<p>You can see the 7-minute documentary here: <a href=“http://www.mediathatmattersfest.org/6/index.php?id=2[/url]”>http://www.mediathatmattersfest.org/6/index.php?id=2</a></p>
<p>What the author, Kiri Davis, said about her documentary:
"For my high-school literature class I was constructing an anthology with a wide range of different stories that I believed reflected the black girl</p>
<p>Here’s the rest of my post. CC apparently crashed just as it was loading. Kiri was 16 when she made the film. She was a student at Manhattan’s Urban Academy.</p>
<p>"Kiri Davis, Director, Reel Works Teen Filmmaking, Producer </p>
<p>Winner of the Diversity Award
Sponsored by Third Millennium Foundation
ABOUT THE FILM
More About A Girl Like Me from Director Kiri Davis
For my high-school literature class I was constructing an anthology with a wide range of different stories that I believed reflected the black girl’s experience. For the different chapters, I conducted interviews with a variety of black girls in my high school, and a number of issues surfaced concerning the standards of beauty imposed on today’s black girls and how this affects their self-image. I thought this topic would make an interesting film and so when I was accepted into the Reel Works Teen Filmmaking program, I set out to explore these issues. I also decided to would reconduct the “doll test” initially conducted by Dr. Kenneth Clark, which was used in the historic desegregation case, Brown vs. Board of Education. I thought that by including this experiment in my film, I would shed new light on how society affects black children today and how little has actually changed…"
<a href=“http://www.mediathatmattersfest.org/about/[/url]”>http://www.mediathatmattersfest.org/about/</a></p>
<p>I looked at this the first time you posted it. It’s definitely very enlightening to see what another subculture goes thru. People need to get educated and do their part to break the cycle of prejudice. Thanks for sharing this!</p>
<p>NSM, remember that discussion you and I had awhile back, when I told you about that incident when the black woman offered to shake my hand and I had to decline because my hands smelled like dog? (I had been doing something with my dogs and I wanted to wash my hands first, but then the moment was lost.) I felt mortified that she might have thought it was because she was black!</p>
<p>Well tonight I met a black woman and I whipped out my hand first, and then again when we left. And a few weeks ago I did the same thing. I’m making a point to offer my hand FIRST so there is no doubt! Unfortunately I can never clear it up with that first woman, but maybe I can make a difference with others.</p>
<p>Didn’t we discuss Ms. Davis’ intriguing documentary a few months ago? I believe I started the thread initially. Lots of people felt that the results of Kiri’s Doll Test failed to meet the criteria for valid social science experimentation. It lacked a control and customary variables, for instance. But as a black woman who has daily navigated the waters of “otherness” for 50 years, I’m not surprised in the least by Ms. Davis’ findings. The civil rights movement has yielded significant and laudable changes in American society, but there’s still quite a lot of “healing” that needs to occur. It’s not like flipping a switch: The Civil Rights Act passes, racism evaporates in a puff of smoke, and it’s suddenly as if the past never happened. Many people seem to think that was a reasonable expectation.</p>
<p>i am not surprised by the results either and as an african american teenage girl i understand a lot of the issues discussed in this film. i think it was really well made and that ms. davis is very talented. i also liked another video on the site called “slip of the tongue”. it was also very good.</p>
<p>“Slip of the tongue” was created and directed by student at my D’s school-large urban public hs. She is Asian-a senior. It is a thought provoking film. Sometimes our children can teach us more about ourselves and our world than we ever dare explore.</p>