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TORONTO, ON - FEBRUARY 13: Dahveon Morris, Gabrielle Union, Zion Wade, Dwyane Wade, and Zaire Wade attend the DWade All Star Bowling Classic Benefitting The Sandals Foundation And Wade's World Foundation at The Ballroom on February 13, 2016 in Toronto, Canada.

(Photo by George Pimentel/Getty Images for Sandals Foundation/Unique Vacations)

Gabrielle Union Reveals She Had To SHOW D-Wade’s Sons And Nephew The Beauty Of Chocolate Women

Gabrielle Union was at ESSENCE Festival promoting her current projects, including her new haircare line Flawless and she spoke with Refinery 29 about corporate diversity AND the importance of creating our own Wakandas and we were particularly struck by one anecdote she told about having to work with her stepsons and D-Wade’s nephew to help them SEE BEYOND the cliche standard of beauty that — lets be honest — has been determined by an oppressive European/Western idea about light features and long hair being more desirable:

This summer, Union is dedicated to having discussions with her three boys (stepsons Zaire and Zion, and Wade’s nephew, Dahveon, who lives with them) about colorism. In a recent conversation with them, she asked the teens about the hottest girls at their high school, and requested to see their Instagram pages. “Literally, probably about 10 girls I looked at had the same light skin, curly hair, tiny waist, butt, boobs — it was the same girl over and over again,” she says. “So I asked them to show me the most beautiful chocolate sister they’ve seen. They say there are none. I was like, ‘Why do they get exed out so fast? What is happening in your brain that is causing you to look at these women through a prism that is distorting their actual selves?'”

To prove a point, Union showed them Ryan Destiny’s Instagram. “They’re like, ‘Oh, she bad!’ But do you know how many Ryan Destinies there are? I pull up every Black model, women from all over the world, and they’re beautiful. But they don’t see the beauty unless it comes from an actress or a supermodel or a video vixen. They have to have somebody else tell them that a chocolate woman is attractive for them to believe it.”

Crazy right? Have you guys had conversations like this with your kids? We love that this conversation is being had MORE and MORE in public platforms and black people are not walking around pretending colorism isnt’ an issue anymore.

https://www.instagram.com/p/BiFTtNOnqyY/?taken-by=ryandestiny

It’s interesting that Union uses Ryan Destiny as an example, she actually wrote about meeting Ryan in her book… We love Ryan and Gabrielle!

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