'Why Do You Have Black Dolls?' Explores Beauty And Cultural Identity

"Why Do You Have Black Dolls?" is the title and question being tackled in a new short documentary film by director Samantha Knowles.

The film's title and premise stems from an experience Knowles had as a child when an inquisitive 8-year-old playmate asked the very same question.

“Her question stuck with me for a long time. I can’t remember how I responded in that moment, but I saw this film as an opportunity to explore that question," Knowles told Dartmouth Now.

The synopsis states that the film, which recently debuted at 15th annual Reel Sisters Film Festival, "explores the history, the beauty, and the pride that is the black doll. Through its characters, a little-known community of black doll enthusiasts, it reveals that the black doll is more than a plaything; it is a cultural artifact that represents the history of the people it depicts."

And Our Sensitive Parenting Award Goes to...

Rory, Boo's Mom Who Writes an Open Letter to People Regarding Touching Chocolate Hair

Here's an excerpt: "While asking me about my daughter’s hair, please do not start touching it. Just because I am a vanilla parent this does not mean that you have an “in” to touch chocolate hair for the first time. I have had too many people tell me, “Oooh, I’ve always wondered what their hair felt like,” while pawing my daughter. She’s not an animal, she’s a human being.

We teach our children that strangers touching them in inappropriate ways is wrong and that they should tell an adult immediately. In our opinion, anytime a child is touched by anyone who feels that they have a right to do so, against the child’s wishes and without the child’s permission, is inappropriate.

You see, every chocolate/jam/cheetos handprint on her hair from other children and/or adults is a mark on her dignity. She is small, but she does have personal space and a sense of self-worth. When you invade that space without her permission you are telling her that she has no rights to her body; that her desire to be left untouched is not as important as your curiosity.

Even if your hands are clean, they still leave a an invisible mark."

We so agree. Rory, if you get wind of this eblast, please contact us at info@dollslikeme.com for a free copy of "When I Close My Eyes," by Ty Allan Jackson. We love it and Boo will too.

We found this open letter and lots more on interracial adoption, parenting and hair at the Chocolate Hair Vanilla Care blog. Great blog!!!

New Community for Moms of Color

Found a great new community for moms of color: mommybrown.

I stopped by, browsed and decided to share. According to the founder, who is anonymous (as far as I could tell), "Mommybrown’s mission is to be the definitive source for moms with children of color (of all ages) to have a high quality place to connect and share stories for the benefit of themselves and their children."

This feature-rich community includes news, a member area, photos, groups, advice, videos, polls, forums, and journals. Membership is free.

After only 6 weeks, the community already has nearly 5,000 posts and more than 1400 members -- all moms looking to share and gain perspective on raising healthy, aware children of color. Kudos to the founder(s) of mommybrown.

Kids, Race & Parenting: Children and Self-Esteem

This CNN series brings to mind a recent conversation I had with an irate parent who has since unsubscribed to our mailings and (if true to her word) has encouraged her friends to unsubscribe as well. A few weeks ago, Insider News quoted a long-time customer who identifies herself as the proud adoptive mother of two beautiful Black girls. Our ex-customer insisted that no White mother would ever call her children adopted or Black. She was insulted and enraged.

On the other hand, the customer shared with us how she proudly tells her girls that they are Black and beautiful on a regular basis. She feels that it is obvious to everyone, including them, that they are adopted, saying, "So why pretend... I tell them how lucky I am that God allowed me to bring them into my home and my heart." She told us that she is teaching them to celebrate their beauty by:

~Decorating their room with African and African American princesses,
~Refusing to have ANY catalogs or magazines that do not include a "significant" number of models reflecting women of color,
~Refusing to take her children to see movies that do not include them ("It breaks my heart to see children of color looking longingly at a screen full of children who none of them resemble, it's as if they have not been invited to the party"),
~Refusing to shop where the sales staff is not multicultural,
~Living in an area where her children can attend a school where there are other children with whom they can identify,
~Insisting that family members send cards and gifts that reflect her children ("At first my parents tried to pretend they were two little White girls, I gently put a stop to that nonsense early on."), and
~Telling them how fortunate they are to have such beautiful Black skin. (How God loved us so much that he made us all beautiful in our own way. That God revels in our individual beauty and we should never, ever be ashamed of how God made us.)

Kudos to this mother, who told us "I cannot change how the world sees my children but I don't have to support it. And I certainly have total control of what goes on inside these walls as well as what they see and do." We wholeheartedly agree.

Take a look at these three videos and we're sure you will agree that building self-esteem in children of color is a full-time job that starts at birth.

Black Girl Calls Skin Color Nasty

Biracial Boy Wishes he Were White

Kids, Race and Parenting