A few months ago, while taking a hearty serving of sociology classes, I discovered a Youtube channel called “For Harriet,” a densely packed channel hosted by one woman, Kimberly Foster. Foster is a young black woman who provides thoughtful feminist critiques, opinions, reviews, and reflections on a plethora of culturally significant happenings across a wide array of media. The header on her channel reads “celebrating the fullness of black womanhood.”
She has videos on everything. From stories in the news and viral movements to music, film, and TV. I can’t even list the amount of topics she tackles. The amount of posts she has is innumerable and her channel goes five years back. She addresses each event and/or social phenomena by employing her own deeply personal, candid, and layered black feminist lens of critique.
My first introduction to Foster was a video that came up in my suggestions titled “Ariana Grande really wants to be mixed.” At the time, I was taking some intro sociology courses; one which was Race and Ethnicity. I was learning about the social origins of the modern conceptualization of race and how the United States has always been racial project; defined by socially constructed distinctions between whiteness and blackness. It was my first time reading DuBois and tackling the idea of “double consciousness,” a concept that I, as white woman, can easily be totally ignorant of and/or passive towards. I was also taking a class called Dance and Cultural History and really digging into the problematic history of cultural appropriation within the field of study I’m pursuing—modern dance. Foster’s videos came at the perfect time for me. She was applying the exact concepts I was exploring in class to real, contemporary, and relevant cultural situations. It helped me contextualize the pervasive and subtle (to white people) ways in which white supremacy has been and still remains inculcated in popular culture and other aspects of American social life.
The Ariana Grande video chronicled Grande’s stylistic evolution and how it progressively included more and more characteristics associated with blackness such as street wear, weave/extensions, and heavily tanned skin. Foster also points out that this is not a movement exclusive to Grande. It’s part of a wider trend that uplifts the mixed race aesthetic. Foster argues that the pop music genre as well as platforms like Instagram have seen mixed race black women garner massive followings; and that this is a trend that white women want to take part in. Foster points out that it’s frightening that these aesthetic qualities may become detached from blackness and only associated with artists like Grande. She also brings up the Kardashians and how they have profited from their “exotic white” aesthetic as well as their mixed race children. Foster expertly points out the way that a little bit of blackness (but not too much) or perceived mixed ethnic background can become incredibly profitable. This is really wear it becomes problematic, because white women can split the line between white and black without giving citation to or allowing space for those on the disadvantaged side of the line.
The video really made me think about the ways in which white people are allowed to slide in and out of blackness; taking what we want and making money from it without making space for or respecting those who created the culture. I found it incredibly important for me, as a thin, blonde, white woman, to reflect on and consider the ways in which I profit from or enjoy blackness. As someone studying modern dance, I get to be a part of an art form that founded itself on whiteness being considered the epitome of modernity and universality. Foster is providing the education all white feminists need in a way that is engaging and culturally relevant.
The Ariana video is just one of Foster’s many, many videos. Additionally, many of her posts videos are deeply personal. She speaks candidly about failing out of Harvard for a semester as well as her own struggles with body image and mental health. These accounts from Foster’s life about struggling in college are reassuring for any young person to hear. She speaks so eloquently about what it’s like to deal with those issues.
Foster also examines many of the issues she discusses in multifaceted ways. It is rare that anyone is all good or all bad in Foster’s point of view. She’s also very quick to call out herself and her own biases; making an incredibly reliable and qualified critic. She is phenomenal at capturing the nuances of today’s cultural issues as well as what it’s like to be a black woman navigating life in 2019.
I’ve only scratched the surface of Foster’s breadth of knowledge, wisdom, and critical thinking. Seriously…she has so many videos…and I will admit, I haven’t been able to watch all of them. In any case, Foster has done a phenomenal job of opening my white feminist eyes to the many issues and cultural phenomena that I have so easily brushed off or thought nothing of. Foster is a talented, intelligent, and creative thinker and commentator. Young people like myself will find that “For Harriet” provides them with valuable and subversive insight and perhaps also comfort and community.
Link to For Harriet on Youtube: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCilNETwoyWx5lJTmzE4p7HQ
Link to For Harriet on Patreon: https://www.patreon.com/forharriet
Link to For Harriet merch: https://shop.spreadshirt.com/ForHarriet/