Interview on spectrumnews1.com : Shaina Lynn Simmons connects her mind, her body, and her soul as a dance instructor at Everybody Gym in Los Feliz. Yet, for years she felt disconnected to the very skin she was in.
“I would constantly hear once I started school that I was too black. I was called a burnt biscuit,” Simmons said.
That harassment came from her own community, from other black people in New Orleans.
“It was the way that boys treated me in the city and it caused me to become depressed at a young age where I couldn’t identify it,” Shaina Lynn added.
Her pain was a result of Colorism. It’s discrimination not based on race but rather the skin color. It was the focus of a recent episode of the show Blackish.
