colorism: actress cries “racism” when black people say a dark-skin storm would be better

Lifetime Aaliar-cuz-that-was-not-Aaliyah is back at it again! Not content with ruining just one of the Black collective’s most beloved childhood memories, third rate actress turned imposter Marvel superhero Alexandra Shipp took to Twitter last week to defend her role in the X-Men franchise, a casting generally agreed to be so bad that it makes even Halle Berry widely panned shot at the role look like the perfect Storm.

Apparently, CVS-brand Ororo Munroe was upset that fans found her ridiculous accent and very light skin to be far off from their imaginations of the character, who is written as a powerful African goddess. In response to fans hoping aloud that the recent Fox acquisition of the rights to the franchise might mean a more accurate re-casting, Light Flurries accused Black people of being behind “90% of the racism” she has experienced in her life.

You wanna know what I’ve found interesting? That 90% of the racism I’ve experienced in my lifetime has been at the hands of fellow black people. It’s crazy! Why do this? Why tell a woman she’s not enough because YOU THINK SO??

— Alexandra Shipp (@AlexShipppp) December 14, 2017

Calling it “pure hate” to wish a dark skinned woman gets a role that was always drawn as a dark skinned woman, Slight Wind Chill believes not only is there nothing wrong with the fact that the role has only been played by light skinned women, but that the true crime is calling out the colorist world that denies opportunities to dark skinned women in the first place. Makes sense.

This. Right. Here. Pure hate. Its disgusting. My whole life I’ve had to defend my skin tone, like its controllable, like I’ve ever been treated white. Sorry, your racism doesn’t work on me. I’m a strong black woman & no one will EVER be able to take that from me not even a troll. https://t.co/Nl8HqoiDuf

— Alexandra Shipp (@AlexShipppp) December 14, 2017

You guys act like i dont want every skin tone represented on TV smh who would ever want that? This conversation about Storm is so stupid, I’m out. Y’all don’t know me and probably never will. If i lose my job to another actress, i hope it’s for her talent and grace, not her skin.

— Alexandra Shipp (@AlexShipppp) December 14, 2017

Obviously, Drizzle doesn’t understand what racism is, so here’s a quick primer. Racism: creating and upholding a system wherein people whose features are closer to the European ideal are afforded opportunities at the expense of everyone else. Not racism: pushing for dark skinned actresses to finally get a chance to play the roles that they are best suited for.

It should be noted that this isn’t the first time Chance of Showers pushed back against us hateful, disgusting Black people who dare to address the fact that just maybe her connection to whiteness via her white mother affords her access to certain systems in a racist society. After Zendaya backed out of the aforementioned Aaliyah B-movie due to controversy around her own biracial identity (it should be noted that Zendaya has a far, far greater understanding of race and her place within the construct than Shipp), Gust of Wind refused to listen to the same criticisms, combatively Tweeting that her mother is “white, she made me, get used to it!”

She’s white, she made me, get used to it! pic.twitter.com/e8MJevimjF

— Alexandra Shipp (@AlexShipppp) April 29, 2014

Yeah, we get it. Your mother is white. Seems like she taught you lots of things about race and what it means from that violently limited perspective. It’s that perspective that we don’t trust.