Lisa Williams, PhD, recalls watching a segment on CNN and hearing a little African American girl tell anchor Anderson Cooper that brown skin like hers looked nasty. The cable network had commissioned a study aimed to recreate the landmark “doll test" from the 1940s which revealed that African American children often preferred a white doll over a brown doll because white was associated with such attributes as good, nice and pretty. CNN’s 2010 study showed racial biases and preferences towards white or lighter skin tones were still prevalent.
