Some of you longtime readers might remember when I wrote about Kiri Davis’s film, A Girl Like Me back in August.
For those of you that haven’t seen this video, it really is excellently done and gives food for thought to any woman of color.
Here, watch. But be forewarned, the first time I saw this, it made me cry.
The video has made the rounds of the blogosphere, and now young Kiri is competing in the CosmoGirl Take Action Hollywood Film Contest! But shockingly, she’s lagging behind by A LOT. I’m guessing that Kiri’s film might not appeal to the typical CosmoGirl demographic. But if you ask me, Kiri is the future.
So bellas, if you have seen A Girl Like Me, and it has spoken to your experience and you want to support this brave, young filmmaker, click here to vote for Kiri Davis. If she wins, she’ll get $10,000 and a feature in the August issue of CosmoGirl.
We’re rooting for you, Kiri! Thanks for shedding light on the issues that young black women face, and for celebrating all shades of beautiful!
DONE!! The good thing is that we can go back once a day and vote for her again. VOTE VOTE VOTE
Voted for Kiri, she’s a little behind though.
GO KIRI, GO KIRI. I voted.
I voted for Kiri and will publicize this on my blog, as well. I think it’s clear that the majority of those voting probably aren’t directly affected by the issues Kiri’s film brings to light, or, at least, they don’t *think* they are. But having grown up Black in America and being a mother to a beautiful little Black girl, the message of Kiri’s film is very pertinent to me.
Peace
thanks for posting this… i will pass the word out
i voted… let’s do this…
I voted and I agree with Toya’s statement as to why her film isn’t getting more votes. I’m betting that the majority of the Cosmo Girl readership doesn’t care about black girls’ self-esteem issues.
I just voted for the video. I wasn’t able to watch it in it’s entirety since my DSL is kinda slow with video, but the portion I did see brought back so many memories of a low self image in my childhood. It has taken me over 30 years to finally see the beauty in my skin and hair. Now I have a beautiful black daughter to encourage in her journey in development. This story needs to be heard!
I voted, and put up a notice (crediting afrobella!) on the Other Life Topics board at Nappturality.
Thanks, Neneh! Thanks Toya! Spread the word, I am really hoping Kiri can come from behind on this one.
Done and done! I don’t think that Kiri’s lagging behind because people don’t care about Black girl’s self-esteem; it’s probably because it’s not a situation that is of the mainstream culture. Kiri’s video is provocative and bold and even if she doesn’t win at least more of America will know of “our” situation just by checking out her video. I’ll go back to vote for her as often as possible though, because I reeeeallllyyy do want her to.
Well lit, well informed, well done!
I’m voting and I will post about it on my blog. Yeah it made me tear up too.
I will vote for you and call for all my friends on EbonyFriends.com vote for you.
Come on ! Kiri!
Just voted again… Kiri is closing the gap!
It’s sad to see that she is not even a runner up. I will inform more people to vote for her.
Yahoo! E-Fresh you are right — I just voted again this morning and the two other videos have gotten 572 and 509 votes respectively, but Kiri’s coming up from behind at 400. I really hope she gets this scholarship!!
Hi bellas…
I just voted and agree with those who suggested we
vote for her everyday! Please get the word out to
as many people as possible. We can be the difference affecting this vote and see to it that our sistahbella WINS! As for the video, I’ve watched it and wish that this was something that had been discussed when I was coming up, my confidence and self-esteem would have been a lot better as a shorty…
This just makes me sad. Things like this, by their nature, are usually invisible to white people (like me), but now that I know about it, I wonder — what can people do to help? Is there anything I can do in my daily life to effect change in this area?
Aside from voting for the film…
She is gettin my vote (even if I don’t live in the states) and I have voted for her. She’s currently ahead, but we still need to keep voting for her. I’ve seen the video 3 times already and I feel like it’s about time that more of the younger ladies should know about this. Thanks, Afrobella
Voted! I loved her documentary. Very moving.
i will vote for her everyday , i loved her movie.
WHOOO HOOO At my vote for today she’s up to 840! Keep voting ya’ll! YAY!!!!!!
I am voting. The first time I saw the ending of the is movie was at church. They showed it then conducted their own test witht the girls and a few of the little boys. The results were quite interesting. I cannot say that I was not ecstatic that my 8 year old son thought the black doll was prettier and nicer than the white one.
Perhaps I don’t have a lot of time to think about these things or rather, I choose not to dwell on it but I just can’t wrap my fingers around the reason sooo many african american women have issues with how they look.
I know many of the standard answers such as being teased while growing up, or the media saturated with sooo many images that we can’t relate to…and so forth, but why does it seem like it is so important to be deemed beautiful and why is the majority of our self esteem linked to how we look?
I am a dark, “nappy headed” sister who grew up in the deep south in the 80s where the standard response to my looks was “african booty scratcher” or the one that still cracks me up to this day , “ghost writer!” I’m not going to lie, it hurt, but my esteem today is as strong as ever and I credit that to putting much less emphasis on the physical and more on what I truly have to offer, long after the physical is deemed relevant and attractive. The need for me to be considered “attractive” and the world to cater to my darkness–meaning make it a socially acceptable standard of beauty is just not there and I don’t carry wounds or feel sidelined, left out, abanonded. In fact, I feel inspired and creative.
It really bothers me that many of my sisters associate their esteem with how they look. Especially given that we live in a time where more important issues such as health ones (diabetes and obesity), poverty (widening gap of african americans in poverty), and education far outweigh its importance.
Esteem starts from within and can’t be remedied by images or “happy to be me” barbies or size 12 supermodels or Jennifer Hudson or Tyra Banks. Its foundation is rooted in a knowing of self–independent of superficial, of the world around us. I’m good at math or I can write really well or i don’t really understand physics or I can take really good photos or I like my hair when I wear it like this and it does not involve the idea of approval or validating. Can you like your size 16 body without the apporoval of Tyra Banks or Vogue magazine?
Am I supposed to feel sorry for young black kids who feel unattractive or should I try to convice them that it is really not that important and that there are many more issues that they should be crying about? Do I need to get worked up over the fact that 95% of the images in this world I can’t relate to or should I celebrate those who are creative enough to find a niche despite this statistic? What is there to alarm the world with? How is voting for this woman really going to change anything?
I am a phd econ student and am most impressed with the chinese in my program. They come here, speaking very little english. They don’t “dress well” are mocked because of their accent, are treated like they can’t comprehend anything, are never invited to any social gatherings because they are viewed as uncool, no one hangs out with them, the professors ignore them, yet they manage to come out on top, every. single.time.
Sure, some of you may argue that we don’t share the same experiences but in many ways, we do, just take the time to think about how we are alike in so many ways (economically and historically.
I’m not trying to make light of a very serious situation. Esteem issues really do cripple my people, my only question is why?
I’m not trying to upset or provoke, I just really want to know why because I really don’t understand.
EDW…
I think it’s more of a matter of how historically we’ve been taught to hate what AND WHO we are. As a Black American we have no history, we’re culturally separated from our African brothers and sisters, we’re unique in that the identity that has been “given” to us IS one that’s rife with “you’re no good right down to your hair”. The darker we are, the less acceptable by mainstream society we are. The lighter we are, the less Black we are. You’re right voting for Kiri will not change anything, however voting for her WILL put our issue in a place to be seen.
A while ago Micheal Baisden talked about this girl on his radio show but they couldn’t locate her. Please everyone send a email to his radio show to get the listeners to vote for her. http://www.michaelbaisden.com/.
P.S. I really take issue with the immigrants come here and prosper argument. To a degree it doesn’t apply to us African Americans. Anyone coming to this country as a immigrant is coming because they can’t make it in there on country. I don’t say that to be mean but people come her for the prosperity. Most of the resources we have here are present in the countries the immigrants come from but they are from the lower classes and are precluded from taking advantage. To make it a quick point people that have been oppressed don’t stay in the country they were oppressed by they come here (mostly). We are still here (I’d never what to leave) but the situation is different. I’m not saying this is the reason for the state of black people in America but it is a contributing factor.
When does the voting end? Kiri is behind by 500 now.
yeah, she is really behind and I’ve been spreading the word and voting everyday. If you have access to more than one computer, it would help to vote from each pc.
Redhat:
I get offended when you make off the wall commnets like that. Most immigrants come over here because they can successfully do what we americans CAN’T do. By can’t I mean the ability to earn phds at the top institution in the harderst subjects. Go to ANY top tier school in any program (hell, go to any graduate program) and see the breakdown of international students. They dominate academia.
They come here not because they can’t succeed in their country but because an american degree is recognized everywhere and because of their outstanding academic records, they get to come here on a FULL RIDE!
Out of a class of 20, I am only one of three americans. You make my heart sink. Your ignorance only makes our plight that much harder.
Something’s funny with the voting… I used two different computers less than an hour apart, and the other videos went from 3000+ to 4000+ in that time. WTF?
With all due respect to someone else’s opinion, it seems strange to me that anyone would get the idea from Kiri Davis’ film that the issues those children deal with have to do with an obsession about how good they look–far from it. The older girls speak very articulately about how they’re perceived versus how they perceive themselves, and anyone who doesn’t think that has practical applications in life is delusional. Systemic self-hatred brought on by racism, poverty, and the like is the real subject of the film. Comparing the experience of those children and by extent many African Americans with that of immigrants who seek education is completely missing the point. Education isn’t a blanket solution to everything wrong with this culture (and I have 3 advanced degrees, so don’t suggest I wouldn’t know).
I voted and will pass the word…
I hate to admit it but I was actually shocked by how many babies chose the white baby doll… I guess I took for granted how hard pressed my mom was to find me black barbies and dolls.
I can’t believe she’s so far behind in the voting!
She’s 2nd place and less than 1,000 behind first…we can DO THIS!!!!!!!
VOTING ENDS FRIDAY APRIL 13TH AT NOON…LET’S PUSH HARD IN THE FINAL REMAINING HOURS!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
I voted! I couldn’t let this deadline go by without voting!!
Hey Girl, love the blog. That video really opened my eyes so wide that I wrote a blog of my own about it not too long ago. And to think I thought that we over these sort of things. I’m voting.
Did you see that CosmoGirl shut down the online voting due to users “tampering” with the voting system. I thought it strange that the music video-ish film was doing so well when Kiri and the other girl who produced the weight-issues video clearly had more powerful messages. CG won’t count the online votes and they’ll use a panel to determine the verdict. Let’s keep our fingers crossed for Kiri!!
Kiri Davis went from Last place to first place and cosmo girl stopped the online voting process saying that it was corrupted!
Thousands of people have been voting for her and Cosmo girl saw that and decided to pick the winner themselves.
Boycott Cosmogirl!
Send an email to the the Editor-in-chief of Cosmo, Susan Schulz,
susan@cosmogirl.com
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