We didn’t create the colorism tension but we don’t have to continue the ignorance

I wish that they would include lighter skin women who aren’t bi-racial in these convos. Who have 4c hair brown eyes and wide noses. I never see that point of view.

They need to have lightskin people who aren’t delusional in these types of videos. I’m lightskin and my best friends growing up we’re all dark and brown skin. I would never try to pretend I understand the stuff they go through or that I’m exactly the same. I saw how people treated us differently.

Colorism is very real in the Caribbean.

There is no way I’m wasting my precious Life constantly worrying about the colour of my skin, I’m 100% Pure Black African. I love everything about the way I look. 🥂😂

People will claim biracials as black but get upset when they’re representing black people in the media. How do you disregard an entire parent?

The girl with the cotton candy pink hair! Omg it looks soooo good on her 🔥

Look at all the dark skinned girls’ faces as the biracial girl says she’s “not half white”. You can’t just ignore the whole 50% of your DNA which is European which actually gives you privilege within our community and our society.

When the girl w/ the pink hair said she's been flat out ignored in public, I could relate. As a dark-skinned woman, this has happened to me.

"People literally ignore dark skin women" 2:13 I legit get ignored almost all the time.

I never had a problem with being dark-skinned but I was lucky to live in a family that reinforced black beauty in all skin tones. My sister is bright skinned, my dad and grandfather are light skinned, my mother and I are dark skinned and all of it was respected and celebrated. I know this is not true in all families so I was very lucky.

Growing up I got tired of hearing and still hearing it “Your pretty for a dark skinned girl” Like TF? Some people are so narrow and closed minded - THIS BS CONTINUES with them - Meanwhile you have people bleaching TF out of their skin and dying

Yes i felt the comment on standing next to light skin women and not being acknowledged!

The light skin girl should own her identity instead of wanting to live up to the narrative. Because genetically one of your parents is white. And that's cool, you should not ignore your black side, ofc not! But you should own being brown. There are so many mixed race people, it is beautiful but honestly, in a room full of black women who are literally saying they have been ignored whilst in the prescence of light skinned women such as yourself yet you want us to feel sorry for you? Sorry no, respect my experience and I will respect yours. Own your identity, and be proud of it. I just think it was a really vacuous statement from her... sucks really because my light skinned friends are not like that at all lol

I've experienced being ignored next to my lighter friend(s). It's hurtful and unfortunate how so many are conditioned to have disdain for women with darker skin. However, this doesn't make me insecure... I just feel like I need to find people who appreciate me.

Colorism Is real I will never forget when I was 10 and this other girl she was Asian and she played with me with no issues but when a Sudanese girl came and to play with us that girl treated her like she was dirty and that was the day I realized that as a light skinned girl I was preferred more than the dark skin girl and it's honestly really sad.

I feel opposite from the mixed girl in this video. I'm mixed. Don't call me black, don't call me white, I am mixed. We don't have to pick one people!! We don't have to refer to ourselves by our skin colors!!! Love who you are we are all beautiful pieces of creation

I'm Guatemalan American and whenever we go back to Guatemala we like to travel to all parts and the last time we came to visit we tried to go to Livingston Guatemala because it has a Garifuna community which is what Joanna is and I just love how she mentioned the situation in Guatemala about being mixed it's very real and unfortunate because the truth is every skin tone is a work of art and beautiful. I love the representation Joanna is bringing from Guatemala ❤️

I feel like some mixed folks like myself haven't come to grips with the fact that we are our own lane. We are neither and both at the same time. But we have our own actors, musicians, athletes and everything else. Both my sides are beautiful, and all shades of skin are beautiful also.✌🏻

This conversation wasnt as deep as it could've been......

You have to include phenotype when discussing colorism as well.

2:49 She said her mother is white and that she's not half white, she's a "black woman"...huh? I sense some identity issues.

Love the natural hair

Brown folk need to accept Brown folk. Stop doing to each other what "they" do to us. Control the narrative.

Hey now! As a dark-skinned woman I'm glad that these women are talking about this! I knew this was an issue when my daughter came home from school crying because she was being teased about her dark-skin. I knew I had to do a better job because I thought I schooled her and taught her about her beauty. Nice segment. Wish it was longer. Peace to loving ourselves!

I'm sorry but mixed/biracial are just that mixed

I have 3 children and my oldest is a big dark Male. He is beautiful but people act as if he does not exist. I cant stop his pain and it hurts.

I've noticed that whenever colorism comes up and the focus is on the perspectives of dark women and what they've experienced, light women are compelled to try and make things about themselves.

I remember when I was growing up and at the age of 4 or 5, some of my cousins came to visit from NY. Well I'm twin but we're fraternal and my sister is lighter than I am. Well my cousins convinced my sister to not play with me. They pulled her away and told her we can't play her (me) because she's too dark. That destroyed my feelings like something awful. Through out the years growing up it was where's the dark one, she's too dark put powder on her face, you can't go outside to play because you're already dark and you don't need to get any darker, or come here blackie. All those things that were said to me and then more broke my self-esteem so when I became an adult and ventured out on my own it was tough. I joined the military and that's when I started growing my self-esteem. I would have friends and strangers complimenting me on my looks and my smooth dark skin. It felt weird to me because I had never had anyone call me beautiful when I was a child growing up. It took me awhile to learn how to accept compliments because they made me feel uncomfortable and undeserving. Emotional scars are real and I pray folks do better when it comes to destroying a child self-esteem early on because that child will never forget the feeling of not being "enough", especially to their parents and other family members.

I went to a predominately yt school in elementary and they used to make fun of me and think my hair wasnt mine . They said “Dark skin people doesnt have long hair “ it sucked but it made me tough . Thats the sad reality of growing up black that even black people make those assumptions towards each other smh

As a dark skin female, I'm over this conversation. I can't feel inferior to a light skin person I can possibly bring into this world and I cannot pay attention to a psychological disturbed male who may dislike himself we just need to celebrate our skin tone more and be responsible for our images cos it's clear no one will do it so that's where I'm at.

Yaaaas sis wit the pink( platinum) hair, I've stood next to my friends who are lighter than me, dude tryna holler and completely ignored my whole existence, I started looking at my arms feeling myself to make sure I was still visible cuz dude wouldn't even look in my direction

You cant force Men to change their preference, respect it and grow up

This is so deep. I felt this yesterday and I was so shocked at how it affected me that men were ignoring me and paying attention to my mixed friend.

Kinda gross that the biracial girl COMPLETELY disregards her mother's genetic input to "feel" or "claim" more blackness. That is disgusting, it's household rasisim to disgrace to deny her mother for her own gain. She is not JUST black. It doesn't matter if she denys it or not.

Y’all are some haters in the comments. This is what black ppl mean - and I’m talking the entire shade range - mean when they say ‘the most hate they get is from black people’. Can people not just speak. No, this group didn’t discuss everything because it’s a FIVE minute video

2:09...my experience everyday its like i dont exist because am darkskinned, nobody greets you when you with ur mates they absolutely always ignore u....its not even sad anymore its just funny like wow the irony.....love yalll...this was a wonderful video

If you don’t want to listen don’t click

I'm glad to see that there is starting to be peaceful discussions about colorism within our community. The fact of the matter is color rinse of does go both ways. Just as Society has discriminated against darker skin blacks in general, there has also been discrimination against light-skinned blacks within the black community. This whole light-skin vs. Dark-skin driver has been nothing but fortified by racist white institutions on the outside pitting us against each other based intelligence, comes to business deals, or even socialisation.

I thought it was an interesting discussion. Of course the title alone attracts the racist trolls who have no curiosity about the world and about other people's experience.

That Avery is confused AF 😂😂😂😭 her mum is white, but she’s saying he’s NOT half white...she’s black.

The mixed girl Avery is not black she is mixed. Please own that identity Avery.

Being dark skinned and a woman is a sorority of a special kind. You literally have to go through alot to be in it. I know I did.

I was hesitant to watch this thinking it would be like the other videos on this topic, but I'm glad I did. You have some very educated and kind-hearted women on this panel who were really listening to each other and uplifting each other. It's lovely.

I'm light and not mixed. At the end of the day, we're all Black and need to stick together. Period. This divide and conquer bs is played out.

Nice to see Garifuna women (and from Guatemala) represented!

And as an East Asian, I’ve just felt invisible most of my entire life. People cheer on movies like Crazy Rich Asians, whereas I think it just creates more Hollywood stereotypes.

My PARENTS ARE BLACK AND MARRIED. I AM NEXT. MY GRAND PARENTS ARE MARRIED. I HAVE TWO AUNTS MARRIED ALL BLACK. Its possible ladies.

We definitely have to do this together. In response to the comment about darker skinned women not being acknowledged or seeming invisible, we need our lighter-skinned counter parts to speak up in moments like this. This is just one example of how we can begin to obstruct colorism.

There’s truth in the saying “the blacker the berry, the sweeter the juice”. Know Thyself, Love Thyself!!!!

How strange, I thought the guardian was based in the UK. In fact the office is 15 minutes from my home. As usual with all white owned / runned media we are hearing the African American perspective. WE ARE NOT ALL THE SAME. There are diffences in the UK.

Love this. Different ages, skin tones and ethnic-subcultures. Beautiful and essential for the culture. The older woman beautifully represented those who are not usually seen in a positive light.

Honestly, I'm annoyed this is still a conversation. We know this info already and I feel like it's being milked. Instead, we need to broadcast the ways to fix and heal these wounds. They are deeply rooted and it's best if we keep the narrative going into another direction than to keep doing these group discussions about it. And I'm not saying ignore this issue but again, we KNOW it's an issue. Why keep talking about it; we are more than our oppression.

Wish this was longer. This was great!🙌🏾

this was the best content on colorism I've watched so far. The conversation is very straight-forward, also I love to see how diverse all those women are and therefore beautiful in their own way. Plus, I feel like there is a sense of sisterhood in the way they talk to each other and that's how it should be.

About time!!

Eight white men discuss the politics of skin tone: "Want a beer?" "Yeah ok."

Here's this why not use an equal amount of energy used in talking bout colorism into talking bout how to properly promote dark skin women , the masculine , fat , loud , and ghetto image needs to retire

That was a really nice conversation and I'm glad I tuned in.

I wish you guys got a Habesha woman in this conversation, colorism is a prevalent issue within the Habesha community.

Thank you ladies for this conversation. It is very important in this day and time.

So impressed with the level of understanding, you are all queens and i love and admire you all.

This discussion needs more than the 5 minutes posted here. A lifetime of experiences shared here that should be part of a series.

I rewind the section from 5.25 to the end again and again so much I cried with the lady who said " I love u so very much" cause that lady with the short blonde hair said I so well and said it best!!!

Excellent conversation. Thanks @TheGuardian.

Um the mixed chick you are not black but carry on.....

love watching these conversations!

Where's the rest of it? Please post the entire conversation!!! This was great!

Very true what the Guatemalan girl said.

So, your mother is white but you are not white. How exactly does that work?

“Jay Z, Diddy, Swizz Beatz and somebody else...”, somebody else 😂

This discussion is needed and beautiful!! I disagree though with the young lady that said she is black. If you have one parent that is white and the other is black you are biracial. She shouldn’t discount her mother.

In reviewing some of the comments here, it seems to me that some people have forgotten that there is a large African diaspora across the world. And that there is more than one way to be, have, and represent blackness. It comes in many different forms. So try to uplift and honor all of its expressions.

*Women who truly have it hard don't cry as much. They know crying won't gain them sympathy because society doesn't care. Never has.* Crying at the drop of a hat is a luxury and impulse of women who are used to getting *ATTENTION* and help when they indicate distress. Thus White and light women tend to crack tears to highlight their points. (I know.)

Love this. Thank you for the necessary conversation.

This was a real conversation with different perspectives. They seemed engaged with one another and attentive to what the next sista had to say. Bravo ladies ☺️

Great talk ! however As a european media I wish @theguardian created a panel of "black british"or "black european women .

Why all the dislikes??

I wish this interview was longer. This conversation is so important and within the Black community we act like it doesn’t exist.

I'm not dark skinned but I'm not light skinned either. I definitely feel like I've experienced being unacknowledged while standing next to a lighter skinned woman though, but I never understood why until the recent years. I was always quiet and reserved so it didn't bother me until I began to be aware and question

1:45 i loveeeeee her earings omgggg

Overweight ratio is ridiculous

I'm a white Asian (moderately pale) and I feel so bad whenever my friends mock another friend of mine who's black. I'd shut em down and they'd invalidate me, they'd say he wouldn't know about it. And I'm like, fr? Sometimes I would look at myself in the mirror and I would be ashamed of my own skin just because my friend's constantly mocked because of his own. I feel so bad because of being white. I think that friend of mine is incredibly gorgeous. Personally, I'd prefer to be around black people.

Wow what a beautiful conversation, there was so much love and admiration that see and hear from these ladies. Yeah ,🏋️ thank you for embracing your skin and beauty all around. This made me smile so much 😊😊😊

Fr tho I look light skin but my parents are both African am fully black but some people always be thinking am mixed with something 😩

I live in the UK, I have two black parents from Jamacia my dad is from St Elizabeth which is known for "Red skin" people. The majority of my family is dark and a few of us are quite light. I've had people literally go and ask me "What are you? " I tell them I'm black and they look at me bewildered until they really get to know me. Jamacian people see me and know exactly where I'm from but even some black people think I'm mixed until they see the lunch I bring to work oxtail and rice and peas, callalou and some nice plantin boiiiii ❤️. Spice bun and cheese this Easter thooo whose got there's already 😂

This is very interesting. I love hearing this conversation!!!

Love this!💕

Brownskin girl..ya skin just like pearls..best thing in the world..I never change it for anybody else💕

All beautiful ladies!!! It is sad we live in a world where some beautiful ladies feel "invisible" just because of their skin tone. To deal with this everyone has a part to play.

This just hurts my heart. I hate when people hold other's down when it's within their power to lift people up. WHY?

I don't understand why some bi-racial(bi(two) racial(races) want to deny who they are. Stop feeling you have to deny one and start embracing both. I can't believe the one saying "My mother is white, but I am black". SMH.

Yess melanin! I love blackness in all its forms ❤️. We’ve got to stand, whether it be in solidarity, or to protect or to be seen. This fight can be won together.

They all sound so sad and defeated sheesh

Even though this video was about "Colorism" all i could see were a bunch of beautiful sisters! you guys came through with such a peaceful, laid back vibe! Even y'all "Ummm's" were in harmony lol beautiful video x

This was so interesting. I loved this.

Beautiful unbiased conversation......love to all women of colour worldwide 💐💕🙌🏿🙏🏿

shes not black lol the main reason why colorism exists is because we started calling mixed people black

I’m a bi-racial man, I grew up getting shade cause I was lighter and mixed. I grew up wanting to be darker because I wanted to fit in more. I have the hair, the lips, the nose, not the skin tone… I just felt so out of place and no one made me feel better about ot

To the woman in the thumbnail: If ever you come across this comment, it is my honor to remind you just how beautiful you really are. Your skin color and hair are divine.