"Mommy, why don't any of the princesses look like me," asks the beautiful brown girl, a mix of curiosity and confusion in her eyes.
It is questions like this that torment
black parents or caretakers, who like everyone else, want their children to be respected, affirmed, and yes, represented.
Unfortunately, if said parents are in a
Disney store, or at a Disney
"Princesses on Ice" show with their kids, they'd better start thinking fast, because the mouse kingdom has never crowned a black princess.
Unless, as some wryly note, you count the character of Nala from the Africa-set '
The Lion King,' (who is in fact, an animal), African Americans are not represented in Disney's pantheon of princesses.
There are Disney princesses from almost every other ethnic group including
Mulan (who is Chinese), Pocahontas (Native American), Jasmine (Middle Eastern descent), the original Caucasian princesses we all grew up with -- Snow White, Cinderella and Fantasia -- and even 'The Little Mermaid's' Ariel (of the sea).
To some, this is politics as usual, to others, not so big a deal when the black community has "real" issues to deal with. Yet, for some parents, this harkens back to a time when we had to explain to our children why we sat at the back of the bus. For girls, especially, notions of self-image and representation are an important part of development.
"Clearly there's always a correlation between the images you are bombarded by and how you feel about yourself," says Dr. Robert Atwell, president of the Association of Black
Psychologists, who has been working with black children, adults and families for over 35 years. "So you either get presented with images that stimulate your sense of potential or images that ignore you or are negative."
In 2005, shortly after Katrina Helm and her family visited Walt Disney World, the North-Carolina-based mother started an
online petition because her daughter asked such a question and Disney responded with what Helm deemed an unsatisfactory answer. According to her letter to the company, a representative from Disney responded by saying that there were "no African American fairy tales."
The Burbank based Walt Disney Company, which boasted about 8 billion dollars in sales last year, is one of the most recognized brands on the planet. Disney, the parent company to television network ABC, did not return any calls to Black Voices by press time.
Though no hard numbers exist, African Americans support Disney -- most of us have traveled to one its theme parks, bought our children a Disney DVD or have purchased Disney merchandise for our daughters, nieces or grandchildren.
The Disney company has historically been called out for everything from racism ('Song of the South') to sexism (how come all the princesses have to be rescued?) to unscrupulous labor practices. Some in the community caution that we should be careful what we wish for, especially as it relates to potentially reducing our girls to passive objects of adoration.
"I'm not sure that little black girls haven't fared better because they haven't had a princess," notes Dr. Dorothy Cunningham, a New York-based psychologist. "Because if you look at the white [Disney] princesses, they've all been victimized in some way. They've all been saved by a prince, right? And they're all looking for true love."
She continues, "In other words, if [black girls] are not identifying with these delicate little white girls who are being saved by the prince and taken off to the kingdom, then that may not be so bad. Whether they feel beautiful is something else."
There also may be an effect on
black boys as well -- and therefore the community as a whole, posits Cunningham, who says the whole Disney culture is a bit "scary."
"I think there's another piece to it, which also has to do with how others perceive us. So the fact that you're a princess -- whether you're a victim or not -- you still are adored. You're wonderful. Unconditional," she says. "I think that adoration, particularly when it comes to
male/female relationships, is something we could work on. So you're adored, you're regarded, you're respected, all of those things. So I think on that front, little black girls may not get as much of that."
What Say You? Talk About Disney Princesses!
