. He was 5 at the time so that seemed easier to understand than biology, but I still feel that's better than making absurd statements about how we're all black on the inside.

Ce

Ce • Oct 25, 2016
I don't have an issue with adding religion, I am religious more so than my wife. I just put emphasis on that God allowed us to understand his creations to a degree, but that's my personal beliefs.

✈️

Posted at
Ok I pulled it up. That was…awkward. I got nothing. 

li

li • Oct 25, 2016
It was awkward and soooo weird lol

🖤

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I just watched it and it was the most bizarre thing I've ever seen in my life. I have no other comments on it because it was so fuckin awkward to watch. 

T

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That's so awkward.

Li

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I think this is, strange. But explain things to your kids how you want. It's not further a stretch run the whole babies come out your belly button crap people tell their kids.

Tr

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I couldn't even get through it, I was cringing so hard. 

Da

Posted at
My kid once asked me why a man she saw was black, so I asked her why she had blue eyes and I had brown ones. She giggled, and we had a brief conversation about how everyone looks different from one another. For small children, I think that's usually plenty. When they get older, they can be introduced to the cultural and historical significance of ethnicity, but little kids are just learning to categorize things and enjoy pointing out differences and similarities. That video sounds obnoxious and weirdly racist.