We'd be lying to ourselves if we said there didn't still exist a prejudice towards the way black women are represented in the media. Though the past couple of years have shown some progression on the matter of representation, there still exists a clear bias in the mainstream media, towards the portrayal of darker skinned women vs lighter complexioned ones. Though women are all queens, no matter what shape, size or color they are, it's all a matter of balance here, and the scales upsettingly - more often than not - STILL seem to tip more towards those women with lighter skin, and "whiter" features. And though some may see the injustice occurring right in front of their eyes from time to time, and choose to ignore it, Tory Lanez has stepped forward to address the matter directly, putting out an important message for all to hear.
Lanez took to Instagram to share a short clip of an incident, whereby he was in the middle of shooting what looked like a music video of some sort. As Lanez warms up in front of the camera, the director proceeds to swap out the beautiful, darker skinned model for a lighter complexioned woman with blond curly hair. Upon seeing the switch, Lanez immediately calls for a time out, though his words are incoherent, he can clearly be seen telling the director to bring back the other model. "You look beautiful by the way," he assures the second model, as the first is brought back upon Lanez' request. Posting the clip to Instagram, he captioned it with a long and strong message: "This is an On -Going problem in our community of entertainment that needs to stop . As a black man , Sometimes I’m going to joke about the black community just like we all do . BUT WHAT IM NOT GOING TO DO IS ALLOW ANY OF THESE DIRECTORS TO DE-VALUE OUR BLACK WOMEN ... countless times I’ve seen directors swap out our women of color for women of lighter complexion, or women with straighter hair ETC . ... IT IS OUR RESPONSIBILITY AS ARTIST TO STAND UP AND NOT LET THIS HAPPEN .. it’s BEEN time to embrace our woman of color #BlackIsBeautiful"