this conversation is bigger than light skin vs. dark skin.

This conversation is bigger than light skin vs. dark skin. This video has taken me from feeling like I'm a good steward of what he gives me and address some things because I don't believe and nor do I condone doxxing, cancel culture or dog piling. I first want to apologize to Brianna. It's my understanding that she's now blocked me. Lets me know that she's seeing my video and quite frankly, it's not a settling feeling. I wouldn't want to make anybody unsafe on a platform or feel unsafe on a platform. But I do have to stand by what I said. I have to stand by the remarks that I made and I have to stand by what is now a growing discourse. We're talking about colorism, we're talking about featureism, we're talking about classism, elitism, light skin versus dark skin. We're actually talking about baddie culture right now. And I'd like to use this video to kind of frame the disappointment that I feel within myself and maybe you can relate to it. Remember when Instagram and social media as a whole began to pop off and our parents were kind of just like these damn phones. But they were mainly just thinking that like we were being very vain, that there's so much more to a person than what they look like, so much more to a person than what they post. And we didn't understand it at that time, but through these social media apps, people are able to curate a very specific story if you will. What they eat, where they go, who they affiliate themselves with, what they wear. And influencer culture has now made it easy for a person's lifestyle, their choices, their diet, their wardrobe to become something that you either deliberately or inadvertently place on your wish list. Because everything is based off of what meets the eye, year after year after year. Instagram kind of reached its peak around 2013. We're in 2026, so that's 10 plus years. Year after year after year, we have suppressed our ability to think critically and intellectually about what we support, why we support it and should we be supporting it in the first place. I started following Brianna because I liked how she dressed. I started following Brianna because I liked how she looked. I started following Brianna because I liked the trips that she took and quite frankly, the only reason I came across the video, yes, I know the video was made in 2021, but I did not see it till the day prior. Probably because the day before that, I was looking at her page for outfit inspo for my Euro fall trips. As an intellectual and someone that has been an intellectual for quite a long time. Not only did I graduate from Spelman, but I attended a summer program at Princeton called the W.E.B. Du Bois Scholars Institute. Most of my young adult, mid adult and current adult life, all I do is read African American literature. I'm very well versed on the issues and the triumphs of our community, past, present and future. Even I, even I have failed to install intellectual checkpoints for the things and the people that I support. And I know you might look at this and say it's not that deep, but it is that deep. The man that is in the White House right now makes it that deep. What's happening in Palestine makes it that deep. What's happening in a low income community in your city as we speak, right now as we type, makes it that deep. And if we're not going to make it that deep, things are only going to get worse. And so why am I making this video? One, to ensure that you know I'm not for cancel culture. But two, to let you know that I am for read a book culture. I am for what do you know culture. I am for what do you believe in culture. And I think more women who are aesthetically pleasing, who have large platforms, have a responsibility to coax young women in this direction. Who cares about what bag you got last week? What book did you read last month? Who cares what trips you plan on taking in the fall? Meet to me. What books do you plan on reading in the fall? Remaining sharp on these matters is quite literally our only line of defense. Otherwise, we are going to become a people obsessed and absorbed by getting into the club first, being the cutest in the section, being a baddie with a baddie friend, the list goes on. And our ancestors would be pissed. So this is a charge for me to do better, for you to do better, for us to do better. Brianna, I never meant to hurt your feelings, but I want you to know that video was going to hurt the feelings of generations to come.