clear as black and white.

Today I want to point out a thing or two. First, a little history. 

The Clark Doll test was conducted by Dr. Kenneth Clark and his wife Mamie Clark for her master’s degree thesis. The study focused on stereotypes and children’s self-perception in relation to their race. The results of Clark’s study were used to prove that school segregation was distorting the minds of young black kids, causing them to internalize stereotypes and racism, to the point of making them hate themselves. In 1954 in Brown v Board of Education, the experiment helped to persuade the American Supreme Court that “separate but equal” schools for blacks and whites were anything but equal in practice and is therefore illegal or against the law. This made the experiment even more controversial. It marked the beginning of the end of Jim Crow.


In the experiment, Clark showed black children with ages ranging from 6 to 9, two dolls, one white and the other black, and were asked the following questions in order:

Show me the doll that you like best or that you would like to play with.

Show me the doll that is the ‘nice’ doll.

Show me the doll that looks ‘bad.’

Give me the doll that looks like a white child.

Give me the doll that looks like a colored child.

Give me the doll that looks like a Negro child.

Give me the doll that looks like you.

The researchers found that black children often chose to play with the white dolls more than the black ones. When the kids were asked to fill in a human figure with the color of their own skin, they frequently chose a lighter shade than their actual skin color. The children also gave the color ‘white’ positive attributes like good and pretty. On the contrary, ‘black’ was attributed to being bad and ugly.
The results were interpreted as good and reliable evidence that black children had internalized racism caused by being discriminated against and stigmatized by segregation. The study shows the stereotyping of black people as bad and white as nice and more desirable. Here is where all this information came from.

Here is a video made of the same test, done years later, to see how much we've progressed since Clark's experiment.

Results: Not much improvement at all. Which is quite unfortunate. The saddest part for me is at the end when the young girl as asked, "which baby looks most like you?" and she almost grabs the white baby, but then picks up the black one, almost ashamed and sad that she looks like that one. There is no reason for this. Every young child should feel they are the same as the next one. This video is an eye opener. Today I was the witness of something very different from what I saw on this video, and from what was done in Clark's experiment. Hopefully it will be an eye opener for many people.

 This, is a white baby. She is my newest cousin. And she is absolutely adorable. 

 This, is a black baby. She is the daughter of my step sister's best friend. She is also absolutely adorable.

They are both babies. 3 months apart. The only difference is their skin. They should be treated the exact same way.

 Today we took Makayla (the black baby of 10 months) and brought her over to a friends house to see how Sophia (a white baby of 23 months) would react to her. At first, the two were very interested in each other. They stood in front of each other just staring for the longest time. When Makayla reached out to Sophia, almost as if to feel her skin, I think she realized how alike they were.

 After this, they both played nice together. They were laughing and playing like there was no difference between then at all.

 Sophia was even trying to help Makayla. It was so adorable. She was giving her the bottle, trying to rub baby powder on her head, and giving her the pacifier. They were by no means unkind to each other or refusing to play with each other. Makayla did not identify Sophia as the 'good' one and Sophia did not identify Makayla as the 'bad' one.

Look at this baby. Look at her. She is one of the cutest little things I have ever seen in my life. I will never understand why racism ever became and issue. I will never understand how one can come to hate another just because of the color of their skin. Being different is one of the best things in the world. You're not supposed to try to be different, you're supposed to be you, and people will find it to different. When they do they should respect it to the highest degree. I know the girls are very young, and may not have even noticed the difference between each other. I hope that what I saw today will continue to be the same even as the girls get older and start realizing all the stereotypes. I hope that before my life time is over everyone can learn to love others for who they are, and for their differences.

Hopefully that isn't too much to hope for.