Colorism: Pride & Prejudice

Wouldn't they be surprised when one day I woke out of my black ugly dream, and my real hair, which was long and blond, would take the place of the kinky mass Momma wouldn't let me straighten? My light-blue eyes would hypnotize them ...
- I Know Why The Caged Bird Sings by Maya Angelou.

On TV and in magazines, you seldom see a dark-skinned black person. Our culture is still being led to believe that having lighter skin somehow makes you a better person.

Black people with lighter skin get treated better; I believe this discrepancy stems from the days of slavery. In general, dark-skinned blacks labored in the fields while light-skinned blacks worked indoors. Slave owners and even slaves gave lighter-skinned blacks more respect. This segregation of shades within the same race is a serious problem. So let's examine where it all started.

As we all know, the white man spread his seed among his African slave women with reckless abandon, producing pretty mulatto, quadroon (one-quarter black) and exotic octoroon (one-eighth black) children that would fetch a hefty price on the slave market. Female slaves were auctioned at "quadroon balls," where respectable white gentlemen could choose a tryst for the evening or a sex slave for life.

Lighter-skinned blacks, the ones that were closest in relation to the master, were favored and treated differently. These light-skinned blacks became free blacks, and were allowed to prosper and flourish. There is still some of that today.

Now before we go any further let me say this. Though the general trend is for a preference for light-skinned blacks those judgements may be made based on one's on skin tone. And although research has shown that lighter African Americans make more money and are perceived to be smarter there has been little to no research that I know of that shows the disadvantages of being light and the prejudices of darker blacks.

Whether it's the cover of magazines, the stars picked as the leads in a movie , or 50 Cent's new video, light-skinned people always get first dibs. My 15 year old nephew told me a few days ago that he prefers light-skinned girls becasue "there really aren't a lot of pretty dark-skinned girls." Sad isn't it? It is my belief that music videos especially have pushed this idea that "light is right and black get back!"

I'm a Dark brother. I love my complexion but it hasn't always been that way. In elementary school I was called everything from "tarbaby" to "blackie" and "african booty scratcher". It wasn't until I saw a movie about an African KING named Shaka Zulu that I started to really love and appreciate my skin tone. I remember some kid called me Shaka in an attempt to insult me. I was so frustrated because he just didn't get it. Shaka was more than just some really dark guy! So as soon as he woke up from the butt whooping I gave him I calmly broke it down for him. I think he got it. Either that or he was too scared to say he didn't get it! But I digress. Later Michael Jordan would come along and life as a dark brother started looking promising. So what about my sister?

Several authors have stated that light-skinned women are perceived as attractive, intelligent, moral, sexually more desirable, even chaste; whereas dark-skinned are regarded as mean, evil, stupid, even as not trust-worthy. My sister would receive back handed compliments such as "She is pretty to be dark-skinned". Huh? Isn't that like saying "you're pretty although you have that arm growing out of your neck!"

The mass media, particularly television, contributes to this perception by portraying "whiteness or lightness" as a symbol of what is attractive, adorable, desirable, pure, loveable and competent. Lighter skin tone is thus portrayed as a standard for attractiveness and competence. Because physical attractiveness is perceived as associated with social and intellectual competence, integrity, potency, dominance, and even good mental health, it has more bearing on women than men. This explains why women constitute the overwhelming majority of those who practice skin lightening. It has also been reported that women are perceived as more feminine and attractive when they emulate the whiteness standard.
Even the cosmetic industry promotes products that are designed to help dark-skinned women look "lighter".
So you see I believe that as hard as I had it my sister and other dark-skinned women have it worse. To this day I have never seen her date a dark man. Because she like so many dark-skinned women feel like they have to have a light man to be validated as being pretty. With that being said she would NEVER admit it. On the other hand a lot of light-skinned women believe that they are pretty because they are light. Never made sense to me but ok if that's what floats your boat. They in turn try to use their so called good looks to get them ahead in life instead of using their brain! Haven't you heard a light skinned person say "I've been out in the sun too long, I'm getting black!" That always irks me. It's just so ignorant. People please think about the things that come out of your mouths!

In the entertainment industry it is very obvious who are the ones that receive the fringe benefits. Here are a few examples. In 2001 India.Arie and Alicia Keys both put out very good albums. Though both sisters received multiple Grammy nominations only Alicia won. In fact she took home 5 awards including Best Album of the Year. I am a fan of both of Alicia and India and I couldn't say that there was that big of a difference in there albums. Is the fact that India didn't win any and Alicia won so many and has went on to have a much more lucrative career a coincedence? I think not. What about the lovely Halle Berry? She won an Oscar for a role that, in my opinion, was so-so at best. Even if you feel she did a great job was she better than Whoopi in The Color Purple? Please. I was watching Antwone Fisher recently and I noticed how the casting for that movie was tilted. Both the actresses chosen to be Denzel and Derek Luke's leading ladies were of very light complexion and were portrayed in a very positive light. There's nothing wrong with that within itself but when Antwone's mother, who was not depicted with any great sympathy by the film's conclusion, was played by a very dark-skinned woman. So light women are the ideal mate? Dark women are nasty and not to be trusted? Of course not but that is what these images suggest. I think we have to be very careful not to focus so much on Vanessa Williams and Beyonce and forget the Tracy Chapman and Alex Wek are just as beautiful and just as talented!

This division exists in our communities, schools and even families. It's ridiculous that we as black people do the very thing to each other that was done to us. Instead of dividing, we need to unite to address more important issues in the black community, like homelessness, drugs, violence, HIV/AIDS and poverty. We need to build stronger communities and help instead of judge each other. We all deal with some sort of racism daily - whether it's racial profiling or an old lady clutching her bag tighter in an elevator. We shouldn't discriminate against each other. More attention needs to be paid to a person's character rather than the shade of his or her skin.

The only way for change is making your voice heard. You are the consumer who buys albums and purchases magazines. If you don't like what you see, speak out, write letters, send emails. Make your voice heard and realize that no matter what color you are and no matter what shade of color you are we are all beautiful!