“My Family Is From The Caribbean And We Do Colorism So Well”: 11 Moments From “Light Girls” That Had Us Talking

Prejudice From Your Own Family

“My grandparents didn’t go to my parent’s wedding because my mom is black.” – Angela Yee

I think we can all agree that our own family members can be the main ones who make us feel bad about different things in our lives: weight, our relationship status, job situations, etc. This is also true when it comes to skin tone, and who we have children with. Power 105.1 radio personality Angela Yee said that her Asian grandparents have a prejudice toward her, her mother, and her black friends. When her friends would come by her house to visit, her grandparents would say things like, “You better make sure you hide your car keys.”

And don’t even get me started on Cori Murray’s (Entertainment Director at Essence) story about a family member’s disrespectful comments about her infant daughter:

“Someone in my family very close to me, she was like, ‘I hope she doesn’t get any darker than this.’ I have to be very mindful of that and I try not to have my daughter around her too much, especially alone, just for that slip up. I know it could just take that one time, saying something negative, and it could impact her forever.”