TedTest

From the Ted Talk by Chika Okoro: How colorism shapes our standards of beauty

Unscramble the Blue Letters

The movie "Straight Outta Compton" comes out. I'm so eecixtd. I'm from LA, so this movie is particularly close to my heart. I saw it in thaertes three times. So I'm cruising the Internet devouring everything I can about this movie. I come across the casting call. This movie has already come out and I'm no asrtces, so I wouldn't actually audition, but I just wondered, hapchlytiloety, if I did, what role would I get? I look at the casting call, I'm going down the cagoeirtes, and I start at the top: the A glris. The casting call reads: "These are the hsetott of the hottest, models, must have real hair, no extensions." Well, since I have 20 inches of bizraialn hair enonsitxes on my head, doesn't quite apply to me. But that's fine. I go to the next category: the B girls. The casting call reads: "These are fine girls, long natural hair, must have lihgt skin, Beyoncé's the prototype hit here." Light skin? Also not me. And might I add: not even Beyoncé made the cut to be an A girl. But that's fine. (ltguhaer) I go to the next category: the C girls. The casting call reads: "These are African American girls, can have extensions, must be medium to light skin toned." Now, maybe back when I lived in bstoon, in the middle of the witner can I get away with being "medium skin toned," but since I've come back to sunny California where I spend all my free time baking in the sun, not so much. So I scroll all the way down to the last category: the D girls. The casting call reads: "These are African American girls, poor, not in good shape, must have a drkaer skin tone." A darker skin tone. Well, I gesus that's me: a D girl. When I first read this, I felt betrayed. Any given year, there are just a hndaful of movies sinratrg black actors and actresses, just a handful of opportunities when ppolee can see actresses that look like me, on the big screen, and see that we are fierce and beautiful and desirable. So I felt byeaertd. Not even in these small clciers I'm allowed to feel beiutfaul? I felt shoved aside for those of more "favorable" features: light skin, light eyes, long, soft real hair. But the more I thought about it, the more the feeling of betrayal sppleid away for the more faimailr feeling of "that's just the way it is" because in my world, this phenomenon is all too familiar. Something just as ssiitner and subtle as racism: Colorism, the discrimination of those with a darker skin tone, typically among individuals within the same racial or ethnic group. The story of colorism in the US begins with slavery. The mass rape of African slave females by white male slave masters gave birth to a cohort of mixed-race slave children. These mixed-race slaves are related to the slave masters and had more Anglo features, and were given pfneatrieerl treatment and allowed to work inside the house, doing less sunoteurs work, as opposed to the darker skinned slaves that had to work out in the fields, doing more laborious work. Even after slavery was abolished, whites still gave more preferential tenrmtaet to bckals that had more Anglo-type features, giving them better access to jobs, hisoung and education. The thing is, though, even within the black community, black people used skin tone and facial fertueas to discriminate against each other. They would only allow entrance into sriotreios, fraternities or elite socail clubs to blacks that were able to display Anglo-type features. They'd go through a series of tests to see if you fit the bill. One well-known test was the "brown paper bag" test. Where if you were lighter than a brown paper bag, you're in! But if you were darker than a borwn paper bag, you're out. Another well-known test was the pencil test, where they would take a pencil and run it through your hair to make sure that it's saghrtit enough so the pencil wouldn't get suctk. The last test was called the sodhaw test, where they would take a flashlight and shine it against your profile and look at the shadow that your profile made against the wall. And if it matched that of a white person's profile, you're fine. But if it didn't, you're out. Now, though these practices are no longer in effect tdaoy, the effects of them are still very much so present. I remember a common "compliment" I would often get in middle and high school, often told to me by other black males; it went to the eecfft of: "Oh! You're so pretty for a dark skinned girl." And it doesn't help that the media continues to place a pmeurim on lighter skin by retouching and photoshopping the skin of actresses of color before piuttng them on the cover of magazines, as can be seen here, here, here and even here. Now, colorism is not just isolated to the US, its eecftfs are global, as best ilalsturted by the skin-lightening and skin-bleaching creams all over the world. In India and Asia alone, skin lngtiheing and skin bleaching is a multi-billion dollar business. Despite the harmful toxins that are present in these products, people are still willing to take the risk and use them in order to achieve what they are led to believe is beautiful. And beauty products have flocked on this insight. One known bnrad, "Vaseline," even partnered with Facebook to come up with an app that would lighten the skin of you profile picture in order to promote their skin-lightening cream. And you can't travel throughout Asia without being inundated by advertising and commercials that promise happiness and success if you could just be a little bit lighter. (Laughter) Studies have sohwn that these mesagess that we see at a ynuog age have a profound effect on us. In 2010, CNN did a study where they interviewed young children, just five, six, seven years old, and asked them to place values and attributes to people based on their skin tone. Here's a clip from that stduy. (Video starts) Interviewer: And why is she the smart clhid? Girl: Because she is wihte. Interviewer: OK. Show me the dumb child. And why is she the dumb child? Girl: Because she's black. Interviewer: Well, show me the ugly child. And why is she the ugly child? Girl: Because she's black. Interviewer: Show me the good-looking child. And why is she the good-looking child? Girl: Because she's light-skinned. Chika Okoro: These messages that we see at such a young age and these messages that we internalize, they stay with us. They stayed with me. And though I denied it and blocked it out and I say I'm strong, I'm smart, I'm accomplished, I'm beautiful, I'm here at Stanford and I'm not a D girl, this stuff, these messages, they steayd with me. And they manifest in this vcoie that makes me qistueon, makes me dobut and makes me think: "But wait ..." "Am I a D girl?" It sytas with me. And so now, whenever someone gives me compliment or says, "Oh! You look nice, you look pretty," the voice fills in the rest of the sentence with: "for a dark sknined girl." It stays with me. And it makes me question my intentions because even though I say that I have these extensions just for fun and that I like them, that voice says "No!" "You got them because you're trying to reach a beauty standard you can actually never oitabn." It stays with me. Even as I go to send a simple text message, that voice in my head tlles me that I should be embarrassed or ashamed when I scroll all the way to the end, to the last, darkest ejomi. It stays with me. But I don't want it to stay with me. And the good thing is it doesn't have to. Because these beauty preferences that we have, they're not something we are born with, they're learned. And if they're learned, they can be uaerenlnd. Among us are CEOs and co-founders, directors of mtkaeinrg, you all are the arbiters of what stieocy considers beautiful by deciding who you chose to put in your advertising or who you chose to be the face of you brand. So you have the ortinpoptuy to make the unconventional choice. And those of us that conumse these messages, we play our role too. Because the first step to change is awareness. And now everyone in this room is a little more aware and will see the world just a little bit differently. And you don't have to pssvlaeiy accept what society tells us to think is beautiful. We can question it, and we can challenge the status quo. Because when we do, we get one step closer to bdrinenaog the satnradd of beauty and creating a society where the world can see that D girls are beautiful too. Thank you. (Applause) (Cheers)

Open Cloze

The movie "Straight Outta Compton" comes out. I'm so _______. I'm from LA, so this movie is particularly close to my heart. I saw it in ________ three times. So I'm cruising the Internet devouring everything I can about this movie. I come across the casting call. This movie has already come out and I'm no _______, so I wouldn't actually audition, but I just wondered, ______________, if I did, what role would I get? I look at the casting call, I'm going down the __________, and I start at the top: the A _____. The casting call reads: "These are the _______ of the hottest, models, must have real hair, no extensions." Well, since I have 20 inches of _________ hair __________ on my head, doesn't quite apply to me. But that's fine. I go to the next category: the B girls. The casting call reads: "These are fine girls, long natural hair, must have _____ skin, Beyoncé's the prototype hit here." Light skin? Also not me. And might I add: not even Beyoncé made the cut to be an A girl. But that's fine. (________) I go to the next category: the C girls. The casting call reads: "These are African American girls, can have extensions, must be medium to light skin toned." Now, maybe back when I lived in ______, in the middle of the ______ can I get away with being "medium skin toned," but since I've come back to sunny California where I spend all my free time baking in the sun, not so much. So I scroll all the way down to the last category: the D girls. The casting call reads: "These are African American girls, poor, not in good shape, must have a ______ skin tone." A darker skin tone. Well, I _____ that's me: a D girl. When I first read this, I felt betrayed. Any given year, there are just a _______ of movies ________ black actors and actresses, just a handful of opportunities when ______ can see actresses that look like me, on the big screen, and see that we are fierce and beautiful and desirable. So I felt ________. Not even in these small _______ I'm allowed to feel _________? I felt shoved aside for those of more "favorable" features: light skin, light eyes, long, soft real hair. But the more I thought about it, the more the feeling of betrayal _______ away for the more ________ feeling of "that's just the way it is" because in my world, this phenomenon is all too familiar. Something just as ________ and subtle as racism: Colorism, the discrimination of those with a darker skin tone, typically among individuals within the same racial or ethnic group. The story of colorism in the US begins with slavery. The mass rape of African slave females by white male slave masters gave birth to a cohort of mixed-race slave children. These mixed-race slaves are related to the slave masters and had more Anglo features, and were given ____________ treatment and allowed to work inside the house, doing less _________ work, as opposed to the darker skinned slaves that had to work out in the fields, doing more laborious work. Even after slavery was abolished, whites still gave more preferential _________ to ______ that had more Anglo-type features, giving them better access to jobs, _______ and education. The thing is, though, even within the black community, black people used skin tone and facial ________ to discriminate against each other. They would only allow entrance into __________, fraternities or elite ______ clubs to blacks that were able to display Anglo-type features. They'd go through a series of tests to see if you fit the bill. One well-known test was the "brown paper bag" test. Where if you were lighter than a brown paper bag, you're in! But if you were darker than a _____ paper bag, you're out. Another well-known test was the pencil test, where they would take a pencil and run it through your hair to make sure that it's ________ enough so the pencil wouldn't get _____. The last test was called the ______ test, where they would take a flashlight and shine it against your profile and look at the shadow that your profile made against the wall. And if it matched that of a white person's profile, you're fine. But if it didn't, you're out. Now, though these practices are no longer in effect _____, the effects of them are still very much so present. I remember a common "compliment" I would often get in middle and high school, often told to me by other black males; it went to the ______ of: "Oh! You're so pretty for a dark skinned girl." And it doesn't help that the media continues to place a _______ on lighter skin by retouching and photoshopping the skin of actresses of color before _______ them on the cover of magazines, as can be seen here, here, here and even here. Now, colorism is not just isolated to the US, its _______ are global, as best ___________ by the skin-lightening and skin-bleaching creams all over the world. In India and Asia alone, skin __________ and skin bleaching is a multi-billion dollar business. Despite the harmful toxins that are present in these products, people are still willing to take the risk and use them in order to achieve what they are led to believe is beautiful. And beauty products have flocked on this insight. One known _____, "Vaseline," even partnered with Facebook to come up with an app that would lighten the skin of you profile picture in order to promote their skin-lightening cream. And you can't travel throughout Asia without being inundated by advertising and commercials that promise happiness and success if you could just be a little bit lighter. (Laughter) Studies have _____ that these ________ that we see at a _____ age have a profound effect on us. In 2010, CNN did a study where they interviewed young children, just five, six, seven years old, and asked them to place values and attributes to people based on their skin tone. Here's a clip from that _____. (Video starts) Interviewer: And why is she the smart _____? Girl: Because she is _____. Interviewer: OK. Show me the dumb child. And why is she the dumb child? Girl: Because she's black. Interviewer: Well, show me the ugly child. And why is she the ugly child? Girl: Because she's black. Interviewer: Show me the good-looking child. And why is she the good-looking child? Girl: Because she's light-skinned. Chika Okoro: These messages that we see at such a young age and these messages that we internalize, they stay with us. They stayed with me. And though I denied it and blocked it out and I say I'm strong, I'm smart, I'm accomplished, I'm beautiful, I'm here at Stanford and I'm not a D girl, this stuff, these messages, they ______ with me. And they manifest in this _____ that makes me ________, makes me _____ and makes me think: "But wait ..." "Am I a D girl?" It _____ with me. And so now, whenever someone gives me compliment or says, "Oh! You look nice, you look pretty," the voice fills in the rest of the sentence with: "for a dark _______ girl." It stays with me. And it makes me question my intentions because even though I say that I have these extensions just for fun and that I like them, that voice says "No!" "You got them because you're trying to reach a beauty standard you can actually never ______." It stays with me. Even as I go to send a simple text message, that voice in my head _____ me that I should be embarrassed or ashamed when I scroll all the way to the end, to the last, darkest _____. It stays with me. But I don't want it to stay with me. And the good thing is it doesn't have to. Because these beauty preferences that we have, they're not something we are born with, they're learned. And if they're learned, they can be _________. Among us are CEOs and co-founders, directors of _________, you all are the arbiters of what _______ considers beautiful by deciding who you chose to put in your advertising or who you chose to be the face of you brand. So you have the ___________ to make the unconventional choice. And those of us that _______ these messages, we play our role too. Because the first step to change is awareness. And now everyone in this room is a little more aware and will see the world just a little bit differently. And you don't have to _________ accept what society tells us to think is beautiful. We can question it, and we can challenge the status quo. Because when we do, we get one step closer to __________ the ________ of beauty and creating a society where the world can see that D girls are beautiful too. Thank you. (Applause) (Cheers)

Solution

standard
winter
slipped
unlearned
obtain
light
people
premium
society
consume
extensions
blacks
brown
broadening
handful
brazilian
effect
question
young
straight
hottest
familiar
skinned
study
beautiful
opportunity
tells
putting
hypothetically
voice
emoji
illustrated
laughter
betrayed
shown
shadow
white
strenuous
preferential
brand
passively
stayed
lightening
today
sinister
guess
boston
theaters
features
categories
treatment
marketing
actress
stuck
child
sororities
circles
doubt
messages
social
housing
stays
starring
darker
effects
excited
girls

Original Text

The movie "Straight Outta Compton" comes out. I'm so excited. I'm from LA, so this movie is particularly close to my heart. I saw it in theaters three times. So I'm cruising the Internet devouring everything I can about this movie. I come across the casting call. This movie has already come out and I'm no actress, so I wouldn't actually audition, but I just wondered, hypothetically, if I did, what role would I get? I look at the casting call, I'm going down the categories, and I start at the top: the A girls. The casting call reads: "These are the hottest of the hottest, models, must have real hair, no extensions." Well, since I have 20 inches of Brazilian hair extensions on my head, doesn't quite apply to me. But that's fine. I go to the next category: the B girls. The casting call reads: "These are fine girls, long natural hair, must have light skin, Beyoncé's the prototype hit here." Light skin? Also not me. And might I add: not even Beyoncé made the cut to be an A girl. But that's fine. (Laughter) I go to the next category: the C girls. The casting call reads: "These are African American girls, can have extensions, must be medium to light skin toned." Now, maybe back when I lived in Boston, in the middle of the winter can I get away with being "medium skin toned," but since I've come back to sunny California where I spend all my free time baking in the sun, not so much. So I scroll all the way down to the last category: the D girls. The casting call reads: "These are African American girls, poor, not in good shape, must have a darker skin tone." A darker skin tone. Well, I guess that's me: a D girl. When I first read this, I felt betrayed. Any given year, there are just a handful of movies starring black actors and actresses, just a handful of opportunities when people can see actresses that look like me, on the big screen, and see that we are fierce and beautiful and desirable. So I felt betrayed. Not even in these small circles I'm allowed to feel beautiful? I felt shoved aside for those of more "favorable" features: light skin, light eyes, long, soft real hair. But the more I thought about it, the more the feeling of betrayal slipped away for the more familiar feeling of "that's just the way it is" because in my world, this phenomenon is all too familiar. Something just as sinister and subtle as racism: Colorism, the discrimination of those with a darker skin tone, typically among individuals within the same racial or ethnic group. The story of colorism in the US begins with slavery. The mass rape of African slave females by white male slave masters gave birth to a cohort of mixed-race slave children. These mixed-race slaves are related to the slave masters and had more Anglo features, and were given preferential treatment and allowed to work inside the house, doing less strenuous work, as opposed to the darker skinned slaves that had to work out in the fields, doing more laborious work. Even after slavery was abolished, whites still gave more preferential treatment to blacks that had more Anglo-type features, giving them better access to jobs, housing and education. The thing is, though, even within the black community, black people used skin tone and facial features to discriminate against each other. They would only allow entrance into sororities, fraternities or elite social clubs to blacks that were able to display Anglo-type features. They'd go through a series of tests to see if you fit the bill. One well-known test was the "brown paper bag" test. Where if you were lighter than a brown paper bag, you're in! But if you were darker than a brown paper bag, you're out. Another well-known test was the pencil test, where they would take a pencil and run it through your hair to make sure that it's straight enough so the pencil wouldn't get stuck. The last test was called the shadow test, where they would take a flashlight and shine it against your profile and look at the shadow that your profile made against the wall. And if it matched that of a white person's profile, you're fine. But if it didn't, you're out. Now, though these practices are no longer in effect today, the effects of them are still very much so present. I remember a common "compliment" I would often get in middle and high school, often told to me by other black males; it went to the effect of: "Oh! You're so pretty for a dark skinned girl." And it doesn't help that the media continues to place a premium on lighter skin by retouching and photoshopping the skin of actresses of color before putting them on the cover of magazines, as can be seen here, here, here and even here. Now, colorism is not just isolated to the US, its effects are global, as best illustrated by the skin-lightening and skin-bleaching creams all over the world. In India and Asia alone, skin lightening and skin bleaching is a multi-billion dollar business. Despite the harmful toxins that are present in these products, people are still willing to take the risk and use them in order to achieve what they are led to believe is beautiful. And beauty products have flocked on this insight. One known brand, "Vaseline," even partnered with Facebook to come up with an app that would lighten the skin of you profile picture in order to promote their skin-lightening cream. And you can't travel throughout Asia without being inundated by advertising and commercials that promise happiness and success if you could just be a little bit lighter. (Laughter) Studies have shown that these messages that we see at a young age have a profound effect on us. In 2010, CNN did a study where they interviewed young children, just five, six, seven years old, and asked them to place values and attributes to people based on their skin tone. Here's a clip from that study. (Video starts) Interviewer: And why is she the smart child? Girl: Because she is white. Interviewer: OK. Show me the dumb child. And why is she the dumb child? Girl: Because she's black. Interviewer: Well, show me the ugly child. And why is she the ugly child? Girl: Because she's black. Interviewer: Show me the good-looking child. And why is she the good-looking child? Girl: Because she's light-skinned. Chika Okoro: These messages that we see at such a young age and these messages that we internalize, they stay with us. They stayed with me. And though I denied it and blocked it out and I say I'm strong, I'm smart, I'm accomplished, I'm beautiful, I'm here at Stanford and I'm not a D girl, this stuff, these messages, they stayed with me. And they manifest in this voice that makes me question, makes me doubt and makes me think: "But wait ..." "Am I a D girl?" It stays with me. And so now, whenever someone gives me compliment or says, "Oh! You look nice, you look pretty," the voice fills in the rest of the sentence with: "for a dark skinned girl." It stays with me. And it makes me question my intentions because even though I say that I have these extensions just for fun and that I like them, that voice says "No!" "You got them because you're trying to reach a beauty standard you can actually never obtain." It stays with me. Even as I go to send a simple text message, that voice in my head tells me that I should be embarrassed or ashamed when I scroll all the way to the end, to the last, darkest emoji. It stays with me. But I don't want it to stay with me. And the good thing is it doesn't have to. Because these beauty preferences that we have, they're not something we are born with, they're learned. And if they're learned, they can be unlearned. Among us are CEOs and co-founders, directors of marketing, you all are the arbiters of what society considers beautiful by deciding who you chose to put in your advertising or who you chose to be the face of you brand. So you have the opportunity to make the unconventional choice. And those of us that consume these messages, we play our role too. Because the first step to change is awareness. And now everyone in this room is a little more aware and will see the world just a little bit differently. And you don't have to passively accept what society tells us to think is beautiful. We can question it, and we can challenge the status quo. Because when we do, we get one step closer to broadening the standard of beauty and creating a society where the world can see that D girls are beautiful too. Thank you. (Applause) (Cheers)

Frequently Occurring Word Combinations

ngrams of length 2

collocation	frequency
casting call	5
darker skin	3
skin tone	3
african american	2
felt betrayed	2
slave masters	2
preferential treatment	2
brown paper	2
dark skinned	2
young age	2

Important Words

abolished
accept
access
accomplished
achieve
actors
actress
actresses
advertising
african
age
allowed
american
anglo
app
applause
apply
arbiters
ashamed
asia
asked
attributes
audition
aware
awareness
bag
baking
based
beautiful
beauty
begins
betrayal
betrayed
beyoncé
big
bill
birth
bit
black
blacks
bleaching
blocked
born
boston
brand
brazilian
broadening
brown
business
california
call
called
casting
categories
ceos
challenge
change
cheers
chika
child
children
choice
chose
circles
clip
close
closer
clubs
cnn
cohort
color
colorism
commercials
common
community
compliment
considers
consume
continues
cover
cream
creams
creating
cruising
cut
dark
darker
darkest
deciding
denied
desirable
devouring
differently
directors
discriminate
discrimination
display
dollar
doubt
dumb
education
effect
effects
elite
embarrassed
emoji
entrance
ethnic
excited
extensions
eyes
face
facebook
facial
familiar
features
feel
feeling
felt
females
fields
fierce
fills
fine
fit
flashlight
flocked
fraternities
free
fun
gave
girl
girls
giving
global
good
group
guess
hair
handful
happiness
harmful
head
heart
high
hit
hottest
house
housing
hypothetically
illustrated
inches
india
individuals
insight
intentions
internalize
internet
interviewed
inundated
isolated
jobs
la
laborious
laughter
learned
led
light
lighten
lightening
lighter
lived
long
longer
magazines
male
manifest
marketing
mass
masters
matched
media
medium
message
messages
middle
models
movie
movies
natural
nice
obtain
opportunities
opportunity
opposed
order
outta
paper
partnered
passively
pencil
people
phenomenon
photoshopping
picture
place
play
poor
practices
preferences
preferential
premium
present
pretty
products
profile
profound
promise
promote
prototype
put
putting
question
quo
racial
rape
reach
read
real
related
remember
rest
retouching
risk
role
room
run
school
screen
scroll
send
sentence
series
shadow
shape
shine
shoved
show
shown
simple
sinister
skin
skinned
slave
slavery
slaves
slipped
small
smart
social
society
soft
sororities
spend
standard
stanford
starring
start
starts
status
stay
stayed
stays
step
story
straight
strenuous
strong
stuck
studies
study
stuff
subtle
success
sun
sunny
tells
test
tests
text
theaters
thought
time
times
today
told
tone
toned
toxins
travel
treatment
typically
ugly
unconventional
unlearned
values
video
voice
wait
wall
white
whites
winter
wondered
work
world
year
years
young