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You'r Black Because You're Not White

YOU'RE BLACK
BECAUSE YOU'RE NOT WHITE

Does being a “yellow bone” rather than a “tar baby” make you any safer during a routine traffic stop?

 

You’re Black Because You’re Not White is an installation created by Melissa Sutherland that puts age-old colorism colloquialisms front and center. This display calls attention to divisive labels dating as far back to slavery that are still alive and well today. 

 

 As a Black woman who investigates colorism and intra racial dynamics as a phenomenon occurring within everyday settings and interaction, I stand in my authority and ask the tough questions. Do these distinctions that derived during dark days of discrimination serve a purpose today? Does being a “yellow bone” rather than a “tar baby” make you any safer during a routine traffic stop? You’re Black Because You’re Not White is a mic drop reminder that Black, no matter the hue— means Black.

Installation .JPG
Self Portrait, 2019
BBYNW Yellow Bone
Ape ape ape 2019
Brownie 2019
Dark Skin 2019
mixed ish 2019
Mad af 2019
Mulatto 2019
Red Bone 2019
Oreo 2019
Tar Baby 2019
nigga 2019
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