Essence: It's the Little Things

Much like you, I’ve been inundated with spin-offs from the “Sh— Girls Say” series.  Most of the recent ones are trying too hard to garner a laugh, but Franchesca Ramsey’s “Sh— White Girls Say to Black Girls” videos (see part 1 and part 2) stand out, not just for their humor but also for unearthing a much-needed discussion on micro-aggressions – or, as the American Psychological Association defines them, the “everyday insults, indignities and demeaning messages sent to people of color by well-intentioned white people who are unaware of the hidden messages being sent to them.”



In character and wearing a blond wig that she tosses incessantly, actress Ramsey drops disclaimers (“Not too sound racist, but…”), offers insulting commentary (“This is so ghetto”), and encourages stereotypes (“Why are Black girls so loud?”).  Of course, I chuckled because I’ve heard most of the lines or equivalents of them before (like the infamous “You’re so articulate!” – why would I not be?). But in real life, being on the receiving end of such comments is straight-up frustrating.

Ramsey’s video made me think of my own precarious run-ins over the years with non-Black women who just didn’t “get it” – didn’t understand why the offhand things they sometimes said could be so condescending. In high school, there was the brunette classmate with the Black boyfriend and mostly Black friends who began talking with an affected “Black” accent – you know, that over-slanged way of speaking only done by Black people who memorize scripts written by white people trying to sound Black.


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