blaria

Devyn Abdullah, a contestant on The Face, a reality TV modeling competition, says something to make that makes me go, “Negro, please!”

#TeamBlaria, today I should be throwing my winter beret up in the air Mary Tyler Moore style because unlike the straight haired mofos, I can let my hair get wet during the current snow shower without worrying about it looking like a hot mess afterwards, but instead, I’m sitting at my desk, composing a spoken word poetry entitled Bitch, You Are Blackity Black Black Despite Trying To Pretend As Though You’re Lighter Than The Brown Paper Bags That I Carry MY Groceries In. Yes, that title does not roll off the tongue, but it’s what I’m feeling right now. So what the h, e, double hockey sticks did Devyn do to make me so damn upset? She participated in a challenge on The Face, in which she and fellow contestant, Ebony, had to walk the red carpet in evening gowns and do a mock interview with resident pot stirrer and talk show host Wendy Williams. Off to the side, supermodels Naomi Campbell and Karolina Kurkova and representatives from ULTA Beauty, the largest beauty retailer in the US, were judging the proceedings. And that’s when Devyn rolled her foot in some panko breadcrumbs then deep fried it in a vat of ignorance, and inserted it into her mouth: 

Look, normally when people say ignorant things on camera, I usually respond with a combo of glee and slight embarrassment on their behalf like when I order an eight piece chicken McNuggets and the cashier accidentally gives me ten:

I’m like, “Oh, shit! This bitch can’t count,” and then like a drug mule going over the US/Mexico border, I immediately shove the two extra nuggets (wrapped in condoms, obvs) in my mouth before I leave Mickey D’s, so I don’t get caught with them. The point is that people saying ridic things on TV is usually funny and of little consequence. However, when someone like aspiring model Devyn engages in high level ig’nance by stating that she’s not a black model because she’s fair-skinned, I straight up reacted the way I do when someone I just met calls my best friend her best friend:

Like, really? You’re not a black model because you’re fair-skinned; therefore, you have an “international” look? Listen, heaux, you ain’t fair-skinned; you’re about as dark as the duvet cover that I purchased from Macy’s, which by the way, when I ordered it online, the color that was listed was BROWN and not “International Cuz I Want White People To Like Me & Be My Fwend” because Macy’s isn’t rolling in the deep in self-hate fuckery and neither should you, Devyn. It’s sad and it sends the wrong message to every single black girl all over the world, who from the time she is born and until the day that she dies, has to deal with colorism. So please spare me the b.s. you’re spewing on Twitter, claiming the show edited your words to make you come off that way. Please stop non-apologizing by saying that you’re sorry people were offended. And please stop looking for support because the fact remains that while in the presence of two beautiful dark-skinned black women (Ebony & Naomi) and in possession of the knowledge that the fashion industry is notoriously racist towards women of color, you had the audacity to state how you really feel, which is that what makes you more appealing or stand out is that you’re not really black because you’re fair-skinned, which in the African-American community, we all know is a coded way to separate yourself from the “regular” black girls. To imply that white is right and that the closer you are on the spectrum to white, then the righter you might be, right? Wrong.

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