TedTest

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

Unscramble the Blue Letters

The movie "Straight otuta Compton" comes out. I'm so excited. I'm from LA, so this movie is particularly close to my heart. I saw it in tthreaes three times. So I'm cruising the iteernnt dinrvoueg 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 cntiasg call, I'm going down the categories, and I satrt at the top: the A girls. The casting call reads: "These are the htotset of the hottest, moleds, must have real hair, no extensions." Well, since I have 20 inhecs of bzirlaain 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 bocneyé 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 afcrian acmraien 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 bikang 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 hafndul 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 bfuaiteul? 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 famailir feeling of "that's just the way it is" because in my world, this penonmhoen 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 bngeis with slavery. The mass rape of African slave females by white male svale masters gave birth to a cohort of mixed-race slave children. These mixed-race saelvs are related to the slave msarets and had more Anglo features, and were given preferential treatment and allowed to work inside the house, doing less strenuous work, as opsepod to the dkerar skinned slaves that had to work out in the fields, doing more laborious work. Even after slavery was abolished, whites still gave more preferential ttereamnt to blacks that had more Anglo-type features, giving them better access to jobs, honusig and education. The thing is, though, even within the black community, black people used skin tone and facial features to dscnimrtaiie against each other. They would only allow entrance into sororities, frnatetrieis or elite social clubs to blacks that were able to display Anglo-type freaeuts. 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 paepr 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 sitrhagt 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 etfecfs of them are still very much so pnreest. I remember a comomn "compliment" I would often get in mildde and high sochol, 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 pacle a pmiuerm on lighter skin by rhoietncug 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 gbalol, as best illustrated by the skin-lightening and skin-bleaching creams all over the wolrd. In idnia and Asia alone, skin liegnntihg and skin bleaching is a multi-billion dollar bsinseus. Despite the harmful toxins that are present in these products, people are still willing to take the risk and use them in order to aihceve what they are led to believe is beautiful. And bueaty products have flocked on this insight. One known brand, "Vaseline," even penrreatd with Facebook to come up with an app that would lighten the skin of you proifle picture in oedrr to promote their skin-lightening cream. And you can't travel throughout Asia without being inundated by asidrentvig and calomrecmis 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 pofruond effect on us. In 2010, CNN did a study where they interviewed young children, just five, six, seven years old, and aksed 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 bcalk. Interviewer: Show me the good-looking clihd. 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 iinlatzerne, 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 qtosiuen, 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 cpmniolemt 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 vioce 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 dieincdg who you chose to put in your advertising or who you chose to be the face of you bnrad. So you have the outntiporpy to make the unconventional coiche. And those of us that consume these meaegsss, we play our role too. Because the first step to change is aeenwrass. 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 psilvsaey accept what sicoety 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 bnoeinradg the standard of beauty and creating a society where the world can see that D girls are beautiful too. Thank you. (aupsalpe) (Cheers)

Open Cloze

The movie "Straight _____ Compton" comes out. I'm so excited. I'm from LA, so this movie is particularly close to my heart. I saw it in ________ three times. So I'm cruising the ________ _________ 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 _______ call, I'm going down the categories, and I _____ at the top: the A girls. The casting call reads: "These are the _______ of the hottest, ______, must have real hair, no extensions." Well, since I have 20 ______ of _________ 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 _______ 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 _______ ________ 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 ______ 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 _______ 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 _________? 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 ________ feeling of "that's just the way it is" because in my world, this __________ 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 ______ with slavery. The mass rape of African slave females by white male _____ masters gave birth to a cohort of mixed-race slave children. These mixed-race ______ are related to the slave _______ and had more Anglo features, and were given preferential treatment and allowed to work inside the house, doing less strenuous work, as _______ to the ______ 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 blacks 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 features to ____________ against each other. They would only allow entrance into sororities, ____________ or elite social clubs to blacks that were able to display Anglo-type ________. 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 _____ 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 ________ 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 _______ of them are still very much so _______. I remember a ______ "compliment" I would often get in ______ and high ______, 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 _____ a _______ on lighter skin by __________ 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 ______, as best illustrated by the skin-lightening and skin-bleaching creams all over the _____. In _____ and Asia alone, skin __________ and skin bleaching is a multi-billion dollar ________. Despite the harmful toxins that are present in these products, people are still willing to take the risk and use them in order to _______ what they are led to believe is beautiful. And ______ products have flocked on this insight. One known brand, "Vaseline," even _________ with Facebook to come up with an app that would lighten the skin of you _______ picture in _____ to promote their skin-lightening cream. And you can't travel throughout Asia without being inundated by ___________ and ___________ 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 ________ effect on us. In 2010, CNN did a study where they interviewed young children, just five, six, seven years old, and _____ 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 _____. Interviewer: Show me the good-looking _____. 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 ___________, 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 ________, 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 __________ 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 _____ 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 ________ who you chose to put in your advertising or who you chose to be the face of you _____. So you have the ___________ to make the unconventional ______. And those of us that consume these ________, we play our role too. Because the first step to change is _________. 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 _______ 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 standard of beauty and creating a society where the world can see that D girls are beautiful too. Thank you. (________) (Cheers)

Solution

broadening
hottest
phenomenon
passively
beyoncé
straight
familiar
effects
internalize
brazilian
commercials
awareness
internet
middle
darker
choice
opportunity
voice
partnered
fraternities
order
advertising
compliment
paper
outta
profile
lightening
theaters
asked
brand
child
common
treatment
housing
profound
world
baking
achieve
features
slaves
masters
beauty
black
start
inches
place
school
retouching
beautiful
deciding
handful
india
discriminate
opposed
question
global
slave
devouring
society
models
american
casting
messages
present
business
african
applause
begins
premium

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