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As the saying goes, you can’t help who you love. And while that saying is often used when speaking about romantic relationships, it also works for platonic ones, too.
When you find someone who you can relate to and have a strong connection with, I think we would all agree that their race doesn’t matter and isn’t a deterrent to forming a bond with them. That’s also the mindset of singer Justine Skye, who is close friends with many of young Hollywood’s socialites. And while she’s been seen hanging out with all sorts of people and is friendly with other famous women of color like Willow Smith, Normani Kordei of Fifth Harmony and more, because they often run with paparazzi right behind them, Skye’s often captured with models Hailey Baldwin and Bella Hadid, and used to be seen often with the likes of Kiley and Kendall Jenner.
https://www.instagram.com/p/BeLrSkZHTKM/?hl=en&taken-by=justineskye
And with rumors spreading that her friendship with Kylie (whose beauty line she modeled for at one point) fell apart because Skye used to be involved with Travis Scott and well, Kylie started dating and just had a child with him, people have had some things to say about her circle of friends. So when she attended a breakfast at the popular Tiffany & Co. spot The Blue Box and was captured by Vogue with Baldwin, she was, for some reason, forced to defend her friendship. But Skye had no problem doing that:
This isn’t the first time Skye has had to explain her friendships.
She shared her thoughts on people asking about the women she surrounds herself with on Tumblr in the past by saying, “what kind of world are we living in where we can’t be friends with a different race without being called the ‘token.'”
“why can’t people just genuinely be friends,” she added. “let us stop hating on each other and love one another and focus on the the positive and be proud of people prospering in life. worried about my friend… bro get you some friends who actually love and support you. cause you out here hating. ain’t s [sic] good look.”
And when visiting The Breakfast Club back in 2015, she was asked by Charlamagne how a Brooklyn native like herself had found herself close with the Jenners, Calabasas’ finest. She said she started running with their circle because she didn’t know anyone else when she first started recording in L.A., and they took her in.
“I started recording out there more because that’s where a lot of producers and songwriters are. In the beginning, I didn’t know anyone and I started to make friends out there through the Internet,” she said. “They had mutual friends and we just hung out. I was actually pretty nervous because I was like, why do they want to hang out with me? I’m lame. I’m a nobody. Now I know I’m not lame but that was my mentality back then. I was like, I’m not famous or rich or nothing like that. I was also very insecure. I was confident but insecure. But I just felt like I didn’t really know much about L.A. or the L.A. lifestyle so why would they want to hang out with me like that?”
Whether or not she has the right or wrong group of friends, only she knows and will have to find out. But the assumption that the answer to all of her troubles and assured healthy and happy relationships is wrangling together a group of Black women is a tad naive. Not to mention somewhat close-minded. If you can find someone you can trust and count on, whatever their skin color or background, they’re a keeper. And people you can’t trust in and confide in? As she’s likely already learned, they come in all skin colors and backgrounds as well.
