So check this out. Tameka Foster is being accused of plagiarism. Usher soon to be ex-wife wrote an essay for Huffington Post called “She’s Pretty for a Dark-Skinned Girl…” and received much praise for bringing the subject to the forefront. However, Author Aisha Curry who wrote “Pretty For a Black Girl” is accusing Foster of stealing her thoughts on the issue and simply restating them in her own words.

Check out what Curry said:

“My heart sank into my stomach. All the hard work, all the sleepless nights I had endured was playing back in my head as I read this article written by a woman I didn’t even know…It was my work, my voice, but in her words. I was frozen. Tears began rolling down my face as I read line after line after line. I couldn’t believe it – People were praising her for tackling an issue that had never been exposed. Hello? I wrote the book on it and started it years ago. The only difference between her article and my book is she used ‘dark-skinned’ and I used ‘black.’” 

Well, Tameka Foster says Bullsh*&t! She says not only is Curry lying, but the gossip blogger who broke the story is “a disreputable gossip writer.” 

 In a posting on www.globalgrind.com, Foster counters, “This is an unfounded insinuation that has no basis, merit or truth. I’ve never heard of this author or her book until Thursday afternoon.”  She continues, “African-American women struggling with complexion issues is not a novel or an original topic. It’s an issue that has been written about for ages.”   

Check ou Tameka Foster’s official response:
   

I shared my personal story as a dark skinned woman in America, an experience that parallels millions of other Black women. Regrettably, this other author has no copyright (or patent) on the Black female experience. While I’m delighted to discover there is a new book with a similar theme available I only wish the author would have embraced our commonality as sisters in this struggle rather than opt for such a defamatory public recourse via a disreputable gossip writer. Approach is everything. Plagiarism is a serious implication that I’m extremely disheartened and insulted by. If this author can produce the same references in her book that I made to Alek Wek, poet Khalil Gibran, an experience in Brazil, disparaging public comments surrounding living as a “dark skinned” woman as well as scrutiny regarding her marriage to an R&B singer then perhaps she should seek legal counsel to handle this matter with the proper protocol.  

So what do you think?

Read Tameka’s Article / ESSAY HERE