Please Stop the Black-Fishing

Black fisher #1

BLOG TYRANT'S INTRODUCTION: Well, this week has been a decade, but after yesterday's dramatic, historical events, we can turn our attentions to other, serious matters and welcome our new contributor, Master of My Universe. Give her a rousing welcome!

Have you heard of Black Fishing? It is a new form of blackface. Although this trend has been going on for decades in some form or fashion with today’s social media platforms the culprits are now being called out for this cultural appropriation. Black Fishing occurs when a white woman uses makeup to darken her skin tone to give the appearance of being either black or of mixed heritage. The trend is growing because Caucasian Instagram models have begun to realize that black and mixed women are getting more attention on social media.

It can be said that black women have emulated Eurocentric beauty for centuries if not decades but there is a difference. Black women had to conform because of assimilation, propaganda, and being told through commercials, merchandise and magazine covers that white women are the standard of beauty. Apparently, that is no longer the case because the internet and social media outlets have successfully shown that beautiful sexy black women are vogue.

For years black women were ridiculed for our hairstyles, big lips, body types, skin color and fashion sense. Bo Derek from the Movie 10 wore corn rolls as a white woman. It was an iconic scene with Derek running on the beach with corn-rolls in her hair according to movie critics. The fashion and makeup industry went into a frenzy covering her new look and style. Problem was Derek received glowing praise for a hair style that black women were ridiculed for being too black. It was not a part of Derek's heritage.

Bo Derek gets more credit for popularizing cornrows than the black people that actually invented it! Derek has been cited in People Magazine as the catalyst for making cornrows a “cross-cultural craze” and a “beauty store bonanza.”

In America, anyone can make money off of black culture without giving credit and compensation to the culture except for black people. Although some people including Derek herself have made lite of cultural appropriation it is not a laughing matter. You are stealing from people that have been oppressed and trivializing their struggles!

In a more recent incident of black fishing, In the October issue of In Style Magazine Jennifer Aniston is on the cover. The cover drew outrage because Aniston is almost five times darker than her actual skin tone. The magazine as of this writing will not say if the actress was tanned or if the picture was airbrushed. Some of Aniston's fans came to her defense to say that she is of Greek heritage. One of her critics said “oh look there was actually a black person on Friends.”

In-Style editors stated they wanted to channel the actresses and models from the 50's and 60's such as Catherine Deneuve. That is not an excuse especially when black women styles were copied by white women, yet black women were ridiculed for wearing the styles before a white model made them her own.

In any case this, imitation is not a form of flattery it is cultural appropriation. Imitation without representation is not flattery it is disenfranchisement.

You see marginalized groups do not have the power or the luxury to decide if they would prefer to stick with their customs or try on the dominant culture’s traditions just for fun. The marginalized groups have to adopt the dominate culture in order to survive.