Gender and Colorism

This Wednesday Workshop is the first follow-up to my introductory session on intersectionality. This week I provide some historical context to the specific intersection of gender and colorism and identify how this intersection plays out systemically and interpersonally. I default to the American (United States in particular) context, but as I briefly mention in the recording, this can apply to other cultural contexts as well.

Overarching Systems of Oppression

Color is an intersection of gender. Gender is an intersection of color.

There are three primary systems that apply pressure to this interection:

Patriarchy– A vast system designed to maintain male dominance and power socially, sexually, economically, politically, etc.
Misogyny– Defined as hatred for women, but “hatred” might be too strong a word for many people. Misogyny most often shows up as a negative bias against women and things associated with women, femaleness, or femininity. Quite often, though, misogyny is expressed as outright, explicit hatred. This culture of misogyny sustains patriarchy.
White Supremacy– I don’t bother making a distinction between colorism and white supremacy (though I do distinguish between racism and colorism!). Phenotype is a big factor in classifying who is white and who isn’t.

Historical Roots of How Gender and Colorism Interact

The broad white supremacist and antiblack cultural beliefs that have been entrenched over centuries in many Western or colonized societies are structured as follows:

The human ideal was white (man). The foil used as leverage to support this premise was the positioning of black (woman) as the extreme opposite, as subhuman. So not only, according to the established social hierarchy, were white men positioned as the ideal human, but black women were simultaneously positioned as less than human. At one point in the united states, this was quantified as black people being 3/5 human so that land-owning white men in Southern states could have more political power in government.

White men were positioned as the pinnacle of humanity for their supposedly superior intelligence, civilization, morals, leadership etc. White women were positioned as the pinnacle of female humanity. They were the models of feminine ideals of beauty, morals, purity, virtue, innocence, intelligence, civilization, delicateness, etc.

Black men were seen as unintelligent, uncivilized, amoral, deviant brutes. But the association with brutishness also made them recognized (stereotyped) for their physical dominance, athletic abilities, etc. In contexts where this is prized, we see a high degree of representation and acceptance of dark-skinned black men: sports, security, disciplinarians, etc. However, this stereotype of physical dominance combined with the perception of amoral, deviant, uncivilized brutishness positions black men as the ultimate criminal threat.

Unlike the dichotomy between white men and white women, there was no distinction given between black men and black women. Black women were perceived in exactly the same ways as black men. Therefore they were perceived as masculine, unintelligent, amoral, deviant, criminally inclined, brutish, physically dominant (strong), etc. Therefore, black women are susceptible to the same dangers as black men: higher rates of policing and disciplining, excessively penalized, inequitable punitive measures, etc. However, because they are women, they do not socially benefit from perceptions of masculinity the way dark-skinned men do. The association of dark-skin with masculinity and strength often benefits dark-skinned men socially, but it deeply marginalizes dark-skinned black women, and often makes them the targets of more violence and punishment. It also discourages people from helping black women, from coming to our aid, standing up for us, etc.

This stereotype of dark-skinned black women also makes us less desirable in heteronormative romances and marriages. Dark-skinned black women are less than half as likely to be married compared to white women and light-skinned women (23% vs. 50-55%). For the sake of time, I won’t go into the impact this has on the socioeconomic outcomes of women, but just know that it’s not just a matter of “being chosen.” This lack of interest in dark-skinned black women as romantic or marriage partners coupled with the stereotype that dark-skinned women are stronger, more sexually deviant and available, etc. results in a high degree of sexual exploitation and violence such as rape. Because of the stereotypes, however, it’s often not even perceived as exploitation or violence against us. People are more likely to condone this violence when it is perpetrated against dark-skinned women and girls.

Light-skinned black men and women benefit socially and systemically from perceptions that they are closer to whiteness and therefore more intelligent, professional, moral, etc. than dark-skinned black men and women. We see this manifest in trends of employment, income, schooling, sentencing for crimes, etc. Although many light-skinned men report being negatively stereotyped as not masculine enough, this is only a negative because of our patriarchal and misogynistic culture that demands men be “masculine” and that defines masculinity in such narrow and oppressive ways.

Although light-skinned women benefit in the romance/marriage market, they have also historically been sexually exploited and raped due to the fetishization of both white and black men. A difference, however, is that because light-skinned women are perceived as being softer, more civilized, more feminine, more beautiful, etc. they benefit from receiving more empathy from others.

There’s still far more to say about this topic, but this is where I leave it for now. I will return to it again because gender dynamics in our culture have so much to do with our experiences of colorism. This was an important start, though, and as always, I leave you with homework.

Homework: 1) Take the Harvard Implicit Association Test on Color (and any other topic of interest!). 2) Begin to de-colonize your mind in small ways (consume different images, educate people who use anti-black rhetoric (or distance yourselves from them), etc.

Affirmation: We are capable and powerful enough to bring about meaningful change. Don’t let cynicism hold you back!

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November 13, 2015March 28, 2024

Colorism Quotes

Each colorism quote is listed in alphabetical order by author.

Why compile a list of colorism quotes? The official answer is that a collection of quotations helps fulfill the CH mission to raise awareness and provide a hub of information and resources about colorism.

Other equally valid and true reasons: People like quotes! Because sometimes I just don’t know what to write. Sometimes I get tired of my own voice and just want to soak up what others have said. Sometimes I feel like people aren’t hearing me, but they might be able to hear someone else.

Full disclosure: This is by no means a comprehensive list of quotes. I selected quotations that I tend to agree with and that are by people much more famous than me. Not because these are the only words that matter, but simply because I had to find some way to limit the scope of this thing and because people like reading what famous people have to say.

If you’re looking for a speaker or facilitator for your next colorism event, learn about Dr. Sarah Webb’s colorism keynotes and workshops.

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Colorism Quotes by People More Famous Than Me

Tatyana Ali, Quotes from HelloBeautiful, 2014

“It doesn’t just exist in Hollywood. I think it exists in society and to be quite honest, I don’t know how much it exists in the larger society, but it definitely exists in the Black community. There are obvious historical reasons for that. The closer we were to White, the more freedom we thought we could have or the more acceptability. Beauty was defined as White and the farther away you get from that White-blond-hair-blue-eye definition of beauty, the uglier you are. The closer you get to it, the more beautiful you are and that’s what we’ve been doing amongst ourselves for a very long time.

“Look, I can’t pass a paper bag test. I’m definitely darker than a paper bag and I have ‘good hair’ and that’s just me being in a different category and a different light. I know that me and my sisters were separated by our cousins by older relatives who would make these weird comments and then not mention the beauty of the other child that’s sitting right there and playing the same game.

“There’s a separation that’s made among sisters and we end up looking at each other funny, not realizing and thinking ‘she has it so good’ and the other one thinks, ‘I feel like an outcast, she has it so good’ and not realizing that we’re both missing out on each other. My experience in Hollywood is different. When Chris Rock did Good Hair, I was like ‘Why didn’t he talk to me? He didn’t get the full story.’ He didn’t get the full story because, for example, it’s about identity, it’s about belonging.

“It’s not just, in addition to what’s beautiful and what’s not. It’s also what’s acceptable. ‘Where do I fit?’ ‘Who do you think I am based on what I look like?’ For me, when I was younger, I remember my mom, because of my hair, my mom would braid my hair at night before auditions in small braids to make my hair thicker so that there wouldn’t be a question of ‘Oh, is she Black enough?’

“What’s harmful about it is the idea of separation and the idea of not belonging and not being loved and each one of us feels it in a different way because no matter what’s being said about all of us, whether lighter is better or darker is better or being able to twist your hair is better than having straight hair. We all experience pain because of it. The bottom line is we’re all being measured by a standard of beauty that has nothing to do with who we are and where we come from.”

India Arie, Colorism Quotes from Songversation: I Am Light: My Thoughts on the Skin Bleaching Allegations, 2015

“It’s all based on Eurocentric beauty ideals: For example; Straight, blonde hair, blue eyes, aquiline nose, thin limbs, lighter skin…. for many this is just considered ‘beauty.’ Why? Because eurocentric aesthetics are seen as the standard, and therefore are more palatable and desirable by the world as a whole. The entertainment industries are no exception, they SELL this desire to the world. MOST publications lighten darker people, because lighter skin and hair reflect more light and are more eye catching, magazines are after all a business. BUT! For example: Where ARE the cameras that make brown skin look amazing? Oprah has them I can tell you that! LoL! But in general, lights and cameras are ALWAYS tuned for lighter complexions. This is what institutionalized racism looks like. So, for musicians and actresses in the public eye, you are not just selling your talent, you are actually selling yourself. YOU become a product. The less your product fits into conventional beauty ideals, the less MARKETABLE, and therefore, less safe of an investment you are.”

David Banner, Quotes from “An Intimate Conversation With David Banner On The State Of Black Love & Marriage” on xoNecole, 2015

“This song is for [all] Black women, but it’s especially for the dark-skinned black women,” says Banner. “If you look at our culture, our women don’t feel protected. They don’t feel wanted. You look at most of who so-called people of success cater to—nine times out of 10 it may not be a Black woman at all. And if it is, it’s definitely not ones that look like our cousins or our great-grandmothers. And I said man, if nobody in the world says that they love them and that they respect them and that they want them, it’ll be me.”

**Tom Burrell, Colorism Quotes from “Uglified: Why are Black and Beautiful Still Contradictions?” in Brainwashed: Challenging the Myth of Black Inferiority, 2010**

“The further we are from the European standard, the lower we find ourselves on the beauty scale….

“We are better if we are lighter. We want our children to be pretty because we know beauty will grant them an easier life in a color-coded society. Most of us don’t want to be reminded of our past, our ancestors, and where we come from. Many of us boast of having a little Indian, Irish, Italian—any additional blood in our lineage boosts our value. We find ourselves using a sliding racial scale, somewhere between black and white, with lighter or whiter always, always defined as better….

“For most of our history in the New World, we openly coveted light skin and straight hair. Today, the pinnacles of black female beauty remain almost white-looking. It is disturbingly telling that the long weave seems to be a prerequisite for black singers, actors, and models. Hip Hop videos feature light-skinned black, Latino, or Asian women—to the exclusion of darker-skinned black dancers….

“The ‘color-struck’ class war played out in black families, neighborhoods, social clubs, churches, colleges, fraternal organizations, and nearly every conceivable part of our culture. As the stigma progressed, class stratification within the black community became based, to a large degree, on the presence or absence of black features. It is a profound irony that the attractiveness rating was enhanced by the whiteness of hair, skin color, and facial features.

“Sadly, that rating system continues today….

“We can ‘go along to get along’ with dominant society’s dictates or we can start the analytical process by weighing the costs and benefits of our thoughts and actions….

“Centuries of propaganda created the perceptual aesthetic deficit. We will need powerful weapons to dis-enslave and reprogram how we see ourselves. To wage a winnable war, both internally and externally, we will need the proper ammunition.”

Ta-Nehisi Coates, Colorism Quote from “Dark Girls” in The Atlantic, 2011

“For me it’s a matter of what I thought when I was a kid. There’s an anecdote in the book where I foolishly tell one of my mother’s friends “I like light-skin girls.” My mother, who is lighter than me, read me the riot act in such a way that it sticks with me to this day.

Michaela Angela Davis, Quote from Who is Black in America Panel on Starting Point with Soledad O’Brien, 2012

“Acting Like it doesn’t exist doesn’t heal. . . . America as a family, this is our taboo issue that brings up so much. It triggers a lot of black girl pain. It triggers a lot of secrets. It triggers a lot of bias. It triggers a lot of emotional things. And like any family, when we go into our history and say this horrible thing created this characteristic, people don’t want to look at it. But this is the road to healing, right. This is the only way we’re going to feel whole: is we talk about where we’re fractured.

“This is it. Having this conversation, this is the solution.”

**Viola Davis, Colorism Quotes from “Viola Davis Defies Hollywood Stereotypes as She Keeps It Real,” The Wrap, 2015**

“That being said, when you do see a woman of color onscreen, the paper-bag test is still very much alive and kicking. That’s the whole racial aspect of colorism: If you are darker than a paper bag, then you are not sexy, you are not a woman, you shouldn’t be in the realm of anything that men should desire. And in the history of television and even in film, I’ve never seen a character like Annalise Keating played by someone who looks like me. My age, my hue, my sex. She is a woman who absolutely culminates the full spectrum of humanity our askew sexuality, our askew maternal instincts. She’s all of that, and she’s a dark-skin black woman. Some people who watch TV have acknowledged that and understand that. But I encourage you to search your memory and think of anyone who’s done this. It just hasn’t happened. I hear these stories from friends of mine who are dark-skin actresses who are always being seen as crack addicts and prostitutes.”

Bill Duke, Colorism Quotes from “Bill Duke Talks Dark Girls And Colorism” on WOLDCNews, 2012

“What we’re finding more and more is that sometimes it’s not a conscious effort to hurt anybody. But what it comes down to is pain that is deeply held by children, and they don’t discuss it because they feel they’re going to be ridiculed by discussing it. So, we’re giving a voice to that discussion.

“The reason we think that dialogue is important is because it’s the beginning of healing. If you hold things and you don’t discuss it, it does bad things to the human body, psyche, everything.

“All women are dark girls, because whatever standard is set, you’re never going to meet it. And as soon as you get close, they say ‘Oops! We’ve changed it. But we love you so much, we’re gonna help you get to the new standard. Here’s some new products.

“How you were born is fine. Whoever says that it’s not is one of two things: a liar or a business person. It’s that simple.”

**Zora Neale Hurston, Colorism Quotes from “My People! My People!” in Dust Tracks on a Road, 1942**

zora neale hurston quotes about colorism

“I found the Negro, and always the blackest Negro, being made the butt of all jokes, particularly black women. …

“If it was so honorable and glorious to be black, why was it the yellow-skinned people among us had so much prestige? Even a child in the first grade could see that this was so from what happened in the classroom and on school programs. The light-skinned children were always the angels, fairies and queens of school play. The lighter the girl, the more money and prestige she was apt to marry. So on into high school years, I was asking myself questions.”

**Trellie Jeffers, as quoted by Alice Walker in In Search of Our Mothers’ Gardens, 1983**

“What then can be the destiny of a people that pampers and cherishes the blood of the white slaveholder who maimed and degraded their female ancestor? What can be the future of a class of descendants of slaves that implicitly gives slaveholders greater honor than the African women they enslaved? What can be the end of a class that pretends to honor blackness while secretly despising working class black-skinned women whose faces reveal no trace of white blood?”

Karen M. Julkes, RollingOut.com Interview, 2015

“Actually, my inspiration [for becoming a makeup artist] initially came from a place of insecurity. I was teased as a young girl about being dark-skinned and I had a speech impediment. As a teen, I began to play in makeup to feel pretty. I never felt pretty like the other girls, so makeup allowed me to mask the real me. But as I matured, I realized that me being unattractive was very much so a lie. So instead of makeup being a coverup, it became a way for me to be creative. And then in my late 20s, I realized I could use this as way to build up other women that may have dealt with the same challenges as myself. I wanted to make them feel beautiful but talk to them and encourage them to love themselves beyond the makeup!”

Kendrick Lamar, Quotes from Twitter, 2013

“Not Light ‘Vs’ Dark tho. More about ‘BALANCE’ ..Givn every shade of woman life, not just what da industry thinks is ‘Hott’ 4 camera.”

“When u put the term light ‘Vs’ dark continues it as a BATTLE. My point 4 poetic was to spark the idea of making it an EQUAL.”

Naturi Naughton, Quotes VladTV Interview, 2015

“I think there’s always this cycle that happens when you’re a black woman in Hollywood … it can be frustrating because you start to feel like you’re just a fad. Like, now the dark skin, beautiful, brown, chocolate sisters are in. And we’re praising Lupita and all that, which is beautiful, but she was beautiful five years ago. I was the same way three years ago. But it depends on the time. They’ll say, ‘You know what? We’re looking for a black woman but we want something ethnically ambiguous’ is what I have heard. Or, you know, they’re looking for a specific look. And it’s hard because you start to feel like, well wait a minute, what’s wrong with my features, my complexion, my body type? And I just try to tell other black women, not just in Hollywood, just in general, you don’t have to compromise or change yourself to try to fit into whatever mold is popular. That is frustrating. And I’m not even going to lie, it’s emotional. I go through moments when I’m like ‘I can’t take it.’ But at the same time, you know, I’m working, and I’m in a position where I’m able to be a black woman that’s toted as beautiful, and my lips, my features, my body. I don’t think there’s anything wrong with that.”

Lupita Nyong’o, Colorism Quotes from Essence Black Women in Hollywood Speech, 2014

“I remember a time when I too felt unbeautiful. . . . I got teased and taunted about my night-shaded skin. And my one prayer to God, the miracle worker, was that I would wake up lighter-skinned. . . . And when I was a teenager my self-hate grew worse, as you can imagine happens with adolescence. …around me the preference for light skin prevailed. To the beholders that I thought mattered, I was still unbeautiful. …

“My mother reminded me often that she thought that I was beautiful, but that was no consolation: She’s my mother, of course she’s supposed to think I am beautiful. …

“And then Alek Wek came on the international scene. A celebrated model, she was dark as night, she was on all of the runways and in every magazine and everyone was talking about how beautiful she was. … a flower couldn’t help but bloom inside of me. When I saw Alek I inadvertently saw a reflection of myself that I could not deny. Now, I had a spring in my step because I felt more seen, more appreciated by the far away gatekeepers of beauty. . . . I could never have guessed that my first job out of school would be so powerful in and of itself and that it would propel me to be such an image of hope in the same way that the women of The Color Purple were to me. …

“And so I hope that my presence on your screens and in the magazines may lead you, young girl, on a similar journey. That you will feel the validation of your external beauty but also get to the deeper business of being beautiful inside. There is no shade in that beauty.”

Soledad O’Brien, Colorism Quotes from Essence Black in America Hangout, 2012

ESSENCE: “How do you think colorism is playing out in 2012?”

O’BRIEN: “It just is. The same way it’s always played out, which is people value certain skin tones differently. It’s inherently apparent. I thought one of the most disturbing things in the documentary was to see a seven year old who really is clearly getting those messages. She’s seven, and she fully understands the messages that are sent to her, and that’s very problematic. I think colorism exists today like it did years ago and generations ago.

“Back to twitter, a lot of the conversations, there was one sort of stream: “Well, Soledad, if you would stop raising this it would go away, and it’s your fault that we keep having these discussions about race and colorism and discrimination.”

“I don’t think that’s the case. I think we are going to confront tough issues and tough conversations that maybe other people don’t want to have.”

ESSENCE: “How do we start to heal? How do we get the seven year olds to start thinking differently and feel acceptable in their skin tone?”

O’BRIEN: “I think the only thing that’s a solution is conversation. I think the only thing that is a solution is pointing out here is a trap you’re falling into that has been set for you, that has been set over history. And let’s go back and take a look at what’s happening in front of you so that you don’t fall into this trap.”

Keke Palmer, Quotes About Colorism from Hollywood Confidential Panel in Los Angeles, 2013

“When I was like 5 years old I used to pray to have light skin because I would always hear how pretty that little light skin girl was, or I would hear I was pretty to be dark skin. It wasn’t until I was 13 that I really learned to appreciate my skin color and know that I was beautiful.”

Kelly Rowland, Quotes About Colorism from Interview on CNikky.com, 2013

“You know what, I had great women in my life to help me overcome that. I remember I went through a period where I didn’t embrace my ‘chocolatiness.’ I don’t know if that’s a word, but I didn’t embrace my chocolate lifestyle. Just being a chocolate, lovely brown skin girl and being proud of that. I remember Tina Knowles, Bey’s mom, and I remember being out in the sun and I was trying to shield myself from the sun and she said, ‘Are you crazy?’ She said ‘You are absolutely gorgeous’ and she just told me how beautiful I was and how rare chocolate is and how gorgeous the skin is, all of this stuff. And I was just like ‘Yeah!’ Like a light went off and so between her and my mother and me sitting out in the sun a little more, just to be a little more chocolate.”

Gabourey Sidibe, Quotes About Colorism from her blog post for Entertainment Weekly, 2015

“Also, yes. I, a plus sized, dark-skinned woman, had a love scene on primetime television. I had the most fun ever filming that scene even though I was nervous. But I felt sexy and beautiful and I felt like I was doing a good job. I’m very proud of the work we all did to make that scene a great opening for the episode. I keep hearing that people are ‘hating’ on it. I’m not sure how anyone could hate on love but that’s okay. You may have your memes. Honestly, I’m at work too busy to check Twitter anyway. #Booked. Hope you enjoy next week’s show!”

Geneva S. Thomas, Quotes About Colorism from ‘Blood, Sweat, and Heels’ Star: ‘I Celebrate my Dark Skin’, Essence.com, 2014

“But to throw shade at our shades (pun intended), is a nadir far too tragic for anyone to make a punch-line.

“After I got past all of my feelings about the comment, I called my father to thank him for how he and my mother worked tirelessly to create an environment that wasn’t merely about acceptance, but a standard, and the expectation that our dark skin was to be unapologetically celebrated. It was an effortless confidence level I carried about as a youth. So much so that even that one time, when my ballet instructor decided it was a good idea to tell 6-year-old me I was pretty for a dark skinned girl, it was the heartiest of chuckles I gave that she couldn’t fathom. . . .

“I’m not so caught up in my own dark-skin party to think all dark skinned Black girls grow up with the kind of love my family gave me. We all know colorism has been an internal issue in our community dating back to slavery; that thing we just don’t talk about, but exercise. Is colorism here to stay? Will it continue to be okay for us to go there with each other?

“Let’s do more than hope not. Let’s make it our business to teach little Black girls that whatever shade they may be, they are to be celebrated.”

**Gabrielle Union, Colorism Quote from Ebony Magazine, October 2012**

“Your deep Mahogany skin may not resemble that of the others in your family, but it’s just as gorgeous, and you’re just as worthy … One day you’ll appreciate how much your brown skin shines in the moonlight, glistens in the sun and ages ever so slowly.”

**Alice Walker, Colorism Quotes from In Search of Our Mothers’ Gardens, 1983, excerpts from “If the present looks like the past, what does the future look like?”**

book cover for in search of our mother's gardens by alice walker colorism quotes

“We were speaking of the hostility many black black women feel toward light-skinned black women, and you said, ‘Well, I’m light. It’s not my fault. And I’m not going to apologize for it.’ I said apology for one’s color is not what anyone is asking. What black black women would be interested in, I think, is a consciously heightened awareness on the part of light black women that they are capable, and often quite unconsciously, of inflicting pain upon them; and that unless the question of Colorism–in my definition, prejudicial or preferential treatment of same-race people based solely on their color–is addressed in our communities and definitely in our black ‘sisterhoods’ we cannot, as a people, progress. For colorism, like colonialism, sexism, and racism, impedes us. …

“Still, I think there is probably as much difference between the life of a black black woman and a ‘high yellow’ black woman as between a ‘high yellow’ woman and a white woman. And I am worried, constantly, about the hatred the black black woman encounters within black society. To me, the black black woman is our essential mother–the blacker she is the more us she is–and to see the hatred that is turned on her is enough to make me despair, almost entirely, of our future as a people.

“Ironically, much of what I’ve learned about color I’ve learned because I have a mixed-race child. Because she is lighter-skinned, straighter haired than I, her life–in this racist, colorist society–is infinitely easier. And so I understand the subtle programming I, my mother, and my grandmother before me fell victim to. Escape the pain, the ridicule, escape the jokes, the lack of attention, respect, dates, even a job, any way you can. And if you can’t escape, help your children escape. Don’t let them suffer as you have done. And yet, what have we been escaping to? Freedom used to be the only answer to that question. But for some of our parents it is as if freedom and whiteness were the same destination, and that presents a problem for any person of color who does not wish to disappear. …

“… However, the word ‘beautiful’ itself was never used to describe black women in those days. They might be called ‘handsome’ in a pinch. ‘Her skin is black but she is sure nuff pretty,’ someone might have thought, but not sung. Stevie Wonder’s lyrics, though in our time backward in this one instance (‘but’ rather than ‘and’), would have been considered revolutionary in the fifties and early sixties. ‘Beautiful’ was for the white women and black women who look like you. Medium browns like me might evoke ‘good-looking’ or ‘fine.’ A necessary act of liberation within myself was to acknowledge the beauty of black black women, but I was always aware I was swimming against the tide. …

“— I remembered —-, who was asked by the light-skinned girls in our dormitory to move somewhere else, because she was so dark; the men who came to call on them found her blackness ‘inharmonious.’ …

“This essay is for you. … A sister I do not wish to lose to the entreaties of parents or grandparents standing behind you whispering “lighten up’ or ‘darken up’ the race. Nor do I, a dark woman, intend to give you up. When we walk down a street together and those who hate their black mothers admire only you (really your skin color and hair) we will not let this divide us…

“One reason the novels of nineteenth-century black authors abound with white-skinned women characters is that most readers of novels in the nineteenth century were white people: white people who then, as, more often than not, now, could identify human feeling, humanness, only if it came in a white or near-white body. And although black men could be depicted as literally black and still be considered men (since dark is masculine to the Euro-American mind), the black-skinned woman, being dark and female, must perforce be whitened, since ‘fairness’ was and is the standard of Euro-American femininity.

“We must cleave to reality, to what we know, we feel, we think of life. Trusting our own experience our own lives; embracing both the dark self and the light.

“It is our ‘familial’ relations with each other in America that we need to scrutinize. And it is the whole family, rather than the dark or the light, that must be affirmed.”

Jesse Williams, Quote about Colorism from Drum Award Acceptance Speech, 2015

“European beauty standards have given me a better seat at the table and a bigger microphone than my darker brothers and sisters my entire life. That’s not me. I didn’t have anything to do with that. Because I understand the history of white supremacy and the construction of Black civilization, I had to, really had to give these presentations in my living room in my house if I wanted to play sports. That wasn’t me. That’s parenthood.”

Oprah Winfrey, Colorism quote from Henry Louis Gates Jr. in Finding Oprah’s Roots, 2007

“I remember being there, and I instantly knew that Miss Miller did not like me because of the color of my skin. I was too dark and I was a nappy-headed colored child, and Miss Miller would say it. And my half-sister Pat was five years younger than me and she was light skinned and my mother was staying there because Miss Miller loved my half-sister. And I was put out on the porch to sleep. There was a little vestibule, like a porch area where you came in and left your shoes before you went into the house and so that’s where I slept. I wasn’t even allowed in the house to sleep. It makes me sad to think about it. And it was because I was brown skinned and it didn’t compute for me because my mother was brown skinned, too. But I realized she was okay because she had Pat.”

Malcolm X, Quotes About Colorism and Internalized Oppression from “Not Just an American Problem, but a World Problem,” Feb 16, 1965

“It’s imagery. They use their ability to create images, and then they use these images that they’ve created to mislead the people.

“You have to understand it. Until 1959 the image of the African continent was created by the enemies of Africa. As these Europeans dominated the continent of Africa, it was they who created the image of Africa that was projected abroad. And they projected Africa and the people of Africa in a negative image, a hateful image. They made us think that Africa was a land of jungles, a land of animals, a land of cannibals and savages. It was a hateful image.

“And because they were so successful in projecting this negative image of Africa, those of us here in the West of African ancestry, the Afro-American, we looked upon Africa as a hateful place. We looked upon the African as a hateful person. And if you referred to us as an African it was like putting us as a servant, or playing house, or talking about us in the way we didn’t want to be talked.

“Those who oppress know that you can’t make a person hate the root without making them hate the tree. You can’t hate your own and not end up hating yourself. And since we all originated in Africa, you can’t make us hate Africa without making us hate ourselves. And they did this very skillfully. And what was the result?

“They ended up with 22 million Black people here in America who hated everything about us that was African. We hated the African characteristics. We hated our hair. We hated our nose, the shape of our nose, and the shape of our lips, the color of our skin. Yes we did. And it was you who taught us to hate ourselves simply by shrewdly maneuvering us into hating the land of our forefathers and the people on that continent. As long as we hated those people, we hated ourselves. As long as we hated what we thought they looked like, we hated what we actually looked like.

“When you teach a man to hate his lips, the lips that God gave him, the shape of the nose that God gave him, the texture of the hair that God gave him, the color of the skin that God gave him, you’ve committed the worst crime that a race of people can commit. And this is the crime that you’ve committed.

“Our color became a chain, a psychological chain. Our blood — African blood — became a psychological chain, a prison, because we were ashamed of it. We felt trapped because our skin was black. We felt trapped because we had African blood in our veins.

“This is how you imprisoned us. Not just bringing us over here and making us slaves. But the image that you created of our motherland and the image that you created of our people on that continent was a trap, was a prison, was a chain, was the worst form of slavery that has ever been invented by a so-called civilized race and a civilized nation since the beginning of the world.

“You still see the result of it among our people in this country today.”

February 17, 2014March 18, 2024

Colorism and Black History Month

Everyone has a different opinion about February as Black History Month. Some wonder why it’s necessary, or even if it’s a form of “reverse racism.” Others think it’s very necessary, but poorly executed. While I’ve always been a supporter of celebrating Black History Month, this year I want to discuss colorism and Black History Month.

Colorism Healing through Black History

One way to heal from colorism is to cultivate pride in being people of African descent. Since colorism is the result of white supremacy, it’s necessary for our communities to celebrate black history as a way to reverse the harmful effects that centuries of white supremacy have had on us.

As Malcolm X said shortly before his death in February 1965:

Malcolm X by Ed Ford, World Telegram staff photographer — by Ed Ford

As these Europeans dominated the continent of Africa, it was they who created the image of Africa that was projected abroad. And they projected Africa and the people of Africa in a negative image, a hateful image.

Those who oppress know that you can’t make a person hate the root without making them hate the tree. You can’t hate your own and not end up hating yourself. And since we all originated in Africa, you can’t make us hate Africa without making us hate ourselves. And they did this very skillfully. And what was the result?

They ended up with 22 million Black people here in America who hated everything about us that was African. We hated the African characteristics. We hated our hair. We hated our nose, the shape of our nose, and the shape of our lips, the color of our skin. (Malcolm X, 1965)

With those words, Malcolm explains the direct connection to black history and colorism. As long as others are responsible for telling our history, blacks around the world will struggle with the internalized racism that we call colorism.

And the celebration of Black History does have to be explicit, overt, and blatant, just like racism has been for hundreds of years. The white supremacist message has been loud and clear for centuries, and we can’t effectively fight against it simply by being subtle, silent, or scared.

One month out of the year is not enough, however, so we must take the celebration of black culture and black beauty beyond February, and make it an everyday norm in all of our institutions. Yes, schools are important, but so are churches, organizations, teams, clubs, and families.

Colorism as a Potential Blind-Spot in Black History

I also caution us not to assume that celebrating Black History in and of itself heals us from colorism. Typically, Black History month focuses on the accomplishments of black Americans over the years. However, if we’re not careful, we may send the message that light-skinned blacks are the ones who are most accomplished and worthy of celebration.

A wall or book filled mostly with light skinned blacks sends a similar message as a wall or book that doesn’t include blacks. Because lighter skinned blacks are disproportionately represented in politics, education, entertainment, and other fields, it’s easy to compile a list of black figures for your students or children and end up with very few dark-skinned people.

Diversity and inclusiveness require conscious efforts, whether it’s skin color, race, gender, profession, sexuality, or religion.

In fact, discussing this aspect of Black History is a good way to bring up a discussion about colorism. It also shows that focusing merely on race without analyzing the role of skin color can perpetuate group disparities. (I’ll get more into that in another post.)

Questions about Colorism and Black History Month

If you haven’t already been talking about colorism, February, Black History Month, is a great opportunity to start. Here a few questions to get you going.

⇒ Is there disproportionate representation of light or dark skinned blacks during Black History Month? If so, why might that be the case

⇒ Who were/are some of the people who have advocated against colorism or internalized racism among blacks?

⇒ What can we learn from the “black is beautiful” movement that took place during the 1960’s and 70’s?

⇒ How can the study of Black History heal individuals and communities from colorism?

November 14, 2013March 18, 2024

Colorism in Hip Hop: Keeping it Real

The phrase ‘keeping it real” was coined by the hip hop world, a genre of music I’ve been known to enjoy. But many of the biggest names in hip hop are consistently guilty of NOT keeping it real. This applies to many aspects of hip hop, but for our purposes, we’re going to examine colorism in hip hop. The following are eight aspects of colorism in hip hop that we must be “real” and honest about.

Listen to Dr. Webb read this post or scroll to continue reading.

1) Colorism in hip hop does exist.

There’s debate about whether or not colorism exists in general, so we can expect controversy when discussing whether or not colorism exists in hip hop. Many have argued that it’s merely a preference rather than a prejudice. Defenders of all things hip hop would have us believe that it’s merely coincidence that so many rap lyrics glorify light skinned women and diminish dark skinned women, that it’s mere coincidence that so many rap videos exclude dark skinned women altogether, or that so many rappers choose to partner with light-skinned or non-black women exclusively and openly brag about it.

Well, as Huck said on a recent episode of Scandal, “Two things make a coincidence. Three things make a conspiracy.” Colorism in the music industry and elsewhere is a sign that the conspiracy of white supremacy has been fairly successful thus far. The pattern of positioning light skin and european features as the standard of feminine beauty is too pervasive to not be seen as something more insidious than “coincidence” or “marketing” or “crossover appeal.”

But, in case anyone still has doubts, just remember that hip hop stars have explicitly expressed their colorism. They can’t argue “coincidence” when rappers are blatant about their prejudice against dark skinned women.

2) Colorism in hip hop is another product of our long history of white supremacy.

I read recently that colorism exists partly because all cultures tend to favor the “exotic.” If this alone could explain colorism in our world today, we would see more dark skinned or mixed race people in European fashion shows. But we don’t. It’s hard to find even lighter skinned women of color on runways around the world. The exotic argument is related to the idea that colorism is nothing more than trivial preference or coincidence.

Really, there is a carefully built system that’s been strategically maintained (though weakening with time) which allows certain people to monopolize various forms of power. When you can convince an entire group of people that they are inferior to you, there are less obstacles to gaining and maintaining your power. And while that group is preoccupied with destroying itself by self-segregation and infighting, you’ll have a lot less competition. You can pull the wool over their eyes because they’re focused on their “inadequacies” rather than your injustice.

3) Colorism in hip hop has a negative effect on society.

Colorism affects us all, no matter how light or dark our skin is, because it’s an element of the racism that undermines every society. It reinforces racist stereotypes that have substantive effects in people’s lives, including employment opportunities, criminal convictions and prison sentences, marriage prospects, harassment and abuse, and more.

While hip hop is not solely responsible for perpetuating these stereotypes, it currently has one of the most significant roles in doing so. Hip hop spreads its colorist message around the globe, and it’s heavily marketed to highly impressionable youth, which leads me to the issue of low self-esteem in girls.

Some might argue that girls shouldn’t expect the media to build their self-esteem, that self-esteem should be built at home, or that girls should build their own confidence. That’s no excuse, however, to ignore direct attacks against the image of an entire group of people. If we don’t accept hip hop as a vehicle for building self-esteem, we most certainly should not accept it as a vehicle for tearing down self-esteem.

4) Artists have power to do something about colorism in hip hop.

There may be varying levels of power based on how long an artist has been in the industry or how important an artist is to a particular company. However, there are countless instances of artists in all genres exercising creative license in their videos, influencing the direction of their videos, and sometimes generating the entire idea themselves.

The idea that hip hop artists can’t do anything about casting in their videos is not only false, it also perpetuates the sense of helplessness that’s plagued our communities for far too long.

Kendrick Lamar By Jørund Føreland Pedersen

Here are a few examples of rappers who have directly affected the casting in their videos. Please note that this list does not represent an endorsement of the artists, their songs, or their videos. It merely illustrates the level of control rappers can have over their work. It also shows that rappers themselves are also aware of the level of colorism in the industry.

British Rapper Tinie Tempah said he choose all of the models for his video “Trampoline.”

2Chainz Colorism in Hip Hop Keeping it Real — 2Chainz by WealthRangers

Kendrick Lamar made a last minute switch for the casting of the leading lady in his “Poetic Justice Video.” And he directly stated that his intent was to represent more dark skinned women.

2 Chainz was also outspoken on more than one occasion about purposely choosing to feature darker skinned models in one of his videos. He even pointed to the fact that his mom was dark skinned, suggesting that he has a reason to appreciate dark skinned beauty.

Finally, there’s no excuse for what rappers say in their music. While it may be easy to blame casting directors for the lack of diversity in video models, who can they blame for the colorism in their lyrics? If anyone has the power to stop perpetuating colorism through lyrics, it’s the artists themeselves.

5) Fans have power to do something about colorism in hip hop.

For us fans, it all comes down to money and support. If we stop spending money on them and stop supporting them, rappers will quickly learn that colorism shouldn’t be profitable.

6) Most don’t do anything about colorism in hip hop because they’ve been conditioned by white supremacy.

When people have power but don’t use it, it’s for one of two reasons: they don’t know they have any power, or they simply don’t want to use their power. When it comes to hip hop and colorism, most people, fans and members of the industry included, are complacent because they believe lighter and whiter is better. They don’t protest the existence of colorism because many of them agree with it. It’s a hard reality, but we won’t make progress on the issue of colorism unless we admit that our communities are filled with people who think it’s okay to privilege one shade of skin over another. We have to know where we stand. If a fan agrees that light skin is better, of course they’re going to attack you on twitter in defense of racist rappers.

7) Colorism is not just in Hip Hop.

Colorism leaks from the society at large into every genre of music that we create. It’s just more obvious in hip hop because the majority of the artists in that genre are people of color.

R&B has gotten away with a lot of colorism because the genre as a whole has less of an image problem, but it exists there too.

I point this out not to let hip hop off the hook, but to make sure we’re considering the issue holistically as well. We must address the issues in hip hop, but we must also address the issues in homes, schools, runways, churches, movie screens, magazines, boardrooms, and wherever else it needs addressing.

8) Although colorism in hip hop may seem overwhelming, we must continue to speak and act against it.

Social progress through out history shows us that change is slow, painful, and contentious. Some of us may not live long enough to see the full fruits of our labor, but we must labor anyhow.

Let’s be critical consumers and spread media literacy. Let’s create and and appreciate more constructive images of diversity. We don’t have to ban hip hop altogether, but let’s be real about the problems that exist within its culture.

October 29, 2013March 18, 2024

Are You Doing Enough to Help Your Child Deal with Colorism?

black girl with plaits via blue skyz media on flickr; help your children deal with colorism

“I always tell my daughter she’s beautiful,” said one father in response to our discussion about colorism. He, like many parents, believed that she was too young for any discussion beyond that. Like many parents, he thought that this vague show of affection was enough to ward off the world’s animosity toward dark skin and Afrocentric features. Yet despite his regular proclamations of his daughter’s beauty, she herself actually saw very little beauty or worth in dark skin. I could see it, but he was clearly in denial. If you really want to help your child deal with colorism, it’s time to stop relying on the easy excuses.

Why merely telling her she’s beautiful isn’t enough

The typical human mind processes negative feedback more deeply than positive feedback. It’s said that for every instance of negative feedback, it takes 5 to 6 instances of positive feedback to balance the negative. I first heard this in an intro to psych class in undergrad, and I’ve never forgotten it.

There’s a lot of negative messages about dark skin and Afrocentric features floating around our communities, institutions, media, family, and other places that our children frequent. Research shows that even if we told our children that they are beautiful every day of their lives, it probably won’t be enough to balance out all of the negativity that says otherwise.

Then there’s also the idea that a parent’s love is blind, that parents believe their children are beautiful because they’re theirs. For some children, the fact that you’re their parent may limit the effectiveness of you telling them they’re beautiful.

Finally, telling your child that she is beautiful doesn’t necessarily communicate to her that you think dark skin and Afrocentric features are beautiful in general. Remember that eradicating colorism is about more than individual self-esteem—it’s also about being able to see beauty in all its shades and forms. So even if telling your daughter that she’s beautiful causes her to really believe that she is, that doesn’t automatically mean that she’ll be able to appreaciate dark-skinned beauty in others. I’ve met a lot of dark-skinned girls over the years who see themselves as beautiful, yet believe that they are an exception and that light-skin is generally more beautiful.

Why you can’t wait for her to be the “right” age

Studies show that children can recognize differences in skin color, hair, and other features as early as six months old, and that by age four, many children have already begun assigning positive and negative traits to those differences.

My own mother often tells the story about how I was able to verbalize my awareness of colorism at the age of five. At age six I had already been called a “black n****r,” and was told by a playmate: “I like your sister better than you because she’s white and you’re black.” At age nine, a girl in my dance class said, “Eeww! You’re so black!” And those were only the blatantly stated messages of hatred for dark skin. Consistently throughout the years there were countless other messages about skin color, hair, and other features.

Many parents make the mistake of waiting until their child is old enough to have intellectual conversations, possibly even as late as adulthood. But the evidence points to the need for parents to intervene as early as possible before attitudes solidify and are thus harder to change.

As far as not saying or doing anything, just remember that ignoring an issue is the same as condoning it. Imagine what message you’re sending to your child when they can clearly see discrimination, but for some reason they’re parents act like everything is normal.

What it really takes to help your child deal with colorism

Courage. It takes a tremendous amount of courage to talk to our children about any tough issue, whether it’s drugs, sex, death, or racism. But the tougher the issue, the more they need our guidance as parents. Better they learn from us than from the media, or peers, or other sketchy sources.

It also takes honest and direct conversation. We must be honest about the fact that colorism and racism do exist and that they cause a lot of pain. We must not skirt around the issue or make our children think it’s such a taboo topic that they can’t talk to us about it. In order to let our children know that they can come to us, we must first go to them.

Finally, it requires proactive effort.

We must be careful with our comments about the attractiveness of others, including ourselves. If you always tell your dark-skinned daughter she’s beautiful, yet she never witnesses you acknowledge the beauty of other dark-skinned girls and women, what message are you really sending?

We must be mindful of how we treat others. Even without words, children can recognize preferential or unfair treatment, and they will recognize whether there’s a pattern based on skin color or hair texture.

We must also be mindful of who and what our children are exposed to. Limit their interaction with people you know are color-struck. Expose them to a wide diversity of skin tones, races, features, languages, etc. Limit their viewing of general media, and increase their viewing of racially diverse media, especially media that affirms the beauty of darker people.

In the end, you’re not doing any more or less than you would normally be doing as a good parent. For example, you’re probably already buying books for your daughter. Now just consider the kind of books you buy.

What do you do to help your child deal with colorism?

October 7, 2013March 18, 2024

3 Simple Ways to Deal with Colorism on Television

black and white retro television (colorism in television)

Whether it’s TV shows, movies, commercials, or music videos, I’m sure you’re no stranger to colorism on television, but here I give you some insanely simple tips for dealing with it as families or just for your own sanity!

Whether you try all of these tips or just one, even a small change in your habits can make a difference in how you or your family is impacted by colorism on television.

Watch less.

Beyond the usual reasons people give you for watching less TV, cutting back on tube time can help you combat colorism in two ways:

by reducing your exposure to the media’s obsession with fair skin
by freeing up your time for activities that boost self-awareness and self-esteem.

Try to designate certain times for TV watching, and turn off the TV during other times.

Be selective.

Diversity is of utmost importance, but because of racism and colorism, we must be proactive about reinforcing positive images of people with dark skin and non-European features. Watch programming that consistently does this.

If it’s a sitcom or TV show, select one that not only casts dark skinned talent, but that portrays the characters as dynamic and fully developed, not as stereotypes and caricatures. The Mindy Project, for example, features a dark skinned female doctor of Indian decent. Look especially for shows that feature dark skinned girls of various ages rather than just dark skinned adults. Examples are The Bernie Mac Show and Everybody Hates Chris.

Also look for documentaries, special features, or award shows such as the Image Awards, Black Girls Rock!, and the Latin Music Awards that typically feature positive images of people of color.

Have conversations.

This is the most important strategy for dealing with colorism in the media, especially with children. TV provides lots of teaching moments and lots of conversation starters. Having direct and open discussions about race and colorism on television allows you to:

understand the perspectives of others
(re)frame what you see on television
reinforce affirmations of dark skin
contextualize/counter defamation of dark skin
create a safe space for others to speak their minds
be a role model

Here are few questions that might initiate dialogue:

What do you think about the lack of dark skinned characters on this TV show?
Do you think it’s accurate/fair to portray all the dark skinned characters as [insert stereotype here] in this movie?
Do you think this TV network portrays enough diversity in skin color?

These conversations may be awkward, and it may be difficult to get others to engage. Just remember that silence is acceptance.

Do you have any other tips?

October 1, 2013March 18, 2024

8 Tips for Dealing with Colorism in Families

colorism in families a fair skinned girl and dark skinned boy

Sibling rivalries. Estranged parents. Favoritism. Neglect. Abuse. Family should be the place where everyone can experience unconditional love and acceptance. Unfortunately, a lot of folks feel anything but that. Trouble at home can arise for many reasons—one of them is the existence of colorism in families. As Elizabeth Hordge-Freeman (2013) says, “In families, love is present, but … what love looks like may depend, in part, on what you look like” (p. 14). While many families of color around the world think it’s common place to hear casual comments or jokes about skin color, hair, or other features, there are far too many instances where colorism goes beyond mere words and results in outright neglect or abuse.

A lot of anti-colorism advocates focus on external pressures in the media as the primary source of colorism and low self-esteem. But many people tell a different story about how their own mothers, fathers, and other family members were the first to make them feel insecure about their skin color, hair, or facial features. Before a child is influenced by the media, they simply feel the love or lack of love and affection from their family. Research suggests that, “racialized dynamics within [families] can compromise subjective well-being in ways that are more devastating than structural inequality” (Hordge-Freeman, 2013, p. 14). The pain you feel when your own family rejects you can be far worse than how you feel about any images you may see in the media or any issues you may face outside of the home. Images in the media and negative reactions from non-family members are often just reminders and reinforcers of what we’ve learned about ourselves at home from our families. That’s not always the case, but too often it is.

If you’re tired of colorism in your family and colorism in general, I want to share with you some practical tips for dealing with colorism in families. My main goal for providing these tips is to help us protect the young people and the children in our families, but these tips could also provide relief for other adults or even for ourselves.

Watch, Listen, or Read More Below

1. Be COURAGEOUS.

It will take a lot of courage to stand up to family when you witness acts of colorism. Often times you’ll be criticized for being too uptight or for being a party pooper. Family may start to whisper about you, and some may even start to avoid you. You’ll get eye rolls and deep sighs (Oh! Here she goes again!). Prepare yourself for the backlash (because there will be backlash). But be encouraged by the fact that as uncomfortable as you might feel when you speak out in your family, it’s not as bad as children being made to feel uncomfortable in their own skin.

2. Know the perpetrators of colorism in families.

Because it’s difficult to always be vigilant (I mean, family is the one place where we should be able to let our guard down sometimes, even if just a little), it helps to know which family members are perpetrators of colorism. That way, you can prepare yourself when you’re around them, and be more relaxed when you’re not.

3. Don’t let “jokes” about skin tone go unaddressed.

People often disguise their hatred with humor. They know it’s unacceptable to state their negative opinions directly, so they turn them into jokes. That way they can say what they really feel, and if anyone tries to call them out on it, they can defend themselves by saying “it’s just a joke.”

But we’re too clever to believe that. Don’t laugh at such “jokes.” You can simply respond by saying, “Jokes are supposed to be funny, and that isn’t funny.” Or you can reaffirm the opposite of what the joke suggests. If the joke suggests that a certain skin color, hair type, or facial feature is unattractive, merely respond by saying that it is, in fact, just as attractive as any other.

4. Spread the love.

One of the most common manifestations of colorism in families is merely gushing over the looks of one particular individual (usually a child). If a baby or a child is light skinned with straight or loosely curled hair, certain family members can’t seem to help themselves. They make much ado about how pretty the child is and they like to show them off to other family, friends, acquaintances, and strangers. The lack of such attention and appreciation to other children in the family with darker skin and more Afrocentric features is obvious. People may not think it’s obvious, but it is.

Spread the love. Make sure every child in the room hears something positive about how they look and who they are.

5. Be aware.

In cases where colorism escalates from casual remarks to actual neglect and abuse, families should care enough to notice and do something about it. A lot of times we refuse to see what’s going on because we’re afraid of what we’re obligated to do if we know, or because we want to believe that our relatives could never be capable of such things. But if we ignore the mistreatment, then we’re complicit.

6. Be a mentor.

Sometimes it’s more effective to deal with people one-on-one. If you suspect that a younger person in your family is insecure about how they look, spend extra time with them. Have conversations and do activities that reaffirm their beauty and worth. Let them know that you understand what they’re going through and that they can talk to you about how they feel.

Similarly, if you know that a family member is a frequent perpetrator of colorism, pull them aside and let them know how their comments or actions are hurting the family.

7. Check yourself.

You know what Micheal Jackson said (I’m starting with the man in the mirror) and what Gandhi said (be the change you want to see in the world) and what Mathew 7:5 says (first take the log out of your own eye, and then you will see clearly to take the speck out of your brother’s eye). This goes for all of us, including me as a write this post and manage this blog. We must all watch our own attitudes, comments, and reactions if we’re going to be the role models in our families and call the people we love to a higher standard of love.

8. Be consistent.

Too often, we try something once and then give up when we don’t see full results right away. Resist the urge to say, Well, I tried to tell them, but nothing’s changed, so I give up. I’m just not going to say anything anymore. You may not see the payoff right away, but one day your young son or daughter, niece or nephew, brother or sister, will tell you how you impacted their lives by standing up for them when others were putting them down.

Can we do it? Can we create change with one person, one family at a time? I think we can if we all commit to it and support each other. What’s your experience with colorism in families?

Hordge-Freeman, E. (2013, May). What’s love got to do with it?: racial features, stigma and socialization in Afro-Brazilian families. Ethnic and Racial Studies, 1-17.

September 18, 2013March 18, 2024

The Epidemic of Skin Bleaching Around the World

Personal preferences. Individual lifestyle choices. Freedom… Those are some of the things people call upon to explain and justify their indifference about the things other people do. When we talk about something like skin bleaching around the world, they say it’s no different than pale people getting tans. Well, they’re right about that. Tanning and bleaching are very similar in that both can be deadly, especially for those who can’t afford vetted, high-quality bleaches. Of course most people survive these practices, but not without long-term damage to their skin and overall health. There’s also the literal cost of skin bleaching. People continue to exploit colorism and racism for profit. So, I ask: Fair skin at what cost?

Harmful Effects of Skin Bleaching

The source of danger when tanning, of course, is overexposure to UV rays. The source of danger when bleaching is overexposure to certain chemicals.

Throughout history, among different groups of people, and in various places around the globe, people have created a myriad of concoctions that supposedly lighten the skin. In Europe, certain whitening cosmetics once contained white lead which could cause symptoms as serious as blindness or paralysis (Blay, 2011, p. 21). In addition to lead, many skin whiteners around the world use corticosteroids, hydroquinone, and mercury. Extended exposure to these chemicals (like lathering it on one’s skin on a daily basis) can have harmful effects such as neurological damage, kidney disease, ochronosis, eczema, bacterial and fungal infections, skin atrophy, and Cushing’s Syndrome (Glenn, 2008, p. 285).

What’s worse? Once exposed to some of these chemicals, the body forms a type of dependency, making it difficult to stop using the product because of adverse reactions when you do. Afua Hirsch (2012) quotes Dr Fatou Fall, a dermatologist from the Institute of Social Hygiene in Dakar: “Even when they discover the side-effects and want to stop using the creams, they find they cannot stop. It’s only when you stop that the skin changes and begins to become completely burned” (para. 12).

Artificially fair skin is costing people their health, but in many cases it also costs them the very thing they were so desperate to attain—confidence.

You might shrug it off. So what if they want to engage in self-destructive behavior? So what if a few people choose to take the risk of doing permanent damage to themselves?

Well, it’s a whole lot more than a few, and it’s not just “those people.”

Fair Skin has Another Cost

Large numbers of people in every region of the world use some type of skin lightning product. Some countries may not have much use for the stuff, but they’re nonetheless in the business of manufacturing it. The issue of skin bleaching, therefore, is not about “them.” It’s about us.

With the rise of the internet, the world players in the skin bleaching market have become even more connected. Companies have new inroads for marketing and distribution, and consumers have greater access to information and products (Glenn, 2008, p. 283). This is one reason why I’m such an advocate for using the internet as a means of counteracting, the obsession with lighter skin. Hence this blog and others like Dark is Beautiful, which is based in India.

Evelyn Glenn (2008) writes about how skin lightening is “interwoven into the world economic system and its transnational circuits of products, capital, culture, and people” and about the “media and messages, cultural themes and symbols, used to create the desire for skin lightening products” (p. 282). These products are manufactured in some countries and exported or smuggled into others. The media messages are conceived and created by a few individuals and are projected throughout the world. In fact, Distribution of mercury soap has been illegal in the EU since 1989, but it’s manufacture has remained legal as long as the product is exported” (p. 285).

To be blunt, I interpret this type of legislation as race- or ethnicity-based capitalism. If it were merely capitalism, then they would allow the mercury soap to be sold anywhere, including Europe. However, the governments and the manufacturers in those countries know the dangers of mercury and want to protect their own people, but are quite willing to make a profit at the expense of people’s health in other nations.

According to Glenn (2008), “the desire for lighter skin and the use of skin bleaches is accelerating in places where modernization and the influence of western capitalism and culture are most prominent” (p. 295).

And so, the new face of imperialism can be seen in magazines, on billboards, and on Movie, TV, and computer screens around the globe. The skin bleaching market is similar to colonialism in that the promotion of white superiority allows a few powerful and wealthy groups to become increasingly wealthy and powerful at the cost of masses of other people.

In 2012, Indians reportedly consumed an estimated 233 tonnes of bleaching products (Rajesh, 2013), and in terms of sheer numbers, Indians make up the largest skin bleaching market. In some African cities, as many as 52-77% of women use skin lighteners. A Synovate market survey in 2004 showed that 50% of respondents in the Philippines reported using skin lighteners. In places like Japan, China, Taiwan, and Korea, global surveys report that 20-50% of the of respondents had used skin bleaches and that 20-50% would use more if they could afford it. Mercury laden creams are still widely available in parts of Latin America, and in the U.S. women of all races, including Europeans and whites, have long legacies of skin whitening or lightening. (Glenn, 2008, pp. 284-295). And these indicators probably underestimate the practice of skin bleaching around the globe.

I present this information for people who might’ve thought skin bleaching was an isolated, marginal problem in limited places. It’s not. I reiterate that skin bleaching is a global issue with well-known roots.

The Roots of Skin Bleaching Around the World

One piece of research that shifted the way I think about white supremacy in general and skin bleaching in particular is that the practice actually began in Europe among the Europeans themselves (as opposed to immigrants from Southern nations). According to Dr. Yaba Blay (2011), “much of the history of European aesthetic practices is a history of whitening skin” (p. 20). Because of Queen Elizabeth I’s efforts to make her skin appear ghostly white, nearly transparent, extremely pale skin became known as the “Elizabethan ideal of beauty.” This ideal and practice of skin whitening was carried over to the Americas by female European settlers (p. 21).

This information supports the idea that skin bleaching is an issue that affects everyone. It shows that white supremacy even negatively affects white people. It shows that any ideal of physical beauty is arbitrary, unattainable, and downright foolish. But back to the history of it all.

The most basic and effective propaganda was founded on the dichotomy of white vs. black and light vs. dark, probably because they were and still are viewed as pure opposites in many cultures. Glenn (2008) explains that, “In Southern Africa, colorism is just one of the negative inheritances of European colonialism. The ideology of white supremacy that European colonists brought included the association of blackness with primitiveness, lack of civilization, unrestrained sexuality, pollution, and dirt” (p. 284). This was an effective type of messaging against black people around the world, but also effective for any group of darker skinned or brown people.

In desperate attempts to escape these negative associations, to escape various forms of discrimination, and to escape other concrete forms of oppression, people try to attain “light-skinned priviliege” in various ways, skin bleaching being one of them (p. 282).Blay (2011) lists the most common reasons that Ghanian and Tanzanian women give for using skin lighteners, including:

to remove blemishes and imperfections and to counteract effects of the sun
to appear and feel clean
to appear white, European, and “beautiful”
to please a partner, grab attention, or attract potential mates
to impress peers, appear sophisticated and modern, and gain economic and social mobility. (p. 22)

Among some African American women who participate in internet forums, the goal is to have light skin not white skin. They also state the desire to even out skin tone, remove blemishes, or to be two or three shades lighter like many American celebrities such as Halle Berry or Beyonce (Glenn, 2008, p. 288).

Young Filipinas who participate in such internet forums are similar in that they don’t look to white Europeans and Americans as the ideal. They see Japanese and Koreans as having the desirable skin tone, or “Spanish- or Chinese-appearing (and light-skinned) Filipina celebrities, such as Michelle Reis, Sharon Kuneta, or Claudine Baretto” (Glenn, 2008, p. 291).

As I stated before, imperialism continues in a more high-tech and glamorous fashion, but it’s still the basic practice of presenting one thing as the ideal, so that you can capitalize off of people trying to attain that ideal.

Historians and anthropologists have disagreed about whether world cultures favored lighter skin tones before European colonialism, but the obvious source of large scale skin bleaching around the world today is a form of global capitalism that exploits the historic ideology of white superiority.

References

Blay, Y. A. (2011, June). Skin Bleaching and Global White Supremacy:By Way of Introduction. The Journal of Pan African Studies, 4(4), 4-46.

Glenn, E. N. (2008, April). Yearning for Lightness Transnational Circuits in the Marketing and Consumption of Skin Lighteners. Gender & Society, 22(3), 281-302.

Hirsch, A. (2012). The Guardian.

Rajesh, M. (2013). The Guardian.

September 10, 2013March 31, 2024

Colorism vs. Racism: What’s the Difference?

Because many people have not heard of colorism and may be unclear about how it relates to racism, I want to explore the particular definitions and the relationship of colorism vs. racism.

Defining Colorism and Racism

Colorism- prejudiced attitudes and/or discriminatory acts against people based on the color (shade or tone) of their skin

Racism- prejudiced attitudes and/or discriminatory acts against people based on their actual or perceived racial status

I want to highlight the fact that people of different races may have the same skin tone. See the three women below.

sonam kapoor racism vs. colorism difference between racism and colorism — Sonam Kapoor via Muckster

alyssa milano racism vs. colorism difference between racism and colorism — Sonam Kapoor via Muckster

And people of the same race may have different skin tones. See the two women below.

nicole ari parker colorism vs. racism difference between colorism and racism — Nicole Ari Parker via Sharon Graphics

rutina wesley colorism vs. racism difference between colorism and racism — Nicole Ari Parker via Sharon Graphics

In cases of racism, two people of different races but identical skin colors will be treated differently. In the movie Pinky, for example, Pinky is a black woman who looks white. Despite her white skin color, Pinky is still mistreated and discriminated against just like the other blacks in her community.

In cases of colorism, two people of the same race but different skin colors will be treated differently.

This is how each operates on a fundamental level. Of course there are additional factors that may complicate each case, for example, other group identifications that could trump race or color in specific situations such as family, nationality, gender, occupation, or wealth, etc.

The Relationship Between Colorism and Racism

The relationship between colorism and racism has been explored by others before. The consensus is usually that colorism is a product or symptom of racism.

Societies with widespread issues of colorism also have long histories of colonization and influence by european countries. In these societies, european features such as white skin, straight hair, and light colored eyes were overtly promoted as the standard of civilized existence, intelligence, beauty, wealth, and power. In these societies, rights and privileges were also restricted to people of european decent. In places like the United States, one’s european bloodline had to be “pure,” meaning not mixed with any other races, in order to retain the rights and privileges reserved strictly for whites.

In contrast, those of other races were often forced into servitude or slavery, denied citizenship and protection under the law, classified as property along with inanimate objects and animals, labeled subhuman (3/5 human in the U.S.), denied education, barred from public places and certain jobs, and abused in any number of ways.

Colorism among people of the same race is also considered a form of internalized racism. After centuries of being conditioned to view white/european as superior and their own race and culture as inferior, many people were broken and eventually believed in and acted according to that dichotomy.

It’s under those conditions that people of varying races came to view european ancestry and european phenotypes as superior to all else and as a means to a better life. People try to acquire more european features and traits and encourage their children to “improve the race” (mejorando la raza) by marrying people who are as light or lighter and producing offspring with increasingly european phenotypes.

Colorism is a manifestation of the idea that even if one isn’t white, their worth may be determined by how closely they resemble a white person.

The woman at the beginning of the video “Negro: Colorism and Mejorando La Raza” makes the controversial yet not uncommon argument that internalized racism is more harmful and thus a more urgent concern than outside racism. Others are outraged at the idea. They call it a case of blaming the victim and insist that we can’t overcome internalized racism until we defeat external racism.

I think the battles are one in the same. If we internalize racism, we lose our will and our ability to fight the external system of racism. If we don’t value, respect, and love ourselves, why would we put up a fight when others don’t either. If we believe that white people are superior, then we won’t bat an eye at the disparities in education and wealth. However, it’s the external system of racism that teaches and enforces white supremacy, and there’s a strong case for arguing that dismantling that system would curb the level of internalized racism.

So what is the difference between colorism vs. racism? Is one issue more important than the other?

Many disagree, but I say that there is no difference. Internalized racism (colorism) and external racism are so interwoven at this point that we can’t attempt to extract one without addressing the other.

If you’re looking for a speaker or facilitator for your next colorism event, learn about Dr. Sarah Webb’s colorism keynotes and workshops.

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September 3, 2013March 18, 2024

Is Phenotype Your Ticket to a Better Life?

Phenotype is a fancy word for how a person looks. It refers to all of a person’s physical traits that can be seen with the naked eye, such as hair, eyes, nose, lips, and skin color.

In the video Wide Angle: Brazil in Black and White, a secret panel evaluates pictures of potential students and classifies them into racial categories (black or white) based on how they look. This is to determine who qualifies to apply to the University of Brasilia through the new quota system (black) and which students had to apply as part of the general population (white). This is obviously a slippery slope, as proven by the fact that identical twins were placed in different racial categories. One twin was deemed black. The other twin was deemed white.

The relationship to phenotype and race and colorism is a very important one. Associating phenotype with race in societies where class, social status, power, and privilege correspond to race, means that people may gain more opportunities, status, power, and privilege based on how look, regardless of their actual lineage. It’s in those societies where colorism really takes root.

In the U.S. this is most acute in the practice of passing, which is when a person of one race chooses to live in the world as a person of another race. Historically these people have mostly been documented as blacks who pass for white based on their phenotype. The most commercially famous study of this phenomenon are the two versions of Imitation of Life, a film in which a young black woman essentially disowns her black mother, moves away, and lives life as a white woman.

What the film also reveals about passing in the United States, especially historically, is the constant fear of being found out, because in the U.S. phenotype does NOT determine race, at least not on paper. No matter how much people may look white, if it’s known that they have black ancestry, then they are treated like black people. That’s why the character in Imitation of Life and the countless people in the real world were forced to disown their families and everyone who knew them in the past out of the need to hide their racial ancestry.

The case of the twins in Brasilia and passing in the U.S. prove that it’s nearly impossible to rely on phenotype to determine race.

But the reason for talking about passing is to show how people believe that lighter skin, lighter eyes, straighter hair, and more European facial features is the ticket to a better life, and in many cases they have been right (depending on how one defines “better life.”) This belief is the historical root of colorism in many cultures. Colorism isn’t arbitrary.

In other countries with historically less rigid classifications of race, such as Brazil, the balance of power is still based on a hierarchy of phenotypes. Many have reported the persistent discrimination against darker skinned people in Central and South America. The University of Brasilia (and other businesses and institutions) began using a quota system because activists protested about disparities in the enrollment of such institutions. Prior to the quota system, the student body at the University of Brasilia had been up to 98% white (phenotype not necessarily race). In the case of this particular quota system, a “black” phenotype might actually open the gate to opportunity for some students, a reversal of what’s typically and historically the case.

This post isn’t to argue for or against the use of quotas. I simply use the film as a great example of how, even without rigid racial classification, even with a long history of racial mixing, colorism prevails. The skin bleaching and marriage preferences in more racially homogeneous countries is further proof. As long as the balance of opportunity, wealth, power, and privilege is decidedly tipped in favor of one race or one shade, colorism will continue to exist, and people will continue to see phenotype as their ticket to a better life.

One of my favorite speeches by Malcolm X explains that people come to hate their phenotype because of how others react to it. There’s nothing inherently wrong with how anyone looks. If we’re unhappy with how we look, it’s because of the way people have historically used our physical appearance to decide if we’re slave or free, rejected or admitted, turned away or offered service, profiled or let off the hook, guilty or innocent, ignorant or intelligent, ugly or beautiful, dangerous or safe, and on and on and on.

Perhaps this would not be the case if everyone merely had their “preferences.” But it’s more than that. There’s a national, even global system in place that takes the notion of preference out of the equation by conditioning our “preferences” through propaganda and social norms and in many cases predetermining our “preferences” through laws. In fact, this structure is so ingrained and so ubiquitous that it’s invisible to most people in most situations. When we do see the structure, we also become aware of how difficult the structure is to dismantle, like trying to extract the flour from a loaf of bread that’s already been baked.

Thus, many people prefer to change themselves rather than change the system. Many people find it easier to demand something else of themselves rather than of the system. Many people decide that if they can’t fight the system, they have to find a way to survive within it. Colorism.

If you’re reading this, I hope that you reject the notion that we as people are flawed and recognize that it’s the system that’s deficient and needs changing. In the current structure of many societies today, phenotype IS a ticket to a “better life,” but with continued work, we can see to it that everyone can own such a ticket regardless of how they look.

August 29, 2013March 18, 2024

Black Psychologists on Colorism

The Association of Black Psychologists has written an informative report on colorism in America, including the history, the effects, and possible solutions. If you’re looking for a concise yet thorough overview of colorism in the U.S. this is a great place to start. Click here to Read the ABP report.

August 12, 2013March 18, 2024

Colorism in Social Media: What Can We Do?

cropped phone screen with multiple social icons colorism in media technology social media

Colorism in social media can be seen as merely a reflection of what goes on in the world at large; however, the very nature of social media has actually transformed the ways in which we experience colorism in modern society.

Listen to Dr. Webb read this blog post or scroll to continue reading.

Throughout history, colorism has always been perpetuated in large part through various forms of media, from ancient stories and texts that equated dark with evil and light with good, to prejudicial casting in Hollywood films.

But social media has a few characteristics that make it unique from other, older forms of media. Social media:

allows people to be anonymous or create personas, therefore allowing them to say things they might have never voiced otherwise.
allows people to organize around common interests and easily connect with like-minded people.
creates a false sense of importance that prompts us to publicize all of our thoughts as if each one is breaking news being fed to an eager audience of adoring fans or concerned citizens.
keeps a record of what we say, tracks our online behavior, and informs us of what’s trending in certain areas.
is searchable, making it easy to find people and what they’re saying on any given topic.
is a more accessible form of media, a forum where more people can be seen and heard.
makes the world seem smaller by providing access to more people than ever before and by facilitating connections across societal and geographic borders.

These aspects of social media impact our experience of colorism in three basic ways:

Increased Conversation
Greater Alliances
More Control

Increased Conversation

Most of what people tend to discuss when talking about colorism in social media are the destructive conversations. Many folks post negative and stereotypical comments about people with certain skin tones, they brag about their prejudices, and they promote activities that perpetuate division and competition. Because I want this particular site to be as free of the negativity as possible, I’ve decided not to do the typical screen capture of some of these destructive social media posts, but if you’re curious or feel like you need to “see it to believe it,” a simple Google or twitter search will get you there.

But through social media, we’ve also had more constructive conversations about colorism, mainly to talk directly about stopping it, healing from it, acknowledging the detrimental effects, and affirming one another. On twitter, I’ve started a list that I call “Anti-Colorism Advocates.”

This is what’s beautiful about social media to me. People can reach out to one another in love, even to people they’ve never met. I want to encourage all of us to post, retweet, share, like, or pin more of the constructive conversations.

Greater Alliances

You might have heard of “alliances” like #teamdarkskin and #teamlightskin, which have seemed to create more division on the whole. However, social media does make it more simple to form constructive alliances. It’s relatively quick and easy to reach out to someone and receive instantaneous feedback. There’s potential for, and already much foundation being laid, for a global coalition against colorism (which I first mentioned in this post). This is the kind of alliance that could change the world for the better.

It wouldn’t be the kind of league that pits “us against them” in a battle against humanity. Quite the opposite. It would be a coalition of humanity working to dismantle the harmful ideology or white and light.

These constructive alliances also go a long way in letting young people know that they are not alone in their hurt and struggle, that there are others enduring the same thing, that there are others who’ve overcome it, and that there are others willing to help them do the same.

More Control

The mere fact that this site and others like it even exist and the fact that people like you are reading them is a testament to the more democratic and accessible nature of the internet.

This benefits us as we work for change because we can seek out, create, and disseminate content that heals us and others. Part of healing the world from colorism is letting people of color know that just like we have control over how we design our profiles, who we follow or friend, and what we post on our social media accounts, we also have control over our healing. We can be proactive in nurturing the best in ourselves. We have the power to undo any self-defeating patterns we may have. We are not helpless and hopeless in the face of a long legacy of racism and colorism around the world because we also have a long legacy of triumph. And social media is the new tool that can help us sculpt a better world.

Let’s put out enough love and affirmation that we nullify the existence of colorism in social media.

July 23, 2013March 18, 2024

When Should Parents Discuss Colorism With Their Children?

Because of the nature of this site, I’m making the assumption that the audience is already convinced that they should talk about colorism, so I’m merely exploring the question: When Should Parents Discuss Colorism With Their Children?

I have no conscious memory of this, but my mother often tells the story of when she first heard me vocalize my awareness of colorism.

I was five. Some women were complimenting my sister about how beautiful she was, and I whispered under my breath that they were only saying that about my sister because she was light skinned.

I tell this story as part of this piece because most people assume that a five year old is too young to understand that people are treated differently because of race and skin color. But research says that children can recognize racial differences as early as six months old and can vocalize and express racial awareness and even bias as early as three years old. I have no doubt that if I was able to verbalize that comment at the age of five, then I must have been aware of colorism before then. That just happened to be the first observable moment of my awareness.

Too many parents underestimate their children’s ability to understand the politics of skin color, but small children are perhaps, as a matter of necessity and survival, the keenest observers of their social environments. We talk about how toddlers are sponges and pick up on the most subtle clues from their environment. If you’ve ever seen your child mimicking adult behavior and it surprised you, then you know how true this is.

And it’s not just you they’re learning from. They learn from other adults, siblings, playmates, relatives, teachers, media, etc. With that in mind, it’s easy to see how they could be picking up on patterns and making inferences about skin color as part of their developmental process.

There are a lot of research based resources about how and when children learn about race that I want to apply to colorism.

A short piece in The University Record published by the University of Michigan says:

“Children are not color-blind. Nor is their understanding of racial identity superficial. Children as young as age three have a complex understanding of the way in which society constructs racial categories, and that understanding goes well beyond surface appearances.

Simply telling kids that race doesn’t matter isn’t going to be very effective, since they obviously think it does in a couple of non-trivial respects.

To combat racism, we need to understand its basis. It’s not just a problem afflicting a few bigots. It’s a way of thinking about the kinds of people there are in the world that goes far beyond surface appearances and gives rise to invidious comparisons. And it’s a way of thinking that preschoolers have already begun to develop.”

Another relevant piece, “Children are Not Colorblind: How Children Learn Race,” written by Erin N. Winkler adds to the conversation:

“Children pick up on the ways in which whiteness is normalized and privileged in U.S. society. What does this mean? Consciously or unconsciously, middle-class white culture is presented as a norm or a standard in the United States in terms of appearance, beauty, language, cultural practices, food, and so on. Tatum (1997) argues that this message is so prevalent in our society it is like ‘smog in the air. Sometimes it is so thick it is visible, other times it is less apparent, but always, day in and day out, we are breathing it in’. For very young children, this ‘smog’ comes in the form of picture books, children’s movies, television, and children’s songs, which all include subtle messages that whiteness is preferable.

The lesson for caregivers of young children is: Do not shush children or shut down the conversation. Instead, engage in open, honest, frequent, and age-appropriate conversation about race, racial differences, and even racial inequity and racism. Research has shown that such conversations are associated with lower levels of bias in young children (Katz, 2003). Let go of the notion that you are “putting ideas in their heads” by talking about race; as we have seen, research shows that young children notice race and draw conclusions about difference on their own.”

While these reports are about race in general and not specifically about colorism, I think the concept is easily transferrable. I’m a real-life example of a once young girl who probably could’ve benefited from a few discussions of colorism at the age of five, four, or even three. It’s clear here that I’m advocating for talking about colorism sooner rather than later, but in the end, it’s up to parents to decide.

July 13, 2013March 30, 2024

Colorism Historical Roots and Routes

historical roots and routes of colorism in white text over faint image of massive roots. history of colorism.

The most common explanation you’ll get from Americans about colorism roots and routes has to do with American slavery. During slavery in the Americas, blacks and whites bore children of mixed ancestry, but according to the law, any trace of black ancestry meant you were black (one drop rule), and children took the status of their mother, which was slave in many cases.

As a result, the spectrum of skin tones among slaves and others who were legally black, grew wider. Slave owners often granted more privileges to the lighter skinned slaves, saw them as smarter and more capable because of their white ancestry, allowed them some form of education or training, and occasionally granted them their freedom.

Even after slavery ended, similar advantages were given to blacks whose appearance was closer to white, such as first consideration for certain schools and jobs.

The preferential treatment served to create division among blacks. Simultaneously there was resentment for this preferential treatment and the desire to acquire and take advantage of it.

Some might think that explaining the origins of colorism in the Americas is as simple as pointing to slavery. But it’s deeper than that. Colorism is the result of white supremacist ideology, which is ancient compared to slavery in the Americas.

Social hierarchies based on nationality, religion, class, gender, education, race, and color have existed for millenniums. I want to attempt a less conventional (though not unheard of) approach to colorism roots and routes.

Roots in Biblical & Religious Texts

One story that’s historically been used to justify racism, colorism, and slavery is the so called “curse of Ham.” That’s the story of Noah’s youngest son, Ham, who saw his father naked, then told his brothers. Noah was angry and cursed his son Ham, who the scriptures say is the father of Canaan. Noah’s curse said that Canaan would be the slaves of Ham’s brothers (Gen 9:20-27).

So where would color come in to play for those who use this story as the basis for practicing racism?

It’s a stretch, but here’s the “logic”:

Since Ham is the father of Cush (Gen 10:6), and Cush is sometimes used synonymously with the regions of Nubia, Ethiopia, Egypt, and Sudan; then Ham and his decedents must be associated with dark skin. If Ham is associated with dark skin, and he’s the one who committed the disgraceful (some say sinful) act against his father, then dark skin must also be associated with disgrace and sin. Even though it was Canaan, not Cush, that Noah said would be enslaved, slavery was still somehow associated with black skin.

Then there’s a later reference in the bible to skin color that further connects Cush to skin color: “Can the Ethiopian (Hebrew Cushite) change his skin or the leopard his spots? Neither can you do good who are accustomed to doing evil” (Jer 13:23).

This interpretation of Ham’s story shows how human pathology causes people to defy logic in order to believe in their own superiority and to justify their oppression of other peoples.

An additional trope from the bible that people point to as one source of how people view skin color is the distinction between darkness being bad or evil, and light or white being good, pure, clean, and holy. (I trust that you can do your own search on this if you’re curious.) While the majority of these references don’t specifically refer to skin color, the distinctions between black/dark and white/light is a symbol in many cultures that has been generally applied to many subjects.

But it’s not just the Judeo-Christian bible that carries such symbolism.

History of Colorism in Indian, Greek, and Roman Texts

In this amazing documentary titled “Shadeism,” by a young woman who’s family is from Sri Lanka, she explains how colorism existed in regions like India even before colonialism . . . long before.

In the ancient Indian scripture of the Ramayana, there’s a scene that depicts a fight between a noble, fair-skinned king from the north, and an evil dark-skinned king from the south. According to an explanation of the Ramayana published through UCLA, this tale may date back as far as 1500 BCE.

A blurb about Benjamin Isaac’s book, The Invention of Racism in Classical Antiquity, states:

[Isaac] considers the literature from classical Greece to late antiquity in a quest for the various forms of the discriminatory stereotypes and social hatred that have played such an important role in recent history and continue to do so in modern society.

Isaac’s book is said to disprove the belief that ancient Greeks and Romans only held ethnic/cultural prejudice but not racial prejudice.

Colorism’s Historical Roots and Routes Around the Globe:

History of Colorism: Colonialism & Pigmentocracy

Whether or not colorism was present in cultures before colonialism, there’s little argument against the fact that it became ubiquitous as a result of colonialism.

Pigmentocracy describes a social structure in which status, class, education, occupation, etc is determined by skin color. It’s existed in various forms all over the globe, and some pigmentocracies throughout history have been more operational and institutionalized than others. Pigmentocracy involves all races, unlike the common notion of colorism, which is that it functions among the people of one race.

The United States is an example of one of the pigmentocracies that have existed around the globe. While not precisely broken down by exact skin tone, it’s generally true that this country has granted the highest status and opportunity to those of the lightest skin, and denied that status and opportunity to those with the darkest skin, with varying degrees in between.

To trace the routes of Europeans around the globe during colonialism, is to literally trace the roots of colorism. The spread of colorism is a direct result of the spread of white supremacist ideology.

I still wonder what’s the initial source of white supremacy.

In thinking about those ancient texts like the Ramayana and the Bible, I wonder how humans began to equate light with good and dark with bad.

Was it as quotidian as one random person who had a strange thought and then went and shared his ideas with friends and neighbors? Or was it as strategic as some ancient government plotting to brainwash the masses so that they could gain power through some arbitrary characteristic?

Why didn’t the tides of history end up spreading black, brown, yellow, or red supremacy? Not that any of those would be right.

Do we have to rehash every detail about the roots of colorism every time we have a conversation about it?

Maybe we should explain the historical roots to those who claim to have never heard of colorism.

But for the converted, for those of us who generally understand the who, what, why, when, and how of colorism’s roots and routes, can we finally begin to have productive conversations about the present and future?

I guess my biggest question is: Where do we go from here?

July 13, 2013March 18, 2024

Who Does Colorism Affect? Part 2

Who Does Colorism Affect? The trouble with insider/outsider positioning is that it blinds us to the real answer.

If we can only know our very own experiences, then we can know very little.

Any thing that happened before June 6, 1985, I had no experience with. If I have to directly experience something to know it, then I know nothing about almost everything: the Vietnam War, Marcus Garvey, Apartheid, the Holocaust, President Roosevelt, the American Civil War, American slavery, the French Revolution, Egyptian pharos, or Chinese emperors, etc.

Crimes would never be punished. Judges would have to be robbed, murdered, raped, have their property vandalized or set on fire in order for them to believe any victims or witnesses of such crimes.

Saying, “I don’t think colorism or racism exist because I personally have never experienced it, so it can’t possibly exist,” is like saying, “I’ve never been to New Zealand, so I don’t think it exists,” or, “I’ve never been healed from a medical procedure, so I don’t think hospitals are necessary, since they’ve never worked for me personally.”

You can see that experiential knowledge is only a part of our total knowledge.

Avoiding knowledge of a situation is a way to avoid responsibility.

Imagine if white Freedom Riders had said, “Oh, no. We can’t get involved with that because we don’t know anything about being black, and therefore we know nothing about racism.”

Imagine if someone asked me to donate to prostate cancer research and I said, “Oh, no. I can’t get involved or learn more about this because I’ve never had prostate cancer. It’s just not relevant to me.”

Imagine if Brad Pitt had said, “I don’t live in New Orleans and I wasn’t there during Katrina, so why should I get involved with building more homes?”

Imagine if Oprah had said, “I don’t have any sons, I’m not a man, and I’ve never gone to Morehouse, so why should I give over 400 black, male students scholarships to attend?”

Many youth have committed suicide as a result of bullying. Are the bullies outside of the situation, or do they have a critical role in shaping the situation? Do we only address the targets of bullying, or do we also need to address the bullies themselves?

If an employer refuses to hire me because of my sexual orientation, are his actions separate and outside of my experience?

If I step on your foot, are you wrong to say, “Excuse me Sarah, even though you don’t feel my pain, you play an integral role in stopping the pain. It would help a lot if you remove your foot.”?

Bottom Line

Different doesn’t have to equate with inside/outside, part of/not part of, better than/worse than, more than/less than. It’s that very thinking that breeds racism in the first place. You might experience the situation differently from me, but you’re still part of the situation.

A good example of someone who I think understands this is Tim Wise. He’s a white man who speaks, from his perspective, on racism. Though his vantage point is different, his efforts can help alleviate the consequences of racism for everyone.

I hope we can look at the situation of colorism and determine our vantage point, rather than being cynical and insensitive.

Blacks have their share of blemishes, but colorism resulted from the actions of colonial powers, white slave owners, and slave traders, then it was propagated and perpetuated through white owned media.

I hope black people can see that even though we need to heal our own community, we also need to hold non-blacks accountable for creating/maintaining situations where blacks internalize racism as a method of survival (i.e. passing for white to get a job). We can’t improve or eliminate these situations without bringing multiple vantage points to the discussion.

I hope blacks can understand that we’re all affected by it in some way.

Overarching Systems of Oppression

Historical Roots of How Gender and Colorism Interact

Watch and Listen:

If you’re looking for a speaker or facilitator for your next colorism event, learn about Dr. Sarah Webb’s colorism keynotes and workshops.

Colorism Quotes by People More Famous Than Me

Tatyana Ali, Quotes from HelloBeautiful, 2014

India Arie, Colorism Quotes from Songversation: I Am Light: My Thoughts on the Skin Bleaching Allegations, 2015

David Banner, Quotes from “An Intimate Conversation With David Banner On The State Of Black Love & Marriage” on xoNecole, 2015

Tom Burrell, Colorism Quotes from “Uglified: Why are Black and Beautiful Still Contradictions?” in Brainwashed: Challenging the Myth of Black Inferiority, 2010

Ta-Nehisi Coates, Colorism Quote from “Dark Girls” in The Atlantic, 2011

Michaela Angela Davis, Quote from Who is Black in America Panel on Starting Point with Soledad O’Brien, 2012

Viola Davis, Colorism Quotes from “Viola Davis Defies Hollywood Stereotypes as She Keeps It Real,” The Wrap, 2015

Bill Duke, Colorism Quotes from “Bill Duke Talks Dark Girls And Colorism” on WOLDCNews, 2012

Zora Neale Hurston, Colorism Quotes from “My People! My People!” in Dust Tracks on a Road, 1942

Trellie Jeffers, as quoted by Alice Walker in In Search of Our Mothers’ Gardens, 1983

Karen M. Julkes, RollingOut.com Interview, 2015

Kendrick Lamar, Quotes from Twitter, 2013

Naturi Naughton, Quotes VladTV Interview, 2015

Lupita Nyong’o, Colorism Quotes from Essence Black Women in Hollywood Speech, 2014

Soledad O’Brien, Colorism Quotes from Essence Black in America Hangout, 2012

Keke Palmer, Quotes About Colorism from Hollywood Confidential Panel in Los Angeles, 2013

Kelly Rowland, Quotes About Colorism from Interview on CNikky.com, 2013

Gabourey Sidibe, Quotes About Colorism from her blog post for Entertainment Weekly, 2015

Geneva S. Thomas, Quotes About Colorism from ‘Blood, Sweat, and Heels’ Star: ‘I Celebrate my Dark Skin’, Essence.com, 2014

Gabrielle Union, Colorism Quote from Ebony Magazine, October 2012

Alice Walker, Colorism Quotes from In Search of Our Mothers’ Gardens, 1983, excerpts from “If the present looks like the past, what does the future look like?”

Jesse Williams, Quote about Colorism from Drum Award Acceptance Speech, 2015

Oprah Winfrey, Colorism quote from Henry Louis Gates Jr. in Finding Oprah’s Roots, 2007

Malcolm X, Quotes About Colorism and Internalized Oppression from “Not Just an American Problem, but a World Problem,” Feb 16, 1965

Colorism Healing through Black History

Colorism as a Potential Blind-Spot in Black History

Questions about Colorism and Black History Month

1) Colorism in hip hop does exist.

2) Colorism in hip hop is another product of our long history of white supremacy.

3) Colorism in hip hop has a negative effect on society.

4) Artists have power to do something about colorism in hip hop.

5) Fans have power to do something about colorism in hip hop.

6) Most don’t do anything about colorism in hip hop because they’ve been conditioned by white supremacy.

7) Colorism is not just in Hip Hop.

8) Although colorism in hip hop may seem overwhelming, we must continue to speak and act against it.

Why merely telling her she’s beautiful isn’t enough

Why you can’t wait for her to be the “right” age

What it really takes to help your child deal with colorism

Watch less.

Be selective.

Have conversations.

Watch, Listen, or Read More Below

1. Be COURAGEOUS.

2. Know the perpetrators of colorism in families.

3. Don’t let “jokes” about skin tone go unaddressed.

4. Spread the love.

5. Be aware.

6. Be a mentor.

7. Check yourself.

8. Be consistent.

Harmful Effects of Skin Bleaching

Join the Colorism Healing Mailing List

Fair Skin has Another Cost

The Roots of Skin Bleaching Around the World

Defining Colorism and Racism

The Relationship Between Colorism and Racism

So what is the difference between colorism vs. racism? Is one issue more important than the other?

If you’re looking for a speaker or facilitator for your next colorism event, learn about Dr. Sarah Webb’s colorism keynotes and workshops.

Increased Conversation

Greater Alliances

More Control

Roots in Biblical & Religious Texts

History of Colorism in Indian, Greek, and Roman Texts

Colorism’s Historical Roots and Routes Around the Globe:

History of Colorism: Colonialism & Pigmentocracy

Bottom Line

**Tom Burrell, Colorism Quotes from “Uglified: Why are Black and Beautiful Still Contradictions?” in Brainwashed: Challenging the Myth of Black Inferiority, 2010**

**Viola Davis, Colorism Quotes from “Viola Davis Defies Hollywood Stereotypes as She Keeps It Real,” The Wrap, 2015**

**Zora Neale Hurston, Colorism Quotes from “My People! My People!” in Dust Tracks on a Road, 1942**

**Trellie Jeffers, as quoted by Alice Walker in In Search of Our Mothers’ Gardens, 1983**

**Gabrielle Union, Colorism Quote from Ebony Magazine, October 2012**

**Alice Walker, Colorism Quotes from In Search of Our Mothers’ Gardens, 1983, excerpts from “If the present looks like the past, what does the future look like?”**