Racial stereotyping has an insidious history in the U.S.

While gains in civil rights have increased significantly, younger generations continued to perpetuate harmful labels, often subtle ones that undermine people of color.

Next on Our Time: Filmmaker Antreise Lacey confronts the terms “team white skin ” and “team dark skin ” in her film Shade.

And then, Shaienne Knox examines how black hairstyles hew to white beauty standards in an encore presentation of Out of Our Heads.

And stay tuned afterwards for interviews with the filmmakers.

[upbeat music] BOY: Why don't people understand me?

BOY: I'm tired of running so fast.

GIRL: I want to be heard.

BOY: Why are people afraid?

I'm ready for change.

I hear you.

I see you.

GIRL: My time...

BOY: My time... Our time is now.

NARRATOR: Major funding for this program is provided by: The Russell Grinnell Memorial Trust, Steve and Mary Anne Walldorf, and Betsy and Warren Dean.

Additional funding is provided by: Arts in Society the Joseph Henry Edmondson Foundation, the Bee Vradenburg Foundation, The Buck Foundation, The Calm Foundation, the Kirkpatrick Family Fund, the Cultural Office of the Pikes Peak Region, and Will Stoller-Lee.

Dark skin.

Light skin.

Dark skin.

Dark skin.

Light skin.

Dark skin.

Dark skin.

Light skin.

Dark skin.

Dark skin.

Light skin.

Dark skin.

Dark skin.

Light skin.

Dark skin.

Dark skin.

Light skin.

Dark skin.

[somber music] It probably started when I was about eight.

Victoria's Secret Fashion Show.

The models.

They were just always so white compared to me.

I would probably say middle school, elementary school, because, you know, everyone wants to be cute, everyone wants to be liked.

When people call you like monkey and stuff.

Burnt.

Burnt.

People don't want to date you because you're dark and all you hear is, Oh, I don't date dark skinned girls.

I'm a little bit lighter than my sister, but they probably wouldn't date me because I'm not close enough to light skin.

For me, you're all brown.

That's what I think.

There's no team light skin.

There's no team dark skin.

Team light skin to this generation.

Is everything good.

Everything positive.

Everything nice.

Everything cute.

Everything that a girl would want to be.

And team dark skin are cockroaches.

Team dark skins are girls that start fights.

Team dark skins are the baby mamas with the attitude.

Team dark skins are these negative things.

Every adjective that's negative, dark, cruel, angry.

All those belong to team Dark Skin.

I would purposely buy lighter foundation to put on my hands and my arms and my face and my neck anywhere that would be showing at school.

My cousins always used to be like, Oh, you're darker than us.

And they'd always be like, Okay, show me your arm.

And, you know, kind of compare who's darker.

And I was always the darkest.

My insecurity started with my skin tone when I started looking at my sister and she was this light skinned girl and she would buy weave she would buy wigs and she would wear makeup.

And I'd see that she'd get this attention.

All I knew, Is that the difference between me and her was that she was light skinned and I was dark skinned and I was ugly and she was pretty.

[somber music] Before my skin tone became a problem, it felt normal.

So nobody had anything to say about what I looked like.

My color.

We were all just kids, you know, playing on the playground.

And once we started growing up, things were getting put into our ear... We were getting on the Internet more, watching TV more, and then that's when we start to see the difference.

That's when the different started to come out.

When it was introduced to us.

I believe this insecurity started my freshman year.

That's when I first started seeing it on social media more, and a lot of people started talking about like skin complexion.

Just the pictures and statuses and boys saying that Light skins are beautifuler, or... Oh, I want me a light skin.

You see it on people's bios, Team light skin or team dark skin or I only like team light skin.

It can really mess with you.

If you're not a light skin and you don't rock Jordans and have the curly hair and pretty eyes.

Then they don't want to date you.

People think dark skins are crazy and if you're light skinned, you're good enough.

I used to work with a couple of guys and we would always have conversations.

I would go, Okay, well, what kind of girls do you like?

Oh, I like girls lighter than you or light skinned girls.

Like a what do you consider lighter than me?

Cause, you know, black comes in all types of skin tones and different variations.

And I'm like, sometimes when you hear things like that, that would always make you feel some sort of way.

If a guy goes, Oh, you're cute, but I would only date girls as dark as you, or lighter.

I have experienced people saying Oh, I only like you because you're light skinned.

It's like, Oh, that's really messed up for multiple reasons, so don't even get me started on that.

But yeah, and it's happened way too many times.

Like, yeah, I only like light skinned girls, so that's why I'm with you.

So that makes me feel like, Oh, I'm dating a complete [expletive].

At first, my insecurity did affect the way I interacted with guys.

I was like, Oh, I'm not going to talk to him because he probably doesn't like dark skinned girls.

So if there was a light skinned girl in the room, I would automatically shut down.

And sometimes still today, that's how I feel.

Sometimes because I'm like, Nah, like there's no use.

Like there is no... Why should I even?

It's always “Why should I even?

” why should I even try to gain attention from you when I know that when this light skinned girl walks in game's...like it's over Team light skin, they know that they're cute.

So they get away with ignoring people.

My friend is acting light skin or my boyfriend's acting light skin or I'ma act light skin and not text this person back right now They don't text back.

The whole not texting back thing.

You hear that a lot.

You're like you're acting like a light skinned girl not texting me back or light skinned girls have a lot of messages in their inbox.

Dark skinned girls don't get that because it's like no one wants to talk to them.

It's pretty much what they're saying.

I do think the media has a big role in that.

We have Zendaya, Raven Simone.

Tyra Banks.

Beyonce, even Nicki Minaj is pretty light.

I really can't-- I can't think of any darker African-American woman.

That's a role model.

- For a darker representation We have Lupita and You see, that's the problem.

I shouldn't be struggling to tell you who is who is representing the darker complexion, African-Americans.

That's a problem.

Please join me in welcoming Michelle Obama.

She's classy, she's darker.

She's with a man of status.

Oh, dang it, dang it, Michelle Obama Black people, We come from kings and queens.

We are from the motherland of Africa.

We should be together in that we're all black.

Just different shades of beauty.

It's ironic because the togetherness that we had generations past is what brought us to this standpoint, where we are right now and we're doing nothing but breaking each other down.

Why would you want to do that when we've come so far?

I say you embrace what you have because you're born with what you have.

That's what makes you beautiful.

I'm a person.

I'm short, I'm funny, I'm outgoing.

I'm me.

We only get one skin and we truly have to love it ourselves.

I am artistic.

I am a free thinker.

I'm an optimist.

I'm smart, I'm funny, I'm confident, I'm black.

I am a beautiful black girl.

You shouldn't compare yourself like I feel like that's really something that will kill your joy.

I'm shy, I'm creative, I sing, and I love art.

Having this generation more educated on what really matters for you, that young black child to be what you want to be is your mind, is your brain, is it's what It's your merit, It's what you can do.

It's who you are.

You're skin tone has nothing to do with that.

[laughing] [laughing] We'hre sisters.

I am a person of color.

I'm a feminist, I'm a woman and I'm a listener.

And I'm done.

Films in this series are made by teens in partnership with professional filmmakers in the youth documentary Academy.

Young people in the program are empowered to locate and craft their own stories through the art of documentary film.

[funky music] Well, my hair's natural.

Most of the time I am in braids.

My hair is actually relaxed.

I am natural.

The way that she see it right now is natural.

It's curly, it's it's big.

And that's how it grows out of my head ♪ I've got funky hair ♪ Piled high way up there ♪ Nothing can compare to my funky hair.

♪ Ladies don't you dare ♪ Touch my funky hair ♪ Oh we've got lots of flare ♪ Me and my funky hair ♪ Oh I've got funky, funky, funky, funky, funky, funky ♪ Funky, funky, funky, funky, funky, funky, funky, funky ♪ Funky, funky hair.

♪ Woo!

I don't do that much.

I just wake up in the morning and put moisturizer on my hair.

Taking my bonnet off, taking the crawls out of my the rollers out of my hair, brushing it, wet it.

Wet it.

So I have a spray bottle, so I will wet it.

And then I kind of just section it and finger detangle.

- With my hair, I'm telling you, I just run my fingers through my head.

I even don't own a comb.

[funky upbeat music] I go to the salon every two weeks.

If I have the weave, it takes way longer, maybe up to 3 hour... 3 and a half hour visit because then she's actually washing, conditioning, braiding and then having to sew on my weave, and then style it.

if you're going to the salon, you're going to be there all day You better bring a book, you better bring a snack, you better bring whatever so that you can be comfortable.

And from the time I was six until just last year, I would be in the salon every couple of weeks.

[laughing] There's so much gossip and there's so much talk.

Even I don't want to spend all day in the salon.

It's like a cultural center where you get a lot of information, whether it be political or about how you should deal with your husband or how you should deal with that friend who's not acting right.

There's a love-hate relationship with the salon for me.

- See you later.

People outside of the black community, they just think, Oh, she probably just, like, flat ironed it.

Or like, Oh, like she probably just brushed it You know?

Like, no one... No one is really aware of all the effort.

[music] They put this white stuff in your hair and they let it sit there.

And it brings you to death, and they let it sit there as long as they can.

And it's burning.

And you're like, Oh my God, take it out.

And then when they take it out, your hair is straight.

I thought about all that money that I had spent.

If I actually am wearing weave, the hair itself is about $150... $200 for the installation.

Yeah, almost 400 Black hair is a huge commodity.

And it doesn't surprise me that black folks spend a lot of money.

We are probably one of the largest consumer groups, but the issue I have with black hair as a commodity is that it's not black people profiting off of black hair.

♪ I want style, body, and shine.

♪ A look that's totally all mine ♪ Hair so soft, silky, and free ♪ I want something just for me.

♪ Just fo me.

♪ For combing and styling that's fluoride free.

With your blackness came your kinky hair which your blackness came your your your, of coarse and puffy hair.

But that wasn't what what was considered to be beautiful then Growing up we used to play and I used to put towels on my head to pretend like it was hair.

A black girl growing up, and I'm watching TV, and all see are black women with long hair.

I want that.

Mommy, can you get me that?

There's nothing wrong with weave, don't get me wrong.

But there's this ideal of what beautiful is.

And it's not this When I have weave, to be honest, I really do feel better.

You almost can look like a totally different person being able to switch up weaves and switch up styles, almost like a costume.

One year had a red track and then the next year I had a blue track.

It just sort of became part of my personality because that was how people remembered me.

I regret not knowing what my natural hair texture was for so long.

It took me until I was 21 years old to know how my hair grew out of my head.

I had no idea.

Melba.

- Yes, Mother?

- You'd better hurry, you're going to be late for school.

- Here I come.

NARRATOR: As usual, The girl in the family is running a little late.

The girl is Melba Pattillo, about 15 years old.

[somber piano] I think what you see in the Civil Rights 50s, 60s, in that early movement is black people are asking for a space at the table.

So they were more willing to conform.

And so I think that's like... if you look at any of the old pictures, you see the the women with their hair kind of neatly coiffed and flipped and they look a lot like their white counterparts.

When you get to the black power movement, I think they stopped asking to be a part of anything.

[funky music] The Black Panther Party movement was really strong in Oakland, and when that movement came out and Huey Newton and Angela Davis and all those people had Afros, I always wanted a big afro.

It gave black people more pride.

You know, when they went to afros it was just like you were liberated.

You just took off.

It was like a wig You took off and you became Your natural self.

Once we got to the 70s, black people were no longer asking to be anywhere.

They were demanding their space Asada with her big hair and Afeni and all of these black women with beautiful, huge afros and they were just unapologetically who they were.

♪ One, two, one, two, three, four.

Are you ready to be moved?

Name me three black women in mainstream media with their natural hair?

Because I can't.

I was depending on my relaxed state of hair and weave and like braids for my source of beauty.

And so when I did The Big Chop, I started to love myself a lot more and I became more confident.

And I really just became the person I'm today.

Sometimes my hair likes to do it's own thing, and I'm like, That's what we're doing today.

Cool.

Every time I went to go look for a job, I would straighten in my hair so that it looked more professional and more clean so that I could get jobs.

Last year I decided I wasn't going to do that, that if they wanted to hire me that they would have to deal with my hair the way it was.

I think that my relaxed hair was seen more as professional, and when I showed up to work, you know, with crochet braids, people would just give me the nastiest looks.

I feel like people see me my natural hair, and they're probably like, Oh, she probably don't put up with crap.

And I'm like, No I dont.

No, maam.

They think that it's not clean or it's not kept or it's not combed.

One of my students came up to me and he told me how his mom thought my hair was obnoxious.

And then when I walk into work with like braids down to here, people are like, Oh, how did you... How do you do that?

How long did that take?

And things like that.

And I didn't know your hair grew that fast, and I'm like...

So for a long time, I promised that I was going to have a baby by a white guy.

Don't, don't judge me guys, because I wanted my child to have curly hair or nice and straight textured hair.

So now I look at myself and like, I can't believe I said that like, oh my gosh.

Well, for a long time, like, I wouldn't even look at any black boy.

I was like, Yeah, right.

My baby is not having no kinky hair.

I need my baby to have good hair.

I think to really understand that, you have to even go all the way back to to slaves.

You know, this idea about being lighter with good hair or more straight hair because the lighter you were and the straighter or less kinky your hair was, the closer you are to master because he probably was your dad.

Like, Let's just be honest.

So that goes all the way back then.

Like in a house that is divided against itself, right?

Can't get it together.

So black people have been doing this, you know, team dark skin, team nappy hair, all of that stuff is just a whole new rendition of House Nigga and Field Nigga.

The End.

[Funky music] I believe that good hair is hair that is clean and groomed.

That grows out of your head.

I don't like that phrase because I think everybody's hair is good To each his own.

If that's how you want your hair to be, That's how you want your hair to be.

You can express who you are more than you could.

Back in my day.

Good hair is hair that you love.

So that can be weave, that can be braids, it can be anything you want it to be.

But if you love it, it's pretty darn good.

Something that was expressed in both films, Like, mine and Shade, really talked about how there's this like harsh line and it all has to do with like these these like Eurocentric beauty standards, right?

Like the light skinned girls with looser curls and like smaller features are like on a different side than, like, you know, the darker girls with, like, harsher features and tighter curls.

We have things like #TeamLightSkin that are messing up whatever form of togetherness we thought we had.

So yeah.

Not that many people know about the issue.

So my biggest concern was that it wasn't gonna make an impact on anybody.

But after our initial screening, I had tons of people coming up to me and saying that they didn't know that was an issue and they're glad that they are now aware of that.

You know, you can make something and you're like, Oh, this is for the black community.

You know, I'm making this for the black community, about the black community.

And then you can still have people from different communities like, oh, that was definitely interesting.

I related to this part of it.

I had this woman come up to me and tell me that her daughter's mixed and she didn't realize that as her daughter grows up, that's an issue she's going to have to face because as a Caucasian woman, she never had to face that issue and she wasn't aware until she watched Shade.

So it's very helpful to know that I raised awareness with my film and it's leaving a lasting impact on certain people.

- All I knew, was that the difference between me and her was that she was light skinned, and I was dark skinned.

SHAIENNE: For me personally, bringing the story to the film and like to YDA it was because I saw Shade and I saw kind of what that did in our community, and I kind of wanted to do the same thing, but with women's hair and how that affects us and our self-image.

So I was able to take shade on a congressional screening to Washington, D.C.

It just felt so surreal The whole entire time that we were there.

we got to meet with congress people and Senate people It's amazing to know that at a young age we were all able to address a hard topic that even adults to this day don't want to speak about.

It's not something that we're ashamed of anymore.

I went through that.

That's the past, this is who I am now.

NARRATOR: Major funding for this program is provided by: The Russell Grinnell Memorial Trust, Steve and Mary Anne Walldorf, and Betsy and Warren Dean.

Additional funding is provided by: Arts in Society the Joseph Henry Edmondson Foundation, the Bee Vradenburg Foundation, The Buck Foundation, The Calm Foundation, the Kirkpatrick Family Fund, the Cultural Office of the Pikes Peak Region, and Will Stoller-Lee.

For more information, additional resources, Or to watch Our Time films, please visit: www.youthdocumentary.org