Let’s Sit Down With Barbie and Talk About Structural Racism!
No, seriously. The Mattel icon is here with her friend Nikki to have a conversation.
On Barbie’s YouTube channel, the forever teenage icon shares her straight-to-camera video diaries, usually a flurry of makeup tutorials, recipes, dance battles, and bedroom makeovers. But last week, Barbie dropped a video with her friend Nikki. They greeted viewers with a big sigh, which signaled that the two were about to get serious.
“Hey everybody,” says Barbie. “So there is a huge movement going on. Millions of people across the world are standing up to fight against racism. And they’re doing this because too often and for such a long time, people have been treated unfairly. And in some cases even hurt by others because of the color of their skin.”
“This stuff isn’t easy to talk about,” she says, “which is exactly why we have to talk about it.”
Nikki joins in.“It’s a tough conversation,” she says. “But I’m glad we’re having it.
“People might think my life might look fine, but the truth is, I and so many other Black people have to deal with racism all the time. It’s really hurtful and it can be scary and sad, and I wanted to share some stories about that today.”
Barbie has a long history of making diversity awkward. Christie, introduced in 1968, was Barbie’s first Black “friend” and could wear all of Barbie’s clothes. Nikki was a part of a line of “Teen Skippers” introduced in 1997, was given a unique face mold, and is now generally regarded as one of Barbie’s close friends.
Mattel has always regularly featured Black Barbie dolls as a secondary line or supportive of their main character—dipping in and out of discussions about diversity as they become fashionable. Is Nikki and Barbie’s sitdown just another one of those phases? Or will Mattel actually commit to anti-racism among their dolls as more than a vlog post?
