The “cheers to more light-skinned kids,” toast posted by LA Chargers safety Jahleel Addae’s fiancée Lindsey Nelson has sparked outrage and caused the couple to shutter their Instagram accounts.
In the video, which Nelson shared as part of her IG story, a table of couples, all interracial, can be seen about to toast when one person, a male voice, can be heard making the remark as the couples clink glasses and cups and laugh.
Addae, 29, can be seen at the end of the seconds-long video holding the couple’s son Zion born in the spring of 2018. Both Nelson and Addae have publicly shared the child’s photo, name, and birthday on various social media platforms.
Here’s what you need to know:
1. Addae’s Fiancée & Mother of His Son Zion, Celebrated the Toast to ‘More Light Skinned Kids’ to her Instagram Story
On the WAGS Tea Instagram account, all about the lives of the wives and girlfriends of athletes, the post of Nelson and Addae struck a nerve. In the post they wrote, Nelson “…uploaded a video on her Instagram story today making a toast amongst NFL players & Their financial advisor where one of them uttered out “Cheers to more light skin kids! “while the rest laughed then proceeded to echo him… I don’t get the joke do you?”
Thousands commented.
“Black men giving a toast to “more light skin kids” in front of white women. This is so trash …” one commenter wrote.
In the video, a table of at least three interracial couples, with at least one child, Nelson and Addae’s son Zion being held by his father, make a toast that appears as an homage to interracial couples who have children becasue they’re bringing “more light-skinned” children into the world.
A friend of the couple said this on the @wagsteainc IG post: “Lindsey and Jahleel Addae are amazing people. She didn’t mean any harm ?. It is unfortunate that we as black women are treated so poorly, so we are triggered by these things. She’s really a sweet heart you guys! ? I already know you guys are going to come for my head but I know her personally.”
She was correct that people would come for her; dozens of comments followed calling her out with most agreeing that the toast was an example of self-loathing. While others had a live-and-let-live attitude.
“People that hate themselves cut themselves and commit suicide. Those brothers are happy. And those white woman are happy. Let them be happy lol. How is this effecting your lives?. Who cares…Lets go back to work pay our bills and raise our own children. And I guess continue to love ourselves. Everyones got an opinion. But no one is speaking facts. Marinate.”
But that take was a minority one.
2. Backlash Came Fast & Furious
The video was posted days after Addae said, “How can we not talk about family when family is all that we got ?”
“Hmmm..Wonder if your whyte skin girl would have even looked your way if you weren’t in the NFL. Ask yourself that question…Love yourself and the Beautiful Black skin your in. BLACK is BEAUTIFUL!!,” wrote one commenter.
The couple was vacationing in the Bahamas in late January when Addae posted the tweet.
Many are angered by the toast and Nelson posting the video, but many more are concerned about Addae’s attitudes.
“Can we get a darkskin baby thread so #JahleelAddae and his wife can see what beauty is?”
#JahleelAddae toast to light babies. Well cheers to him for being another insecure self hating dude that doesn’t want his own children to look like him cause he doesn’t value himself. Bravo! @Do_OrAddae37
“#JahleelAddae toast to light babies. Well cheers to him for being another insecure self-hating dude that doesn’t want his own children to look like him cause he doesn’t value himself. Bravo! @Do_OrAddae37”
Strong safety Jahleel Addae #37 of the Los Angeles Chargers interacts with his family (Lindsey Nelson and son Zion) on the sidelines ahead of the game against the Denver Broncos at StubHub Center on November 18, 2018 in Carson, California.
“Colorism… ??♀️ #loveyourself ppl. I’m so disgusted!”
3. What is Colorism?
In a Washington University in St. Louis School of Law, Global Studies Law Review publication, academic Kimberly Jade Norwood explains the term:
“Colorism, a term believed to be first coined in 1982 by Pulitzer Prize winner Alice Walker, was defined by her to mean the “prejudicial or preferential treatment of same-race people based solely on their color.” It is not racism although there is a clear relationship. A clear example of racism would involve a business that refuses to hire black people. Colorism would not preclude the hiring of a black person, but there would be a preference for a black person with a lighter skin tone than a darker skinned person. From this example, one can see too that colorism can not only occur within same-raced peoples but also across races. Colorism also is often gendered. Because of its unique relationship to who and what is beautiful, it has a tendency, although not exclusively, to affect and infect women more than men.”
In an issue of Tolerance magazine, educators explored color biases among high school students.
And in a CNN-backed study, it was discovered that “white and black children (are) biased toward lighter skin …”
In 2010, CNN hired child psychologist and University of Chicago professor, Margaret Beale Spencer, to conduct a study which tested 133 children from schools in New York and Georgia. The test was an attempt to re-visit the 1940 ‘Doll Test’ that measured how segregation affected African-American children. In it, researchers asked African-American kids a series of questions using white and painted-brown dolls. The conclusions, which found the children preferred the white dolls versus the brown dolls, were used in the seminal 1954 Brown v. Board of Education desegregation case.
4. Jahleel Addae is a Safety for the Chargers. Nelson is Reported to be a Fashion Designer
Addae is from Valrico, Florida. Born in 1990, Addae is a safety for the Los Angeles Chargers. He graduated from Riverview High School and got offers but ended up at Central Michigan University where he was a captain and three-time All Mid-American Conference player. In 2013, he was signed by the Chargers as an undrafted free agent.
So far there’s little known about Nelson’s background. What she shared on her Twitter, for example, is limited: “Soon to be Mrs.Addae;” “Zions Mom;” and the fact that she’s a Virgo. It’s reported she grew up in California and attended the University of California.
5. The Couple Has a Summer Wedding Planned in Miami
The couple is set to wed Saturday, July 6, 2019, with a reception at the Ritz-Carlton in Key Biscayne.
Nelson has been included in family photos.