The Kenya Barris hate needs to stop
The Kenya Barris hate needs to stop
23 reasons why Cancel Culture (and biracial gripers) may want to read more and talk less
What do the following 23 black women all have in common?
Christina Anthony
Chloe Bailey
Halle Bailey
Iman Benson
Eve Jihan Cooper
Ava Duvernay
Regina Hall
Tiffany Haddish
Leslie Jones
Jenifer Lewis
Nia Long
Marsai Martin
Dana “Queen Latifah” Owens
Issa Rae
Ilyasah Shabazz
Justin Skye
Jada Pinkett-Smith
Tika Sumpter
Wanda Sykes
Teyana Taylor
Trinitee
Lena Waithe
Jessica Williams
They’re all unambiguously black women who have been in TV shows or movies courtesy of film writer/producer Kenya Barris. But you would swear from this Twitter thread and this user in the thread (who blocked me after naming a few of these women) that these projects and women are nonexistent. Another user even went as far as saying some weren’t dark-skinned enough to count.
Recommended Read: “Productively teaching black children about colorism”
I’m not even biracial, but the skin police are exhausting sometimes. There are moments when I have conversations with my skinfolk and wonder do they realize they’re doing slaveowners’ work for them, keeping colorism alive and well.
Recommended Read: “‘Stop acting light-skinned’ and other stupid colorism comments ~ Why black folks need to knock it off with skin color jokes”
More importantly, not only is it insulting to cherry pick which black women are black enough for their liking, this mindset insults the work of a laundry list of the brown-skinned black actresses mentioned above.
So what have these women starred in or been featured in that Kenya Barris either wrote or produced?
Christina Anthony (“Mixed-ish”)
Chloe Bailey (“Grown-ish”)
Halle Bailey (“Grown-ish”)
Iman Benson (“Black AF”)
Eve Jihan Cooper (“Barbershop 2”)
Ava Duvernay (“Black AF”)
Tiffany Haddish (“Girl’s Trip”)
Regina Hall (“Little” and “Shaft” and “Girl’s Trip”)
Leslie Jones (“Coming 2 America”)
Jenifer Lewis (“Black-ish”)
Nia Long (“You People”)
Marsai Martin (“Black-ish”)
Dana “Queen Latifah” Owens (“Girl’s Trip”)
Issa Rae (“Black AF” and “Little”)
Ilyasah Shabazz (self in “Blood Brothers: Malcolm X & Muhammad Ali”)
Justin Skye (“Grown-ish”)
Jada Pinkett-Smith (“Girl’s Trip”)
Tika Sumpter (“Mixed-ish”)
Wanda Sykes (“Black-ish”)
Teyana Taylor (“Coming 2 America”)
Trinitee (“Mixed-ish”)
Lena Waithe (“Black AF”)
Jessica Williams (“Entergalactic”)
Mind you, that doesn’t make Tracee Ellis Ross, Rashida Jones, Lauren London, Yara Shahidi, Shari Headley, Alexandra Shipp, Onika Tanya “Nicki Minaj” Maraj-Petty and so on any less skilled at their roles. I’m just making a larger point that this anti-black woman narrative is more myth than reality.