Apparently she didn't realize Black culture was worth a damn until she copped Low End Theory and the greatest hits compilation of Billie Holiday, in the last few years. Were Lenny and Lisa talking to her at all about anything during her childhood?



http://www.huffingtonpost.com/entry/zo%C3%AB-kravitz-on-black-identity-and-the-role-she-was-too-urban-to-play_55a00cd0e4b05b1d029049d9



Zoë Kravitz On Black Identity And The Role She Was Too 'Urban' To Play
Headshot of Zeba Blay
Zeba Blay
Culture Writer, Voices
Posted: 07/10/2015



Zoë Kravitz has seen a huge surge in both her music and movie careers in the past year, touring with her band Lolawolf and starring in critically and financially successful films like "Mad Max" and "Dope." But in a new interview, the 26-year-old starlet has revealed the struggles she's had landing roles in the past.

In the August issue of Nylon magazine, Kravitz described how she tried to audition for a small part in the Christopher Nolan-directed "The Dark Knight Rises."

"They told me that I couldn’t get an audition for a small role they were casting because they weren’t 'going urban,'" she said. "It was like, 'What does that have to do with anything?' I have to play the role like, 'Yo, what’s up, Batman? What’s going on wit chu?'"

On her identity as the biracial daughter of stars Lisa Bonet and Lenny Kravitz, the actress said she has only recently begun to identify more with her blackness. Growing up, she said attending a predominantly white school made her feel as though she was "just as white" as her classmates.

“I identified with white culture, and I wanted to fit in," she told Nylon. "I didn’t identify with black culture, like, I didn’t like Tyler Perry movies, and I wasn’t into hip-hop music."

“Unfortunately that is what’s fed through the media. That’s what people see. That’s what I saw," Kravitz added. The actress says she has since gained more perspective on being black, and realizes that black culture is "so much deeper than that."

For Kravitz, introductions to important black actors and musicians helped change her perspective on black identity. "I got older and listened to A Tribe Called Quest and watched films with Sidney Poitier, and heard Billie Holiday and Nina Simone. I had to un-brainwash myself. It’s my mission, especially as an actress.”

Kravitz is currently filming "Allegiant: Part 1," the next installment in the "Insurgent" movie franchise.

I was recently explaining to a mixed crowd how a white supremacist environment
not only makes white people view Black people negatively, but it also makes Black
people view ourSELVES negatively.

On some level, most of us have to do perform that same UNwashing of our brains.

I don't find what she's saying to be offensive, at all. When I look around at my
Brother and Sisters, I think Zoe's lucky, because her environment made it very plain
to her that she was, indeed, bamboozled... while so many of us don't realize we are.

Sure, we can say her parents should have talked to her about these issues, but they
didn't SOMEthing right, because she had the mind to see it for herself at some point.
Tough call for me to make, because I don't really know why they went about it the way
they did. I can't almost understand not wanting a child to have to think of themselves
as an outlier, especially since she said she went to predominantly white schools and
probably didn't grow up like the rest of us. Perhaps they knew that her 'nigga wake up call'
would be as gentle as this with well-to-do celebrity parents... another reason she's lucky.

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>On some level, most of us have to perform that same
>UNwashing of our brains.

>Sure, we can say her parents should have talked to her about
>these issues, but they
>did SOMEthing right...

>I can almost understand not wanting a child to have to think of themselves
>as an outlier
>

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who raised their kids in a white suburb, had them go to white schools, and hang out with their white neighbors are so fucking surprised when their kid has difficulties with racial identity.

Like if you're just jumping ship I got you, go about you business, but if you're even ostensibly trying to identify as black then you owe your kids some cultural investment.


"All the world's a stage,
And all the men and women merely players:
They have their exits and their entrances;
And one man in his time plays many parts..." -The Bard

>who raised their kids in a white suburb, had them go to white
>schools, and hang out with their white neighbors are so
>fucking surprised when their kid has difficulties with racial
>identity.


Word, and I think that goes back to a number of us not realizing just how brainwashed
or affected we are by whitecentricity. That's how you end up thinking you can completely
immerse yourself and/or your children in whiteness and (they) somehow remain a healthy Black
person lol... so many psychological levels to why that can't work.


>Like if you're just jumping ship I got you, go about you
>business, but if you're even ostensibly trying to identify as
>black then you owe your kids some cultural investment.


Most definitely

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Days like this I miss Sha Mecca

When my siblings and I were little he rarely talked about it. We only heard Spanish when he was speaking to his family on the phone, which was rare, and other than some of the food I don't recall really feeling connected to Puerto Rico when I was a kid.

Well when racism started to rear its head in my dad's career, he started to remember his homeland and all of a sudden he's upset that his kids don't speak fluent Spanish...as if somehow that was something that should have just been absorbed instead of learned.

Skin color and phenotypes are genetic, culture isn't.


"All the world's a stage,
And all the men and women merely players:
They have their exits and their entrances;
And one man in his time plays many parts..." -The Bard

>Skin color and phenotypes are genetic, culture isn't.
>


For the most part, that's true. It's definitely true in this case.

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Days like this I miss Sha Mecca

Somebody somewhere decides what aspects of Black culture will shine nationally. That is usually not our best and brightest offering, but something disposable or novel. Thus I understand how she might see the success of Tyler Perry and think that reflects Black cinema. On a commercial level, it absolutely does. Churches don't sponsor trips to see Dope.

Da bayball, babeh. (c) Charlie Kelly.

almost white. She finally realized that she can't compete w/ the alt/it white girls so her best shot is to use her light-skin privilege to get cast in Black/POC projects. And as always lol, it's working...get money Zoe!!

I mean sure, her parents probly didn't raise her Black (imo, she's not Black, she just has Black grandparents) BUT ain't no way she thought Blackness in its entirety was Tyler Perry movies & hiphop (which is low key her shading a certain type of Black person so fuck her mixed race ass for coming for Black people).

Yeah, she could never sit @ my table w/ my Black girl friends but I know the field hands got her so she good lol.

<<Mood...Poppy Okotcha in Look 1 at Ashish Fall 2016
________________________________________

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Sa7KBq0q5bU

I have a close friend who discovered their blackness when they started competing in Hollywood and began to really see how they saw them.

Good for her but this being news sounds like she is looking for more riles in black films.


**********
"Everyone has a plan until you punch them in the face. Then they don't have a plan anymore." (c) Mike Tyson


"One of the most important things in life is what Judge Learned Hand described as 'that ever-gnawing inner doubt as to whether you're

Chances are they took that one excerpt from a whole interview with Nylon and made that headline worthy.

I guess she never listened to her dad's 'Mr. cab driver' joint.

I wonder if the parents, Lenny in particular, ever schooled her on her own ethnic identity. Kinda makes me wonder how Lenny and Lisa view themselves.

__________________
Laces out like the bookings, just the way that Run did it

"They used to call me Baby Luke....but now? The whole damn 2 Liiiive Crew."

________________________________
There are dozens of us! Dozens!

quadroon = 1/4 black
octoroon = 1/8 black

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Days like this I miss Sha Mecca

as are his parents.

______________________________________

Everything looks like Oprah kissing Harvey Weinstein these days

fuck you.

"All the world's a stage,
And all the men and women merely players:
They have their exits and their entrances;
And one man in his time plays many parts..." -The Bard

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Days like this I miss Sha Mecca

fuck you.

I think Terence Howard is the child of two half white parents, too.

fuck you.

half

There's this group called Quadron...

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>half
>
>There's this group called Quadron...

I'm just saying if we can divvy it up into fourths, then she's half.

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Days like this I miss Sha Mecca

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tTPefMVruSY

always kills me when a light skin gets reminded they aren't white and they get offended.

sad part is the few times I have seen it irl the person always throws shade at Blacks while licking their wounds.

****************
TBH the fact that you're even a mod here fits squarely within Jag's narrative of OK-sanctioned aggression, bullying, and toxicity. *shrug*

>always kills me when a light skin gets reminded they aren't
>white and they get offended.
>
>sad part is the few times I have seen it irl the person always
>throws shade at Blacks while licking their wounds.
>
>

yep, they are the people who are pro black when it benefits them but always talk down the race when they get a chance.

dude

especially sad since it aint like they were both that busy with their careers

*******************************************************
i will not let finite disappointment undermine infinite hope
- Cory Booker

Football is a simple game; 22 men chase a ball for 90 minutes, and at the end the Germans always win
- Gary Lineker

>especially sad since it aint like they were both that busy
>with their careers

She knows wtf she is and she has known it for a while. You get people like this who are constantly reminded by white and Black people that they arent white and they keep going back to the counter to try and cash in...

Her parents didnt help but like rd said... those 2 have their own issues

****************
TBH the fact that you're even a mod here fits squarely within Jag's narrative of OK-sanctioned aggression, bullying, and toxicity. *shrug*

Granted, I don't know Lenny or Lisa personally but based on their public personas, they both seem quite aware (and decidedly) proud of their black lineage. I mean, Lenny's songs include 'Mr. Cab Driver', 'Black Girl', etc., numbers that speak of race quite explicitly. He's always talked about his blackness at length. Lisa is BFFs with the super duper pro-black Cree Summer and rolls with a group of mostly black women who call themselves "the Pirates". So, I'm unsure if L&L are just so conflicted about their blackness.

You can have the most pro-black parents in the world but if they place you in a rich, isolated lily-white environment, you're wont to have some degree of identity issues. As an adolescent, your peers tend to have more influence than your parents.

FWIW, Zoe's black "wake up call" must have been a long time ago because as someone who's close in age to her and runs in similar circles, she definitely been into "black culture" for a LONG ASS time. lol.

were black cultural barometers... not on my watch

*******************************************************
i will not let finite disappointment undermine infinite hope
- Cory Booker

Football is a simple game; 22 men chase a ball for 90 minutes, and at the end the Germans always win
- Gary Lineker

I've known several black people who were completely lost when it comes to the range of black life and the many facets of the culture itself yet had the most pro-black/"woke" parents ever.

Um...Porsha Williams, anyone?

****************
TBH the fact that you're even a mod here fits squarely within Jag's narrative of OK-sanctioned aggression, bullying, and toxicity. *shrug*

She's admitted to, and is trying to undo, her own ignorance. How often does that happen?

____________________________

http://instagram.com/yogikenan
http://instagram.com/shotbykenan
http://stackoverflow.com/users/43089/triptych
http://github.com/djtriptych

>She's admitted to, and is trying to undo, her own ignorance.
>How often does that happen?

If you read the entire Nylon profile, you'll see the proper context of her comments.

Anyway, Zoe's no different from many other black kids who grew up in a financially privileged and mostly white setting. Their isolation from their people gives them a skewered view of blackness. All she's saying that she as got older, she began to see that her take on black culture was as warped as everyone else's and she educated herself to see what's up. That's all. I actually commend her b/c Lord knows that many other blacks (especially in our age range) are just as lost as she once was.

All this talk of "light skinned privilege", opportunism, n-word wake-up calls (she got those early, she reveals in the full profile, as a chubby black girl in a school full of Nordic white girls) and all that sound just like projecting IMO.

well said!

"You used to be so cool, but now, you know you're so cold"

That's not a projection at all, people just don't like acknowledging it or addressing its harmful effects.
I don't think Zoe's experience is an average Black girl coming of age story & there's nothing wrong w/ that...Further, 26 is grown as fuck so do better lol. She wants to learn more about Blackness/her heritage, awesome BUT don't insult Black people/our vast cultural outputs/our intelligence in the process.

As far as her high school experience, being around rich white kids will have you fucked up out here every time lol. Zoe Kravitz, chubby??...receipts are required b/c I doubt she was ever chubby. I know she suffered from an eating disorder tho & part of that is b/c holding yourself to white beauty standards will make you ill, literally.

<<Mood...Poppy Okotcha in Look 1 at Ashish Fall 2016
________________________________________

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Sa7KBq0q5bU

Yes, colorism and light skinned privilege, in particular, exists. Both subsets of racism/white supremacy will always exist, sadly BUT in the context of Zoe and her racial identity issues as a teen, I fail to see where they come up?

(Sidenote: I think MANY of us overestimate "light skinned privilege". It's exists, surely, but is not as significant as often thought.)

As far as her age goes, she didn't say that she still suffers from such ignorance. She's just recounting her younger years when she did. If folks read the entire profile, they'd see the proper context of everything said. (FWIW, 26 is fully grown yet still quite young but that's all subjective.)

Zoe was chubby, bruh. LOL. She wasn't in the spotlight when she was but I do remember seeing pics of her as a pre-teen and she was pudgy.

@GetoutTheroom
http://getouttheroom.podomatic.com
******************************************
https://twitter.com/Jayric

www.royallegacy.org

For Real (Official Video):
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hBRoCPO8esE

________
http://twitter.com/aehorton
http://instagram.com/aehorton

I didn't really think that much of it, though.

Rest In Peace, Bad News Brown

It's all you have, don't have any positive peer black social intereaction and or your parents don't on know how or care to to counterattack it.

dude

bi-racial girls who finally figured out blackness

man

ive seen these women go from trying to be like Becky to realizing that the world is fucked up

from topsiders to UMOJA


good for her

side note...she looks better with age, ive never seen anyone look better as they age

***********************************************************
https://soundcloud.com/swageyph/yph-die-with-me

>
>side note...she looks better with age, ive never seen anyone
>look better as they age


also, she's only 26.

--
the untold want by life and land ne'er granted
now voyager sail thou forth to seek and find

>
>>
>>side note...she looks better with age, ive never seen anyone
>>look better as they age
>
>
>also, she's only 26.


yeah she's kinda at her peak as far as looks are concerned

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Her mom did a similar thing, different being that her mom was fine young and fine old but in a different way

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https://soundcloud.com/swageyph/yph-die-with-me

that is to say at general peak age as far as looks are concerned for most people...
she kinda SHOULD be "finer" than she's ever been at around 26 but yea
this ain't my type of argument lol
hope u continue to find her more and more attractive as she ages

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Drinking, sniffing or whatever it is you are doing.

That was a dumb ass statement.

****************
TBH the fact that you're even a mod here fits squarely within Jag's narrative of OK-sanctioned aggression, bullying, and toxicity. *shrug*

someone like yourself must surely forget to breathe, how have you managed to make it this far in life?

***********************************************************
https://soundcloud.com/swageyph/yph-die-with-me

I mean, it's not you, why in the fuck do you care? Go outside and grow a plant. Wipe your ass. Paint some toenails on the dog. Sheesh.




THE HOME OF BOOK-NESS:
http://www.thisisbooksmusic.com/
http://twitter.com/thisisjohnbook
http://www.facebook.com/book1


http://i32.tinypic.com/kbewp4.gif
http://i60.tinypic.com/a59mp3.jpg

Black people. Yeah I give the side eye to black parents who don't give their kids some semblence of education on black culture, I also give the side eye to hood parents who don't parent their children, I give the side eye to middle class people who treat their kids like an accessory.

FOH like we have no responsibility to how our society exists on a generational level.

You ever work as a teacher? Mentor? Coach little league/pee-wee sports? Babysit someone else's kids?

Do you have kids of your own? Do those kids not operate in society with the rest of us? Will they grow up to be adults one day that the rest of us have to deal with?

No one said we need to get up in Lenny and Lisa's face over this shit, but we can sure talk about this phenomena in general, because Zoe ain't the first girl to go through this.

"All the world's a stage,
And all the men and women merely players:
They have their exits and their entrances;
And one man in his time plays many parts..." -The Bard

from the original interview

http://www.nylon.com/articles/zoe-kravitz-august-2015

and given her body issues and eating disorders you know maybe her parents were focusing on having a healthy child over an encyclopedic knowledge of black culture

who knows
but nothing from the interview suggests all the mess that's been stated above and in the OP/title

"i fear no fate" e.e. cummings
"No girl. No fried chicken. I'm going back to get some sleep." - Haruki Murakami

me. That's why I said "outside of celebrities" in the other post...probably should have said it here.

I thought the person I was replying to was talking in general as well.

"All the world's a stage,
And all the men and women merely players:
They have their exits and their entrances;
And one man in his time plays many parts..." -The Bard

>I mean, it's not you, why in the fuck do you care? Go
>outside and grow a plant. Wipe your ass. Paint some toenails
>on the dog. Sheesh.
>
>
>
>
>THE HOME OF BOOK-NESS:
>http://www.thisisbooksmusic.com/
>http://twitter.com/thisisjohnbook
>http://www.facebook.com/book1
>
>
>http://i32.tinypic.com/kbewp4.gif
>http://i60.tinypic.com/a59mp3.jpg

____________________________

FUCK DONALD TRUMP

You actually logged onto an okp message board to type that shit?

****************
TBH the fact that you're even a mod here fits squarely within Jag's narrative of OK-sanctioned aggression, bullying, and toxicity. *shrug*

--
the untold want by life and land ne'er granted
now voyager sail thou forth to seek and find

could have learned a lesson or two from it. especially that episode where Jenny and Allan had static over this stuff.

___________________

Mar-A-Lago delenda est

that her lack of absorption of much of it is startling.

Hopefully, she will interact with Black people outside of the celebrity circle and really get an education about Black people.

good for her for coming into her own and making an effort to gain an understanding of who she is.

i have to wonder how much of this is mos defs (un)doing tho? 😂

www.royallegacy.org

For Real (Official Video):
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hBRoCPO8esE

I had no idea...

https://chriswind.bandcamp.com/track/massage

"You can take an African out of Africa, but you can't take Africa out of the African"
Afro-Americana/Afro-Caribbana/Afro-Latino unite. We are ALL Black!

all the pics and rumors will pop up lol

www.royallegacy.org

For Real (Official Video):
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hBRoCPO8esE

In the past she was only seen with white dudes.. Made me wonder if she heard that song by Cree Summer , "Curious white boy" SMH

"You used to be so cool, but now, you know you're so cold"

>“I identified with white culture, and I wanted to fit in,"
>she told Nylon. "I didn’t identify with black culture, like,
>I didn’t like Tyler Perry movies, and I wasn’t into
>hip-hop music."
>
>“Unfortunately that is what’s fed through the media.
>That’s what people see. That’s what I saw," Kravitz added.
>The actress says she has since gained more perspective on
>being black, and realizes that black culture is "so much
>deeper than that."
>

____
Some will tell you that they love you but they've got an ulterior motive - Oh what a shame
They will tell you that they need you but they've got an ulterior motive - Personal gain

(c) Luciano


https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Fg0-qndkemo

I understand it and even relate in a way. Some people just didn't get the chance to experience the black experience at a young age.

we keep it moving,

But thank yall !!

Mom just has better features. Only thing Lisa Jr. really has is youth. other than that, she's a 5 (plus the lightskinned extra credit points).

http://www.aceshowbiz.com/images/wennpic/bonet-kravitz-2015-vanity-fair-oscar-party-01.jpg

Please tell me where on earth that place is.

<--- Big Baller World Order

______________________________________

Everything looks like Oprah kissing Harvey Weinstein these days

http://thatgrapejuice.net/wp-content/uploads/2015/01/akeys-thatgrapejuice.jpg

fuck you.

bring home lots of supermodels (my guess is white) and feeling intimidated by her mother's beauty. My guess is her home life may not have been as body positive and lovingly black as we suspect.

___________________________________________________________


DJTB YOMM

Zoe was probably still pretty young.

i dunno what's up w/the Rokers or if Lenny has any connection to them. but if Zoe never got sent to spend a summer w/her granny's extended family then that could help explain her disconnection w/her Blackness. ditto if she never spent time w/the extended Bonet family on her mother's side.

fuck you.