Earlier this month the term “ Black Fishing” made its way to social media and it struck a lot of controversy. If you are not familiar with this term, Urban Dictionary describes it perfectly.
Black Fishing– Commonly perpetrated by females of European descent (white) which involves artificial tanning (spray tanning and tanning booths) and using makeup to manipulate facial features in order to appear to have some type of Black African ancestry.
Instagram is the primary stomping ground for black fishing. I always go to my explore page and see these beautiful women that have the perfect body and appear to be mixed with black or completely African American. Little did I know that these women were actually white.
It is so strange because we tend to be the most hated, but also the most imitated. Our kinky hair and brown skin has become a costume for some. I personally consider this “ Black Face” simply because people from more privileged backgrounds are capitalizing off African American ancestry.
We were told thick and kinky hair was ugly, so we started straightening our hair. We were told our brown skin wasn’t good enough, so we started manipulating our skin to appear lighter.
After this issue surfaced the hit daytime talk show The Real opened up the floor to discuss this issue. Check out Part I and II the below.