In the 1940’s Dr. Kenneth Clark and his wife Dr. Mamie Phipps Clark did multiple tests with dolls to show an inherent bias that children are taught at a young age. Different color dolls were given to little black girls and they began asking them questions. Things like, which doll was prettier than the other, and which was doll was the “good doll” vs which one they thought was the “bad doll.” The little black girls by a large said the black doll was the “bad doll” and the white doll was the “good doll.” Then they were asked which doll resembled THEM the most. It was a gut wrenching sight to behold. When asked if they thought if they were good or bad they responded shy and perplexingly that they were good. The experiment also served as a way of confronting the narratives that society had taught them since birth. This sad story reminded me of that. This Dominican grandmother who obviously has African ancestry is so in denial of her blackness that she tries to pass it on to her grand daughter. She not only refuses to let the little girl play with the black doll but then claims the white doll resembles her more! She even says in Spanish that “the white doll looked more like her granddaughter.” Pura locura. In Latin America there used to be a caste system for hundreds of years and we still live in the remnants of that. So much so that people are so hateful towards even themselves. Similarly Indigenous people are taught to reject their Native identity in favor of “Latinidad.” Whatever that means this week. The mother of the child explains at the end (it got cut off) that her mother was brainwashed very young in the Dominican Republic with a deep sense of being anything but black but that she wants to raise her daughter to be different. She points out how the little girl actually likes the little black doll better. I wish her and this beautiful little child love and success. Que Dios bendiga a esta Nina y le de sabiduria y amor para su mismo. #DrKennethClark #MamiePhippsClark #racismo #racism #latino #latinoamerca