Black Girl In Suburbia Documentary Trailer

October 28, 2011 8:36 AM

A trailer for a documentary about the experiences of black girls growing up in the suburbs
posted by RedShrek (14 comments total)

this resonates immensely with me. have so may thoughts and emotions pouring
over me right i cant write them all. gotta take a walk and come back.

thanks for posting this.
posted by liza at 9:04 AM on October 28, 2011 [5 favorites]

The video explaining the reasons for making the documentary was better than the posted trailer. It seems like an interesting film, and I'd definitely watch it, but as a post, this seems a bit thin.

I don't want to be a hater though. Good luck to the documentary maker. It does seem like a really interesting & worthwhile project.
posted by seanyboy at 9:29 AM on October 28, 2011

Black Girl in Suburbia website, though it looks like the filmmaker is concentrating more on updating the film's Facebook page.
posted by EvaDestruction at 9:56 AM on October 28, 2011

That looks really interesting. I"d love to see the whole documentary.
posted by ThatCanadianGirl at 9:58 AM on October 28, 2011 [1 favorite]

This sounds really interesting. Thanks for posting.
posted by joannemerriam at 11:51 AM on October 28, 2011

I think it's a great post. I actually liked the trailer more than seanyboy's link (which I think would have been balked at for the content at the end).

I'm going to start by saying that I know someone who is a spoken word poet who now hates it and produces the most spot on mockery of spoken word, so that was a major distraction for me (but obviously has nothing to do with the film). But more importantly, watching the trailer made me start to think through why I had an easier time than black girls in suburbia.

I did get the occasional "you talk white" comments, and I was especially disheartened when I was told as a kid that my motherf*cker sounded like a white guy trying to sound black. But I think that was more of an attempt at an insult than an observation. But I did get people who were convinced, absolutely convinced that I was a Narc. In high school.

Where I think this trailer enlightened me was making me realize that I could get past anybody's accusations of me not being black enough because in addition to the science fair awards and loving scrabble and libraries, I was good (enough) at informally organized sports. So sure, as soon as I shake you out of your shoes and score a touchdown, now I'm black. I'm the last pick in basketball because you need somebody, then I get a guy saying "wow, he threw me a brotha pass!" after I no looked it from the top of the key.

So things like that allowed me to bridge people's comments and ultimately leave me alone enough that it never really bothered me. But I think for black girls, that bridge (at least in sport) doesn't exist for the most part.

Also, the filmmaker talks briefly about hair issues (her beads). For the most part I had the standard low haircut, so that was never really an issue. Of course getting told your hair was nappy was still nuclear, but nothing like what black girls go through.

So I'm looking forward to seeing this film, in Summer 2012, if I get the chance.
posted by cashman at 12:25 PM on October 28, 2011 [3 favorites]

Thanks for posting. I'm looking forward to this documentary.
posted by Hop123 at 1:15 PM on October 28, 2011

Looking forward to this here, too. My longest-term friend when I graduated high school was African-American, but somehow, from 6th grade until the end of 12th grade, we never managed to talk candidly about race. I think that was because I felt like making a point to ask her would be suggesting we were somehow fundamentally different. I'm going to share this with her - maybe now that we're adults we can manage a bit more candor, if it turns out it's a conversation we're both interested in having.
posted by jocelmeow at 1:54 PM on October 28, 2011 [1 favorite]

One of the more thought provoking single link posts I've seen here in a while.

I don't want to take away from the experiences of black women, but I think this movie speaks to black people in general. I was always told that I “talked white” and found it difficult to identify with my inner-city counterparts. Living in the midwest didn't make things any easier.
For myself, I don't feel any great sense of confusion or lack of identity, but I feel where they're coming from.
posted by tbonicus at 5:09 PM on October 28, 2011

Thanks for posting this.

Growing up I was always told that I "talk white" and that I don't "look" black, whatever that means. I'm looking forward to seeing this.
posted by coinoperatedgirl at 3:07 AM on October 29, 2011

I'm with liza, this is really close to home...Weak post or not, Thank you for this!
posted by Dhertiiboi at 7:19 AM on October 29, 2011

the experiences of black girls growing up in the suburbs

As a white male who works in the suburbs in public service, I've wondered about this from time to time. Thanks for posting this.
posted by Rykey at 12:44 PM on October 29, 2011

Huh? Suburbs have the highest percentages of "black girls." Brampton, Ajax, Brossard- these are the municipalities with the largest black populations in the country.

Oh, wait, this is about the US. Then FUCKING SAY SO. The whole world is not the US.

Oh I should also mention that "suburbia" also includes the overwhelmingly black "suburbs" in south Cook County, Illinois, not that these producers or most of you MeFi types would know or ever set foot in towns like Dolton or Harvey or Calumet City.
posted by ethnomethodologist at 9:20 AM on October 30, 2011 [1 favorite]

Thats a bit harsh. She's a fledgling documentary maker with a husband and kids. I dont think the vitriol is really appropriate here.
posted by cashman at 9:30 AM on October 30, 2011