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journey that many may think it is, but more so a time for white children and children of color to learn
the benefits of being white and the negatives of being people of color leading to an internalization of
the dominant culture’s stereotypes.
As these same children grow older, the play activity changes to a much more manipulative
game. It is not simply playing “Princess” or “G.I. Joe”, but more so playing in order to exert some
form of power. In youth culture, a “playa” is someone, usually male, who has the ability to “play”
other people whenever he feels the need or desire to do so. To “play” another individual means to use
this person for your own advantage while making them believe that you are actually looking out for
their own good. The person being “played” is, in effect, “playing” themselves by remaining blind to
the processes around them, not seeing how they are being used as a pawn in someone else’s game and
for someone else’s benefit. This “played” individual may feel that they are treated better than others
and do receive some benefits from the “playa” when, in actuality, they are simply unaware of the
complexities of what is going on around them
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. Why would one be so unaware of this experience?
How is it possible that someone may not know that they are getting played? For one, it is very painful
to acknowledge mistreatment in all its forms when the “played” individual is you. Second, getting
“played” may give one benefits at some times, placing them on a higher level in the hierarchy than
those who are not even considered to be “played”. In other words, despite the pains involved in getting
“played”, those who are “played” may participate willingly because it gives them a higher status than
those who are not “played”. When analyzed accurately, this is clearly not the case; those getting
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One girl is white and the other is biracial with a white mother and black father. The little white girl is named Ashley and
the little biracial girl is Alicia.
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An example of someone being “played” would involve young girls and boys of high school age. In any heterosexual
scenario, the boy is the “playa” and he receives commendations from other boys because of his ability to use other girls as
his pawns in a game against each other. As he continues to use the girls, and get away with it, the more commendations, or
props, he receives from the other boys who also want to be “playas”. For the girls, they very well may know that they are
being “played”, but they still get to participate with the “playa”. They believe that there is a privilege in this compared with
Convention