"“My parents helped me and they hurt me…My mom was extremely pro-Black, and I believed her. My dad is Senegalese, and I grew up around my dark-skinned cousins and just thought that they were the most beautiful women in the world. I was surrounded by beautiful dark people. And then middle school hit, and I was like, Oh, they think I’m ugly. They think I’m big. They think I’m unattractive. I went back to my mom like, ‘What the f—k?! Y’all lied to me my whole life. What is this?!’ I started realizing, Mom, you’re light-skinned. So I don’t know what you were talking about. It’s not like you can relate to being dark. And your hair is not the same texture as mine. So what do you know about telling me I’m beautiful? Why would you lie to me? That definitely had an impact on how I saw myself."
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Non-fiction authors from the United StatesAfrican AmericansProducers from the United StatesComedians from Los AngelesFilm directors from Los Angeles
Original Language: English
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Sources
On the standards of beauty in “Why Issa Rae Is Truly An Awesome Black Girl” in Essence Magazine (2019 Apr 1)
https://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/Issa_Rae
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Issa Rae
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