The Kardashians: America’s Image Of The Perfect Black Woman
Black women were born with unique and beautiful features, but they come second best to white women who imitate them. Case and point: the Kardashian and Jenner sisters.
There have been several instances when society looked at them as the standard for black beauty.
Most recently, Stylite.com came under fire with a headline that reads: “Beyonce Tries Kylie Jenner’s Lips.” The site is referring to Kylie Jenner’s ridiculous makeup “trend” where she uses lip liner to make her lips appear bigger. They insinuated Beyonce was copying Kylie Jenner in a photo she posted on Instagram. Only Beyonce was born with the lips they claimed she was copying from Kylie’s, which are fake.
This story isn’t surprising. Kylie is following in her sister’s footsteps, imitating black features and getting praise for being different and unique.
“Grace Jones’ figure was as new and different as Kim’s physique,” Kanye West said during his interview on “The Breakfast Club” in a discussion about his wife’s controversial Paper Magazine cover. “We’re not going to accept the physique that was given to us or told to us that was the proper way to look.”
Did I miss something? How did Kim Kardashian become the spokesperson for women with curves? White women don’t have trouble getting on the covers of mainstream magazines, black women do. But here we are putting a white woman on yet another cover with a “physique” she purchased and giving her credit for breaking down barriers for women with natural curves.
I wonder how Saartjie Baartman, who was one of the several women exhibited as a freak show for her large butt, would feel if she were alive today about Kim Kardashian being the chosen one to change society’s perception of beauty.
The media has positioned the Kardashians in such a way that some people are actually confused with their race.
The Washington Post actually referred to the Kardashians as women of color in their article entitled “How The Kardashians Exploit Racial Bias For Profit.” They then made a correction that states, “This article has been amended because it’s unclear whether Kardashian identifies as a woman of color.”
Come again? There’s no way Kim Kardashian could ever identify with being a woman of color.
How soon we forget. It wasn’t until Kim Kardashian gave birth to a half black baby that she sort of, kind of gave some thought to what it was like to be black, let alone identify with it.
“To be honest, before I had North, I never really gave racism or discrimination a lot of thought,” said Kim Kardashian.
But this isn’t the first time someone has tried to label a Kardashian as a black woman.
In a 2012 interview with Khloe Kardashian and Ebony.com, the interviewer states, “I think you’re the most African-Americanest of the Kardashian clan.” (Which, I might add, is possibly the dumbest thing I’ve ever heard in life.)
“My husband tells me that all the time,” Khloe responds. “Him and Malika Haqq (Khloe’s best friend) will talk and they’ll just say something and…they’re like we think of you as being black.”
Let’s just be clear, you can’t be black unless you’re black.
Sleeping with black men, injecting your butt and lips doesn’t qualify you as black. Trust me, the Kardashians are only cool with being labeled black or a woman of color when it’s convenient. They don’t want the other responsibility that comes with being a black person 365 days of the year.
Society has used the Kardashians to send the message that black features are only beautiful and accepted when they’re in white skin.
How else can you explain a respected beauty publication saying Beyonce copied from a 17-year-old white girl who literally drew her lips on, or Kanye West telling the world his white wife is breaking down class issues?
And we want to talk about cultural appropriation. The Kardashians wrote the book.
