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A Girl Like Me
By Jeremy | January 29, 2007
Well, uh, not exactly like me. But like Kiri Davis, a 17-year old New York City high school student whose short film has caused a sensation at film festivals around the country and reignited a debate about race.
Fifty years after the landmark Brown v. Board of Education case desegregated schools, Kiri decided to recreate Dr. Kenneth Clark's research from the 1940s that formed a basis for the Supreme Court's ruling in Brown. Dr. Clark showed black children a black doll and a white doll and asked them which doll they preferred. An overwhelming majority chose the white doll. How much has changed?
In Kiri's tests at a school in Harlem, 15 out of 21 black children similarly preferred the white doll, and associated the black doll with "bad" and other negative words while the white doll was "nice" and "pretty."
Watch the entire film (8min) here. Produced by Reel Works Teen Filmmaking.
Topics: movies, race, racism, youth | 1 Comment »
January 30th, 2007 at 1:28 am
Hey Jeremy how are you. I thought to make a comment on the video. I saw this video a while ago and thought what most young black men and women think my age which is “no Kidding”. I have learned something about racism in this country – it was established through racism with a side of exploration and for safety. There has been monumentive strives for success for people of color but to think young people aren’t being breaded to sense the difference between good or evil is color is totally false and anyone who says different is lying. Its unfortunate that people who are caucasin don’t teach their children about “American History” but it’s even sadder that my people wouldn’t teach them enough “American History” so that a video like a “girl like Me” would actually be differnt and the children choosing the reverse.