Why Does Netflix Hate Black Women, Especially Dark Skin Black Women, So Much?
Someone needs to tell Netflix that Biracial women are not a replacement for Black women.
Disclaimer: This is an opinion based article.
When I say biracial/mixed-race in this article, I am referring to persons mixed with multiple races including Black.
We all know what Netflix is and more than likely have all watched a film created by them. But for the slim chance you haven’t, Netflix is a streaming service that allows its members to watch TV shows, movies, documentaries, etc on devices. In Layman’s terms, it is a streaming website where you go to watch films. Simple enough, right? What’s not simple, however, is the hatred Netflix seems to have for Black women and casting Black women in Black female roles.
As a dark skin Black woman who’s demographic is literally one of the least represented and the most disrespected/misrepresented, this article is more than just a complaint or thinkpiece. For me, it’s a fight against the medium that has made blatant attempts to eradicate the image of Black women and replace it with biracial/mixed women. Mixed women are not a replacement for Black women.
Now I know what you’re thinking, especially if you are one of those one-drop rule believing people. You may not see a problem with this because “mixed women/people are Black women/people”. But considering the one-drop rule is a white supremacist rhetoric, created to benefit the white race and the “purification” of said race, it’s no surprise that more Black women are rejecting this racist notion and taking control of our images and spaces.
Netflix Films and Black Women
Why specifically Netflix? Well because they are a major platform that consistently contributes to the erasure of Black women. P.S. I can talk about Netflix in this article and talk about another company/platform in another. Shocking right??!!
Going through Netflix’s twitter account, @StrongBlackLead, you notice a few things with their original series and films- most women are light skin, mixed women. From Christina Milan, Emmy Raver-Lampman, Lee Rodriguez, Sofia Bryant, Jaz Sinclair, Madison Bailey, etc to name a few.
I’m not saying there aren’t Black women in Netflix films, like Ama Qamata in Blood & Water (so many Black women were surprised and happy to have a film starring a Black woman that wasn’t stereotypical), but there is a clear distinction in most of the roles that visibly Black women get in comparison to mixed women.
Funny enough this isn’t the case for men. Black men are allowed to be Black. Their image isn’t being replaced with lighter skin mixed-race men. They are allowed to have Bantu features, dark skin, and be visibly Black in a variety of roles, even when the so-called ‘Black’ women they are in the featured films with are multiracial.
Mixed women are Black
Now back to this issue: they are not. They are mixed.
I never see people saying mixed women are White or Asian or whatever else they are mixed with. Why? Because there is privilege identifying solely as the most marginalized group. They are preferred each time. They get to be the face of the marginalized group and given opportunities over the group because of their relation to otherness.
Zoe Saldana, a mixed-race woman, was given the role of Nina Simone. Nina was a Black woman with Bantu features. Were Black women in short supply? Especially those with Bantu features? Of course not. The real reason is Hollywood would prefer to cast mixed women with more “palatable” features in visibly Black female roles. Zoe Saldana went as far as to do Blackface and wore a wide prosthetic nose.
When she finally spoke about this, she said she was a BLACK woman so therefore she thought she could play one. Now, this point is important, because Zoe has always been proud of her mixedness as a so-called AfroLatina. Her father, Aridio Saldaña, was of Dominican and Haitian descent, while her mother, Asalia Nazario, is Puerto Rican with some Lebanese ancestry. Yes, so she is apparently Afro-Latina because she has a mixed-race father.
With regard to her racial identity, Saldana stated, “There’s no one way to be Black”. Women like her will say things like this as if Blackness is the most complex phenomenon on earth and indescribable in its entirety because it gives her the privilege to enter the space and claim Blackness as it benefits her.
Why are people so against calling mixed women what they really are- mixed?
It seems that plenty of people have an issue with calling mixed people mixed and allowing them to represent mixed people, not just the most underrepresented and marginalized race they are mixed with. And I know all the counters that people are going to say, I’ve listed some of my favorites:
- “I struggle too so I’m Black” — Blackness is not defined by struggles therefore struggling doesn’t make you make Black.
- “I get racially discriminated against” — This doesn’t stop you from mixed.
- “If I’m not Black then I won’t support the Black community” — Okay, then. No one said you weren’t a part of the Black community- you are literally mixed with Black but most importantly, if your support of the Black community is dependent on the privileges you get from it then it wasn’t true to begin with so good riddance.
- “Aren’t we all mixed?” *facepalms* No, genius, we aren’t. Plus there is a huge difference with having admixture due to slavery, etc and having an entire White/non-Black Parent.
- “Race is just a social construct, it’s not real” — then racism isn’t real because race isn’t real. Also, race being a social construct doesn't stop it from having real-life implications on people.
There is nothing wrong with accurately identifying people as all the races they are mixed with. The truth is that there is an advantage in identifying as Black only. By claiming all the races they have, it jeopardizes the privilege and power they gotten.
The mixed identity and experience in itself is unique. Even though those mixed with Black are a part of the Black community- the same way they are a part of the other communities they are mixed with- they are not representative of just one.
Let’s not even mention the Black people who live vicariously through mixed-race individuals, hoping the privileges and treatment they receive will trickle down to them. Even so far as demanding mixed-race individuals to identify as Black so they can in turn feel better about their Blackness.
Lyn Searcy Character in the series Girlfriend is a great example of allowing a mixed woman to play the role of mixed women. She was a biracial woman adopted and raised by white parents. The show acknowledged how privileged she was because of her proximity to Whiteness but never took away from her being a part of the Black community.
What you should take from this
Black women exist and should be represented accurately and heterogeneously. Netflix is a major upholder of the one-drop rule. They need to be told that there is nothing wrong with allowing mixed-race women to play mixed-race characters, star in mixed-race roles, and have spaces from themselves.
I’m tired of Black women only existing when the role is stereotypical and degrading- normally the ghetto, fat, dark skin, loud-mouthed, struggling, suffering, and angry female archetype who exists as a one-dimensional caricature with no depth or necessity.
However, if the Black female role calls for characters with depth and a storyline(especially as a love interest) — mixed-race women are always cast because, you know, Black women only exist to be nothing more but a secondary character.
This Black woman refuses this narrative; #CastBlackWomen.
