Let’s file this under ‘Things I Didn’t Know‘. Grace Gealy, better known as Boo Boo Kitty or Anika Calhoun from the FOX hit series Empire, moved from the British Territory of the Cayman Islands to the United States when she was 18-years-old. As Americans WE understand that any and all differences can and will be pointed out by others, but for an unfamiliar citizen such as Gealy, her difference was never realized until that move. She was light-skinned.

During a chat with Details magazine, she opens up about being finger-pointed as the yellow girl. “I’ve never felt like I was a light-skinned black woman. Never felt that way because we shared the same culture back home,” says. “But when I came to America, that’s when I started to feel that there was a lot of push-back from women.” Gealy said that she began to notice the “thing” that women of color are focused on women of color in this good ol’ U.S. of A.

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JaaiR (JR)
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DETAILS: What kind of thing?

Grace Gealey: It was something that people felt the need to point out. I guess maybe it’s a form of intra racism: I was discriminated against for being light-skinned and there were a lot of labels. Some people assumed that guys might like me more because of my complexion or that I had it easier in general. Which is funny because I’ve been a victim of prejudice as well: There were times when I have walked into a Rite Aid at 12 o’clock at night and had the store manager stand in the corner and stare at me while I was looking at nail polishes.

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