Colorism

The ABC News article “Colorism Shows We’re a Long Way from a Color Blind Society” shows that colorism is a major problem in Black America. I could relate to everything that was stated in this article. It also confirmed a lot of points I made in a recent debate I was involved in about Black America’s color hierarchy. An insensitive remark by my melanin deficient cousin triggered this debate. Referring to the five-plus dark-skinned people sitting in the room he entered (I was one of them), my cousin shouted: “you darkies are generating too much heat, I need to get some more light skinned people to bring down the temperature in this room.” Offended by this remark, I attempted to enlighten my cousin and everyone that was in my presence—all of them were my male cousins-- about colorism. I started my lesson with a discussion about how we perceive skin color. I informed them that more often than not, dark skinned African Americans are perceived as dim-witted, ugly, and devious, while light skinned African Americans are thought of as intelligent and beautiful. To illustrate this statement, I used Black women in the entertainment industry. The following questions were posed to them: “how many dark skinned, African American females are omnipresent in the entertainment industry? “ “… are considered beautiful? “… are given lead roles in critically acclaimed and commercially successful films?” “…are portrayed as sophisticated in films and music videos?” I asked the same questions about light skinned African American females.
“Who is the most attractive African American entertainer? Describe their physical features.”
Due to the fact that we are bombarded on daily basis with images of women in the entertainment industry, this exercise was relatively easy. Of course, their responses were not shocking: they said that Beyonce and Halle Berry are the embodiments of Black beauty. As for the omnipresent-beautiful-sophisticated-dark skinned female entertainer, they could only list what I call “exceptions to the rule” (at most two entertainers). Following this discussion, I proceeded to talk about the negative effects of colorism. I used the Brown Paper Bag Test, Blue Vein Societies—the article elaborates on Blue Vein Societies and the Brown Paper Bag Test-- and Dr. Kenneth Clark’s doll test to illustrate these effects. After stating my case about colorism, I asserted that African Americans are guilty of perpetuating colorism and therefore should work towards dismantling this form of discrimination/oppression.
Unfortunately, my family did not concur with my statements. They failed to acknowledge the culpability of Black Americans in the perpetuation of colorism. Instead of looking at the ways African Americans could suppress colorism, they argued about how white supremacy trumps colorism when it comes to major problems facing Black America. I even had one cousin accuse me of hating light skinned African Americans. Their reaction was dis-heartening. I anxiously await they day when I can engage in an intellectually stimulating conversation about colorism that will lead to healing. What are your thoughts about colorism?

Here is an excerpt from the ABC News article. Here’s the link to the full article http://abcnews.go.com/2020/GiveMeABreak/story?id=548303&page=1

Skin-Deep Discrimination
'Colorism' Shows We're a Long Way from a Color-Blind Society
March 4, 2005 —
Hollywood, Music Videos Reinforce Bias
...The Black Power movement was supposed to change those attitudes, and it did change some things. Suddenly there were some dark-skinned male stars who played the "hero" -- Richard Roundtree played "Shaft," and other stars followed, like Samuel L. Jackson, Wesley Snipes, and Oscar winners Denzel Washington and Jamie Foxx.
But the acceptance of darker skin seems to apply mostly to the macho guys. The part of the successful, educated black almost always goes to someone with lighter skin.
Actor Mel Jackson says light-skinned men like him tend to get the role of the "business executive."
Actress Wendy Raquel Robinson has noticed the difference. "I've never been offered, you know, the crackhead or the distressed mother," she said. "I play the very upscale, educated young lady," Robinson said. "I do have some peers that are a lot darker than myself. They don't get the opportunities."
Colorism is especially prevalent in music videos…"They all light skinned and they all look good," one boy said. "There's a lot of dark-skinned girls that are pretty, with long hair, bad, but they're not in the videos though, it's just the light-skinned ones that's in the videos," another added.
"The darker the woman takes on what I refer to as a "Ho" complex. She is the prostitute," said Karen a University of Maryland student. "The lighter a woman is, well, she's the goddess. She's the untouchable. She is the woman that all the men in the video aspire to have," she said.