PANDURITO said:

And why not?

Why would he try to convince anybody? Failed attempts? Come on!

moussemaker said:

I'm glad you brought it up. There are many who would consider Manuela to be a black woman. And they were married. You don't have to be from Jamaica or Senegal to be black. The purple fans are probably way more concerned with the skin color of P's ladies than he is.

PANDURITO said:

Prince has consistently talked about race/ethnicity in his music and how it doesn't and shouldn't matter. Even at one of the 3/28 concerts he talked about people getting over race. Yet, he makes consistent references to Mexicans, Puerto Ricans, Latina barbie dolls, bushy-haired mulattoes, is always searching for mixed-race exotic women who are light complected and then he makes occasional butterscotch versus chocolate comments as well.

In "Colonized Mind" he talks about the master race idea and the isolation it causes yet doesn't consider the isolation felt by many dark brown girls/women who support him yet are seldom portrayed as objects of beauty in his videos, movies or life in general. Black women come in all shades and colors yet Prince's always seem to be lighter than a brown paper bag.

I LOVE Prince and his dating preference is his business. However, he's extremely hypocritical when it comes to race and more importantly skin complexion. You can't refute the obvious here. Would it hurt to feature darker brown women in some of his videos as well? Someone who is truly color blind would showcase all kinds of beauty, not only light/white skin.

VenusBlingBling said:

Manuela, Vanity and Susan were all lighter brown skin exotic-looking Black women. Prince like many Black men view Black women with these mixed-race; thinner features (noses and lips), lighter skin, long curly or straight hair as the paragons of Black beauty. This dates back to slavery times and it's called being color struck. Today, some Black men still believe that dark Black women are undesirable and that having women who are mixed-race looking are more attractive and will garner more envy or respect from other Black men. I've met several dark-skinned Black women who were told by Black men that they only date light-skinned girls. It's similar to White men who date only blond women.

Nona Gaye & Tamar are much browner than the normal Prince "prototypes," and they were not known for being romantically involved with him because he didn't flaunt them. His love interests in his videos and movies don't typically look like them. I'd LOVE to see the day when Prince sports a dark skinned woman from Jamaica or Senegal or America! However, I doubt that it would ever happen because Prince is indeed COLOR STRUCK!

He wants his ladies to look like him.

moussemaker said:

Yup, he and Bria are practically twins!

airbak said:

So are you saying Bria looks like a man or Prince looks like a woman?

I actually dont think they look alike they have the same long head but in the pictures she's softer on the camera (video) her bone structure is bigger.

Either way she dont look like P to me. What features make you think that?

salaciousV said:

I don't think they look anything alike. I was actually being sarcastic to the poster who said that Prince likes his women to look like him.

airbak said:

Nona Gaye had a child by him but was forced by Prince to abort the child.

Tamar was accused by Mani of having an affair with prince, according to the stories that were printed around the time of the divorce. This however was strange considering she started Eric Benet who is a known cheater and from what I'm hearing is cheating on her, now.

Did he date Chilli (from TLC). I heard he was "close" to her. What about Ananada Lewis? I read an interview, a long time ago, that was done with Prince.
The reporter noted that he seemed to only want to talk about Ananada. Also, there is Robin Powers.

I do believe, though, that Prince is still more color struck than anything else. I give him a pass because biracial and lightskinned blacks are still black. Its still better that some black men who don't date anything with black in it (i.e OJ types).

candy2277 said:

Tamar & Nona were relatively kept secretive. I heard about Ananda and Robin Powers, and Rosario Dawson was in the mix as well. I agree that these are all Black women but that in the case of Ananda and Chili (if he dated her) who are darker skinned than his usual, they still fit the mixed-feature mode that most of his women seem to share i.e. thinner features and long wavy/curly hair.

Prince's preference an issue for me because I see how many Black youth are adopting these color struck principles and standards of beauty through media and society. Prince routinely expresses his disgust for why race still matters, yet doesn't reflect on the role he's playing in perpetuating racial/color preferences.

Did anyone see the 2009 Good Morning America "Black versus White doll" experiment where many Black children labeled the brown skin doll as being bad and not as pretty as the White one despite it being the same doll? My sister, who is a teacher, asked her students to describe their ideal mates and most if not all of the Black students described light skin, curly hair and hazel eyes! One student even said she wanted a Black guy who was mixed because she didn't want him to have "African hair that she couldn't get a comb through."

We definitely need to stop looking the other way when Prince or other Black people perpetuate self-hatred and racial/color preference. It's really not much different than the preferences of the KKK or any other group who "prefers" a certain look. Although they are extremists, they too are products of concepts, ideas, etc. they learned as children. Someone just needs to break the cycle so that our focus is on who you are as a person and not what you are in terms of race and ethnicity.

airbak said:

I understand your point and frustration, but you simply can't force people to have a relationship with eachother if it's not the type which they're attracted to. You can't force someonce's preference.
Yes, celebrities are often viewed in the media as role-models, but imo there comes a moment that people should be wise enough to make their own choices and decisions and not be dependent on which choices their role-models are making.
There can be all kind of circumstances that people connect and get involved with eachother because of a certain click whether it's looks or personality.

Shango said:

I agree with your point and I'm definitely not forcing anyone to do anything. My argument is that it's hypocritical for Prince be confused that race still matters in 2009, when he has his own racial hangups.

And yes in a Utopian society, people should be wise enough to make up their own minds. However, many of our youth are highly impressionable. We are living in celebrity-driven times to the 10th power. They watch these celebrities on TV or listen to their music and imitate what they do.

I've worked in the Chicago Public School system and many of the urban youths are doing everything they see their hip hop role models doing, be it wearing sagging pants, lots of jewelry, smoking weed, adopting gangster personas, disrespecting women or dating only women who look a certain way because this is all they see in the music videos. Although in a minority, even Snoop talked about how the major female R&B artists are all light skin and how those who are darker, like Fantasia are catching hell. Again, I'm not hanging this all on Prince, but I would encourage him to consider his own guilt in the ongoing racial problems we have in this world.

airbak said:

Excellent post.

Shorty said:

Thank-you!

Okay, What's wrong with Prince being color-struck? people have always said that about me, because all of my male friends use to look like Prince. But SO what?

Dayclear said:

I think everyone is entitled to be attracted to who they want to be attracted to. Obviously Prince likes em mixed and exotic. Theres nothing wrong with that. As like that millionaire matchmaker chick says, the Pecker Picks Em!

I think were it gets tricky is when he says shit like "white house black" and "when will we be paid" you know straight up BP shit. But then he is out with anything that aint quite "black" so it FEELS a bit hypocritical. I mean ery once in awhile Prince, show us some black love in top shelf light not background twitter (shelby).

Lets face it, the man said he got two sides and they both friends. He got a jehova side and he got a Sex side. But Im not sure they exactly friends. At least he doesnt just date white girls. That would be sad.