A Girl Like Me

The documentary, A Girl Like Me, was very heartbreaking to watch. Kiri Davis did an excellent job interviewing a lot of different African American girls to gather their opinions, and then conducting Dr. Kenneth Clark’s doll test again. Her test results were much like the test results of Dr. Kenneth Clark’s which, gives us the impression that children today still feel the same way about race.
Dr. Kenneth Clark and Kiri Davis’ tests both confirmed that the concept of “race” decreases self-worth in children. When the African American children were asked which doll they wanted to play with and which doll was the “nice” doll, the majority of the children pointed to the white doll as opposed to the black doll. This shows us that the children think of the white kids as being superior to the black kids. Furthermore, when the interviews were being conducted by Davis, the interviewees were describing the different levels of color. For instance, they said that if you were only half black, that was better than being 100% black or if you have lighter skin, you are considered better than those that have darker skin.
I do not think that skin color and hair texture determine a person’s value in the world. Everyone was made differently and some people are from different parts of the world. Some of the girls in the film described their hair as being kinky and how they wished that it was more like a Barbie doll’s hair. In reality, not every white girl has soft hair and I think that it is partly our societies fault for giving off the image that all white girls have beautiful, soft hair. The big picture here is that it does not matter what your skin looks like or what your hair looks or feels like. Anyone can do anything in this world no matter what you look like. I think that everyone is valued the same and it is what you do with your life that matters.
The “mythical norm” is a white, middle-class, heterosexual, abled, thin, and young adult. This description is what people in the United States perceive to be normal of women. In the film, it was very clear that the African American children compared themselves to the mythical norm because of the material conditions of our lives. For example, the subjects told stories of mothers bleaching their own daughter’s skin and getting their hair relaxed. Our society has carved out a mythical norm and now everyone that lives here is striving to be more and more like this model American. The fact is, not everyone looks like that and we shouldn’t all want to look like that.
White privilege is the advantages that people receive because they are born white. Peggy McIntosh explains it as an “invisible package of unearned assets.” McIntosh also states that it is a lot easier for a privileged person to say that other people are at a disadvantage than admitting to being at an advantage. In the documentary, the girls talk about wanting to have lighter skin closer to that of a white person. The girls also talk about the stereotypes that are associated with black females such as; having a big butt, an obnoxious personality, ghetto, loud, and not being smart. Our society has shaped our minds so that people only think good things about white people and only associate bad things with black people. In essence, white privilege is a group membership that gives off the impression that white people are at an advantage over black people.
Overall, the American Anthropological Association’s project was very interesting and depressing. I am angry that our values, cultures, and behavioral practices have trained us to think that one race is better than another. Since we have already inherited this way of thinking, it will be harder to change everyone’s mythical norm. As I learned from the tolerance activity, once you have learned prejudices and stereotypes, they resist to any change. If we want to change our vision of differences, we must strive towards equality and change our mythical norm. We should not be training our children that one race is better than the other.