Jasmine Burke Stars in LisaRaye McCoy’s Directorial Debut Film “Skinned” Which Addresses Skin Bleaching and Colorism

— In the film, the former MTV “Making the Band” Season 3 Contestant-Sean ‘P.Diddy’ Combs Mentee-, “Secret Lives of Bees” award-winning, trail-blazing, triple threat actress Georgia Peach native, depicts the journey of a woman fighting through her low self-esteem and self-hatred skin-lightening epidemic. —

— Premiering worldwide at the International Pan African Film Festival on February 7, 2015 —

Atlanta, GA — Jasmine Burke brightens – no pun intended – up the big screen in the movie #SKINNED. The film touches on the controversial issues as #SKINBleachingEpidemic, #SkinLightening, #SelfHatred, and #SkinToning, which are directly correlated to fatal health (cancer) issues in both Africa, and America that effects men, teenagers and women. #SkinnedTheFilm deals with #colorism, self-hate, low self-esteem, and lack of confidence. #Skinbleaching has caused death in many young people worldwide.

#SKINNED is the film that tells the story of the stigmas girls, boys, men and women face because of having a darker complexion. Like Jasmine Burke’s character, darker completed people opt for skin bleaching because of the constant rejection being shunned, bullied, teased, and isolated.

Constantly, Burke (Jolie) is reminded that she isn’t light enough & feels ugly. Growing a lot of black children who are #DarkSkin (women too) associate #LightSkin as prettier, and more qualified to succeed in life. It’s a colonial mentality, and it’s a serious issue here in the U.S and abroad as it relates to #SkinDepigmentation #DeLaPeau, and its life threatening dangers. Needless to say it is a serious health issue because of the cancer causing chemicals therein like mercury and #Hydroquinone.

A lot of Black American and African women (men are not isolated as they are bleaching their skin too). To cover up what they do in Senegal the term is “khessal” oppose to Skin Bleaching because that is too controversial of a term to use — either way #lightskin seems to be the right skin if you’re darker. Jasmine Burke’s (Jolie) character feels the need to fit in, find a boyfriend (because most men want lighter or fair skin complexion women), so she finally gets her happy lighter life to she can’t have babies because of the #SkinCream and now has a terminal illness. Jolie (Jasmine Burke’s) character associates lighter with doing better in life because society associates dark skin with ugly, and sadly many girls like #JasmineBurke’s character buys into that theory of light skin is better, and take the risk of being light at the expense of death by cream or injection (most recently injections are the new fade in the #SkinBleachingIndustry.) It is believed that #lightskinpeople do better in life because they are anything but #DarkSkin.

Burke’s character Jolie portrays what a lot of people are facing as it relates to #SkinDepigmentation — beauty issues or lack thereof. Cliché as it may sound, beauty is an inside job, and when writing the theme song for the Film Skinned Soundtrack, Jasmine Burke pinned “Skin I’m In, I Love”, which sings more like a movement and theme for living life with words like Skin I’m in, I love… created perfectly from love – skin I’m in was made just for me… there will never be another quite like me…” Indeed all the men and women all around the globe need to listen to this song before, during and after embarking on #SkinLightening, so they can fall in love with themselves, respect their bodies and not pour, inject, rub harsh chemicals within or on their bodies.

Many people deal with not loving themselves and Skin Bleaching World-wide because they are either too dark or not light enough, which touches on the issue of Colonial Mentality. Jasmine Burkes deals with not loving the skin she’s in on various levels of her life from intimacy, career, and relationship with self. Self-love is the most vital type of love that we can have, and sadly at the expensive of one’s health, skin whitening beauty creams are popular and are being heavily promoted, marketed and purchased as it is a Billion Dollar Business.

Bill Duke’s #DarkSkin documentary was an eye opener indeed for many and we all learned that there are many women who are clearly beautiful (but don’t see their on beauty because of how they are marketed to or what they endure daily in comparison to their lighter sisters or brothers), and simply don’t believe it because of their dark skin.

Within #SKINNEDTheMovie, Jasmine Burke and LisaRaye take it a few notches touching on how far many will go to lighten their skin while literally damaging their pigmentation for life simply to become lighter. Often many women and men are diagnosed with skin cancer and other chronic illnesses because of the way they hate the skin they’re in – poisoning it with harsh skin creams.

#SkinBLEACHINGEpidemic is not just an Africa or Caribbean problem, but an American Black problem that effects men, women and children all because they hate the skin they’re in, and a bad case of low self-esteem based on bullying being overlooked, shunned, and/or the “Black sheep of the family” outcast because they’re too dark.

#JasmineBurke is available for Interviews both on and offline to discuss the #SkinnedTheFilm, and her soundtrack song #SkinImIniLove that speaks to the pain of those with beauty issues, low self-esteem, and #Colorism. The song #SkinImIniLove will not only teach, ignite and empower you, but evoke the much need change as it talks to those with self-hate to teach them ways to embrace their beauty, flaws and all & then begin to love themselves. Check out the developing of an Empowerment Movement to keep spreading the importance of self-love on Facebook at www.fb.com/SkinImIniLoveMe

Connect also on Twitter (@iAmDwriteWELL) and Instagram (@iAmDwriteWELL).

PRESS CONTACT:
Daphne D. Williams
pr@dwritewell.com
864-901-8070