00:00This right here has a name.
00:02It's called blackfishing.
00:04And apparently, it's a thing.
00:05Ooh, child, the caucasity.
00:08As reluctant as I am to do so,
00:10allow me to over-explain blackfishing to you.
00:16Blackfishing is when a white person sifts through
00:18attributes and aesthetics that are typically
00:20and stereotypically God-given to black women,
00:23selectively picking out the ones they want,
00:25like kinky hair or silky bundles,
00:28padded or surgical butts,
00:29and darkened skin to appear black
00:32for sponsorship and endorsement privileges.
00:34The very same sponsorships that often reject
00:37real black women.
00:38The term blackfishing is a mashup of the words
00:41black and catfishing.
00:43The latter being an internet phenomenon
00:44rooted in pretending to be someone you're not online
00:47while developing and maintaining relationships
00:50through deception.
00:51There's some white people in the world
00:52who fabricate melanin because to loosely quote
00:55the legendary comedian Paul Mooney,
00:57everybody want to be black but nobody want to be black.
01:00That is the gospel of those who blackfish.
01:02It's like these blackfishers are taking a page
01:04out of Rachel Dolezal's book.
01:05You remember her.
01:06Are you African-American?
01:08I don't understand.
01:13The white woman who just willed herself to be black?
01:16Rachel told herself,
01:17if you believe it, you can achieve it.
01:19What's the difference between Rachel and these blackfishers?
01:22They don't actually want to be black.
01:24Being aesthetically black?
01:25That's trendy.
01:26But actually being black?
01:28That's just inconvenient.
01:30So where did blackfishing come from?
01:32Writer Juana Thompson sparked the viral Twitter thread
01:34around blackfishing, hoping to bring some attention
01:37to the strange trend.
01:38Thompson says that blackfishing allows white women
01:41to dip their foot into the pond
01:42without fully getting themselves wet.
01:45Sounds about white.
01:46Essentially, it's a sick and twisted version
01:48of cultural appropriation.
01:49It's a modern day blackface, but make it fashion.
01:52It's black cosplay.
01:54It's the Kardashians' life's blood.
01:56It's annoying.
01:57Blackfishing has been adopted by white women
01:59who are social media influencers
02:01with a lot of questionable followers.
02:03Questionable because why are you following and liking this?
02:08Ain't your mama taught you better than that?
02:09So these blackfishers, their whole entire point
02:13is to appear black.
02:15I'm feeling both offended and flattered,
02:17but mostly offended.
02:19This is not what black women wanted
02:20when we begged for representation.
02:23How dare white women capitalize
02:25off of looking like black women
02:27when black women can't capitalize
02:28off being black women?
02:30In an interview, one of the blackfishers
02:32who wants to be known as Alicia,
02:34there's a whole J in there, asked,
02:36why should I stop doing something
02:37that's benefiting me or that I enjoy doing?
02:40White privilege in a nutshell, am I right?
02:43You don't get to pick and choose the parts of blackness
02:45that you prefer for your costume.
02:48Using blackness when convenient,
02:50when our blackness has been nothing but inconvenience to us,
02:53our entire lives is a maddening insult
02:56to all things black and empowered.
02:58The power any of us have as black people,
03:01we've fought for, carrying around the weight
03:04of knowing the brutal fight it took
03:05for all of those who came before us.
03:08This is bigger than makeup 47 shades darker
03:11than the one you should be using.
03:12This is about the erasure of black women.
03:15This is about the privilege
03:17of wearing blackness as a costume.
03:19It's about them deciding that black identity
03:21and culture is theirs for the taking.
03:24I guess the bigger lesson here
03:25is whiteness is unstoppable.
03:27Damn, that's a depressing ending.
03:29It is, because they're going to keep doing it.
03:31All right, so.
03:32He's like, I want to end in a happily ever after.
03:35You're black, Sean, this is, just leave.
03:37It's unstoppable.
03:39Drop your hands!
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