African girl, white blonde doll.
©Fred Hoogervorst
A girl with her white doll in Ghana
© James Barno
A mother proud to share with folks online that she perms her 5 Month old baby’s hair..
© Dan Ramey “The Bluest Eye”
I would say, it is the failure of father, mother and our (black) community as a whole. Continental Africans and diasporans contribute in fueling internalized taught self-hate in our community. We are proponents of white supremacy:
1. We perm our little girls’ hair
2. We bleach our babies’ skin
3. We buy them toys that are not empowering to their development
4. We don’t teach them our native language, like Zulu, Twi, Yotti/ Bali/ Beti, we say “English, French is enough to take you places, don’t worry about backwards african languages”.
5. We give them names after our colonializers and enslavers . E.g John, Solomon, Abubakar, George Bush, Livingstone, Halimah, Hawa, Napoleon, Maria, Celine etc
6. We don’t encourage them anymore to take a time out from technology to go out and play with their mates
7. We buy them expensive phones, shoes, even when they can barely spell their name or say thank you
8. We let them sit around and order housemaids ( “house boy/ girl”) instead of teaching them about individual and community responsibilities and respect of those that serve them (us).
etc etc….
What is the way forward?? Let us start undoing and doing the opposite, following the lead of those parents that are proud to be themselves. Here are few picture examples( Copyright to those that took them, not my property)
1. Black Girls taking a walk….friendship.
2.Happy Black Baby with her natural hair.
3. Black Baby Boy Reading.
4. Black Baby Being A Princess That She Is with her natural hair.
5. Black Baby Boy playing with a doll that looks just like him,self-love starts at an early age.
6. Baby Girls Being themselves in their natural stage, embracing their blackness.
7. Happy Black Baby Boy.
8. A Happy black Baby Girl With A doll That Looks Like Her.
cute black baby with a doll that looks like her
9.Happy and cute black boy
10. Black and happy baby boy in his natural dark skin.
11. Little Black Girl wearing her natural hair.
12. Black boy aspiring to become the greatest….environmentalist
13. Little black boy with a puppy
14. Little black girl wearing her natural hair.
15. Black boy playing with his handmade toy.
16. Pretty black girl, styling:) 
17. Black girls sharing a laugh 🙂
18. happy black girl with her doll
19. African/black girls smiling for the camera
When we don’t undo the internalized taught self-hate in our community, the impact will destroy our children’s self esteem leading through out their adult life. Below is a short video directed by a young black girl ( African-American), it gives a wonderful picture of the effects of internalized taught self-hate. She got the idea from the original test conducted in 1940s by an African American couple Dr. Kenneth B. Clark and Mamie Phipps Clark ( see their picture below copyright to the person that took it.)
Dr. Kenneth B. Clark and Dr. Mamie P. Clark the originators of the doll test …
” A Girl Like Me” Directed by Kiri Davis and Produced by Reel Works Teen Filmmaking
Black Boy picked a white doll during testing…Dr.Kenneth B. Clark standing on his left.
Additional Information:
1. link to look at Anderson Cooper describes “Kids on Race: The Hidden Picture
Those With Strong Racial Identity Are Happier Than Others
2.
Black Girl Wants White Doll: What Would You Do?
3. Black mother shows how you could care and maintain your daughter’s natural hair. I think this might be more helpful for those in the diaspora since the products she uses are available there ..watch it here:
4. Teach your children what is important in life…
5.Black in White America: ABC News Special (1989): http://http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CSafZUWok98
6. “Pretty Brown Girl” doll…for those interested in buying it, here is the link…https://www.prettybrowngirl.com/
7. Words of encouragement from Dr. Yaba Blay to little black girls particularly LaShawnte a young girl that was interviewed on CNN, who expressed that she would like to be “light” skinned.
8. Dr. Umar Johnson speaks about why it is unhealthy for parents to give their children white dolls etc
9. “Black dolls teach the combat of racism while playing” by Black Women of Brazil
WEHNAM 
Those photos of those beautiful black babies are breath-taking!
Thank you!!! I am happy for their parents for making the effort to keep their children happy and maintaing their black-african identity in this world that says otherwise.
I became honored to get a call from a friend as soon as he found out the important suggestions shared on your site. Browsing your blog publication is a real great experience. Thanks again for taking into consideration readers just like me, and I desire for you the best of success for a professional in this field.
@Daisy,
please send a shout out on my behalf to your friend for being so generous as to recommend this piece/blog. We are in this together I take pleasure in sharing ideas with others and having you here is a big deal to me. Thank you again.
Respect!
Very efficiently written story. It will be useful to anyone who employess it, including yours truly :). Keep up the good work – looking forward to more posts.
@Cole,
thank you for the words of encouragement, we all need to rearrange few things in our lives, sometimes we are not even aware of them until someone else pointed them out…my point, as I said it to others we are in this together. Forward ever, backwards never!!
Respect!
Sannu! I love your blog. I am thinking about starting a blog on interracial dating, attraction and challenges we face today in society with dating and identity. Your writing and videos have given me inspiration but I have a lot of research to do first.
Thank you.
L
Sannu, fata lafiya ( hope all is well). Thank you for the kind words. We are in this together exchanging ideas is part of the way forward for all people of African descent worldwide. Our ancestors did their part, it is time that we wake up from our sleep and speak for ourselves!I look forward to sharing with you on this locus and if you need help with scholarly material or other folks write up on interracial dating/marriage do let me know.
Respect!
Yoknyam
That one is true
@ Patrick, thank you and may we all keep “speaking truth to empower” ourselves!
I have learned a lot by reading this message. I don’t even know how to express my feelings. thank you very much
Hello Joyce,
Thank you, shout out to those parents that are instilling in our young ones’ minds that they are beautiful despite what the world says about them. Healthy self-esteem starts most times from home, if our children are not being taught to love themselves, high possibility they will grow up accepting everyones’ ideas on how they should look, feel, think etc.
Beautiful
thank you for the kind words, I hope you come back again so that we could continue to exchange ideas together. “I am because we are” says my African ancestors.
I love this post. Thoughtful words for a world in motion.
and lets not forget the elegant pics
I think in so many instances we de-race children especially black children into thinking that race doesn’t matter or that identfying yourself as a black person in this world is outdated and antiquated and divisive. Yet no one questions why people continue to identify as white. This programming has come down really hard on black people so much so to the point where in some black circles, the identifying term black will get you cursed out, called-out and eventually shunned as being a “race” man or woman.
This is a deliberate attack on the collective expereince, heritage, cultural traditions and humanity of people of recent African descent (roughly the last 20,000 or so years). So black children choosing white dolls is no surprise to me because their parents may not be strong in defining blackness and its implications for their family life.
Sister Yoknyam, I come in peace,
You do not disappoint. You are a virtuous and honorable woman. It’s wonderful to read from you.
Those like you embracing Cosmic Rhythm are a fortune for our race. I try. And am happy that my efforts led me to you. I will continue and as I continue I wish to see more from you.
Thank you for your commitment,
I go in peace
G wiz. fancy meeting you here
Fam Oma it was a pleasure and I give thanks.
bless up!
g wiz. anyone know how to get the children to tear up and/or burn the pale dolls
LOL…just give them to white kids and get white dolls for black babies. On the continent Africans need to stop polluting the market with white dolls, that is part of the larger problem. Sometimes folks/parents buy what is available in the market.
saying that, the ghana team didnt do anyone justice way back in 2006 when, after scoring, they danced around that jesus image
beyond the dolls, worshipping this “other” is still a pressing issue
Exceptional article sista! I love the way you used imagery to drive home the point of how white supremacy is programming our people to hate ourselves. Keep spreading the truth and liberating the minds of our people sista. Much love and blessings to you!
Dear brother Maurice,
thank you for stopping by and for your observation.Forward ever backwards never!
love and respect from my corner
Author of this blog is clearly racist towards white people. Probably surrounds herself with arrogant black men who constantly refer to their race in every other line. Yawn