"...focusing on some blacktwitter randos who are apparently calling her "not black enough" when you know what people are really reacting to is feeling erased, once again, from any positive aspect of American culture."

The thing with Black people is that we come in all shades! And even throughout a person's life their shade can change. I don't think in order to play a person you have to find someone the same skin tone but to me, Zendaya "looks" Latina whereas Aaliyah "looked" Black. That's the only problem I have with it. Wentworth…

Well, I guess I'm not tuned into those circles (not on twitter) because I haven't really seen that. What I did see was that this post mentions questioning Hollywood casting of light skinned black women isn't questioning blackness and then from there we went straight to your post which questions why we're even…

I cannot recommend this comment enough. Thank you for writing it.

There is a difference between saying someone is black or not. And saying that hollywood movies tend to try to portray dark-skin people as much lighter than they are because of a bias against dark-skin black women actors.

I have to disagree with you on this one, NinjaCate. I certainly don't think Zendaya is not black, but we can't pretend Hollywood doesn't lighten up nearly every role that is casted as a black woman (and really, only black women not men). Questioning Zendaya's casting isn't questioning her blackness. It's questioning…

for the third time. Did you read the article? Cuz SHE IS THE ONE THAT SAID SHES "BLACK ENOUGH"

I think its hilarious(sad) that many commenters here, who I'll venture to guess are mostly not black, keep referring to Aaliyah as light-skinned, which is exactly what's fucked up about this casting. I'm not questioning how Zendaya herself identifies or if she's really black (although her own assertion that she's…

I'm always interested in these views since I wouldn't describe Aaliyah as light skinned at all (being light skinned myself and significantly lighter hued than she is). I've always considered her solidly brown, albeit not dark skinned. I wonder if our assessments depend on where we fall on the colorism spectrum. I do…

We don't actually disagree that much. While Aaliyah was visibly Black and that was important, it wasn't AS important as Nina Simone and that's based on both the era in which she lived and her political awareness. Aaliyah was a lot of things, but political is not one of them. She was incredibly private with her life…

People should be free to self-identify, but some people do not like being constantly misrepresented. In this case, it's real-life brown-skinned Black women of accomplishment being portrayed by lighter people. Would a casting director choose a woman with strawberry blonde hair for a Marilyn Monroe biopic sans wig?

Has Hollywood to date acted in ways that would lead one to conclude that they SHOULD get the benefit of the doubt? I don't have a problem with the casting per se but it is still seems to illustrate a trend in entertainment when it comes to black women and I'm not sure that not acknowledging it does us any favor.

Agreed, except if it was a Tyler Perry movie, at least one of the women would be dead from AIDS by the end of the movie, because punishment.

Well said. I hate that some people are saying that this girl has no right to identify as Black. And I hate that most Black women who are even portrayed on screen at all, even someone as light as Aaliyah, are played by women who are even lighter than them.

I will never in my life know why people took love advice from Steve Harvey, a man who is on his 76th marriage. Also, this sounds like it was co-written by Tyler Perry.

yeah...i have hershey kiss nipples lol

do they have them in colors other than white?

She reminds me of the babe...

It's very simple. It all comes down to consent. You don't have to fuck ugly guys to be a feminist.

I honestly feel disgusted by the condescension and complete hypocrisy of the newscasters. They went to the prison to tell this guy he's a hot, viral sensation, then spend time shaking their finger at the public for saying the same thing. In addition, since they've spent the time to waste news time on him, they've also…