Black Mom Expertly Schools People Who Accused Her Of Putting Blue Contacts In Her Baby's Eyes
"This idea that a certain feature on someone is only reserved to a certain demographic of people is extremely damaging."
Miramiska | Shutterstock A Black mom didn't hold back on teaching people about genetics after she received a series of critical and hateful comments on TikTok.
She educated viewers who accused her of putting blue contacts in her baby's eyes.
Mom and Duala Cheryl Neufville explained that after posting a photo, a commenter questioned why she always edited her husband and her baby's eyes, insisting that their natural color is brown. However, they were entirely incorrect.
She also received a comment in which someone argued that only white people and those born with albinism naturally have blue eyes — claiming that it was impossible for Black people to have them. In response, Neufville decided to educate viewers on both genetics and her family.
While Neufville herself has brown eyes, she showed photos of her daughter and husband, along with members of his family, including her brother-in-law, nephew, and niece — all of whom were born with blue eyes and are Black.
"Even with all of this, there are still going to be people who say and do whatever they want, but I just wanted to make a few things clear," she said. "This idea that a certain feature on someone is only reserved to a certain demographic of people is extremely damaging."
Various African people and tribes were born with blonde hair and blue eyes, but for some reason, this fact is often overlooked and dismissed. People make racist and inappropriate comments that Black people with blonde hair are "unnatural" when that's not the case. In fact, there's a group called the Melanesian People, a Black community from the Solomon Islands, that has become a scientific phenomenon over the last decade due to their bright blonde hair.
The Melanesian people are native to the Solomon Islands, a cluster of islands located in the South Pacific just Northeast of Australia, Papua, and Vanuatu. Some researchers believe that the indigenous group developed their unique features from sun and salt whitening, while other scientists point to the group’s high intake of fish.
There are even some historians who believe that the Melanesians may have inherited their blonde hair from cross-breeding with European settlers, traders, and explorers who visited the island.
Neufville says she's had people stop her in the streets to inquire whether her baby's blue eyes are real.
"I have had people in person slap my baby to wake her up because they wanted to see if she had blue eyes," she said. "I had a doctor who thought she had cataracts in her eyes when she was born and wanted to do further testing on her."
Neufville has had people spread rumors that she had an affair, while others have accused her of putting contacts in the little girl's eyes. She pointed out that there are families, like her husband's, where blue eyes have been passed down for at least seven generations.
Black people come in all shapes and sizes — some of us have blonde hair, red hair, brown hair, and black hair. We have green, blue, hazel, brown, dark brown, and black eyes. We're not just relegated to look one certain way, and it's been years upon years of fighting against these misconceptions that are extremely harmful and invalidating.
"We don't have to be mixed with anything to have these features," Neufville added. "Just because you haven't seen it doesn't mean that it's not true and that there aren't Black people that exist in this space that look like this."
Nia Tipton is a Chicago-based entertainment, news, and lifestyle writer whose work delves into modern-day issues and experiences.