Colorism: Light Skin v. Dark Skin
Colorism is a significant concept to study because of its ability to stratify within marginalized communities and further, its capacity to register negative perceptions and evaluations of African Americans from an institutional level and from the white community. “Dark-skinned Blacks in the United States have lower socioeconomic status, more punitive relationships with the criminal justice system, diminished prestige, and less likelihood of holding elective office compared with their lighter counterparts” (Hochschild and Weaver, 2007).
“Skin color is associated with individuals’ preferences as well as their outcomes…. Relative to their lighter-skinned counterparts, dark-skinned blacks have lower levels of education, income and job status. They are less likely to own their own homes or to marry; and dark skinned blacks’ prison sentences are longer” (Hochschild and Weaver, 2007).
Complexion and appearance are also related to how voters evaluate candidates and who wins elections. Exploring grounded theory approaches, the investigations of Terkildsen, 1997; Weaver 2012; Hochschild et. al., 2007; and Hunter, 2002 examine white voters perceptions of skin color influencing black electoral candidate success and the implications of colorism on societal achievement, aiming specifically to understand the socio cultural factors that construct and advance colorist socialization. Research indicates that there is a direct correlation between skin color and phenotypically black facial features and electoral success and white voters candidate evaluation; black electoral candidates and individuals with darker skin complexions will be evaluated much more negatively.
I deliberately embraced a project directed on colorist because its implications affect every person of color on this planet. Colorism divides racial and ethnic minority individuals on the assertion that white is the standard and desired objective. Unlike racism, colorism can be directed within a racial population. While colorism is surely understood by persons of color, I wanted to use this platform as a means of information for those unaffected by colorisms’ principles. I also want this platform to be an instrument of unity. Because colorism stratifies intra-racially, I aspire for persons of color to understand the historical and modern ramifications and dismiss them to all extents possible. Skin tone, hair texture, facial features does not and should not be our defining characteristics for marital status, income level, education levels, job opportunities, and prison sentences. I hope that after this presentation, we as a people can come together to understand and challenge these notions of division.
What is colorism?
Colorism is a “system” that grants advantages and opportunities and attributes positive characteristics and traits to those that possess lighter skin complexions as well as phenotypes that correlate with the exclusive standards of a white majority (Hunter, 2002).
What is racism?
According to the American Heritage College Dictionary, racism has two meanings:
- Racism is the belief that culture is inherited. The belief that all members of each race possess characteristics or abilities specific to that race, especially so as to distinguish it as inferior or superior to another race or races.
- Discrimination or prejudice based on race.
What is pigmentocracy? Intra-racial Stratification.
“The word pigmentocracy has come into common usage to refer to the distinctions that people of African descent in America make in their various skin tones, which range from the darkest shades of black to paleness that approximates whiteness” (Harris, 2010).
What is the relationship between colorism and racism?
The consensus is usually that colorism is a product or symptom of racism.
Origins and Roots of Colorism
Social hierarchies based on nationality, religion, class, gender, education, race, and color have existed for millenniums.
The one-drop rule
Jordan Winthrop (2014) asserts that concerning the United States, “the social standard for individuals is superficially simple: If a person of whatever age or gender is believed to have any African ancestry, that person is regarded as black” (Winthrop, 2014). Ultimately, “Blacks were equal in their uniformly unequal status” (Weaver, 2012, p. 164).
South Africa pencil-test
The pencil-test is a means of determining whether a person has Afro-textured hair. This test was used to determine racial identity in South Africa during the apartheid era, distinguishing whites from coloureds and blacks. A pencil is pushed through a person’s hair and how easily it comes out determines whether a person has “passed” or “failed” the test.
“The Doll Tests”
In the 1940s, psychologists Kenneth and Mamie Clark designed and conducted a series of experiments to study the psychological effects of segregation on African-American children. The test used four dolls, identical except for color, to test children’s racial perceptions. The subjects, children between the ages of three to seven, were asked to identify both the race of the dolls and which color doll they prefer. A majority of the children preferred the white doll and assigned positive characteristics to it. The Clarks concluded that “prejudice, discrimination, and segregation” created a feeling of inferiority among African-American children and damaged their self-esteem” (Weatherford, 2017).
Skin Whitening (Skin Bleaching)
Society shapes our perceptions of race and skin tone by constantly bombarding us with strict, Eurocentric ideas. The mainstream definition of beauty “consistently includes immutable qualities found far less frequently among populations of African descent” (Sekayi, 469). Skin bleaching is a response to hundreds of years of colonial indoctrination that has been passed down through socialization. “Bleaching syndrome is not a superficial fashion, it’s a strategy of assimilating a superior identity that reflects a deep-set belief that fair skin is better, more powerful, prettier” (Mishra and Hall, 2017). Skin bleaching is not limited to the United States or African countries; skin bleaching is also common in the rest of Asia and in India.
Colorism: Light Skin v. Dark Skin
Colorism is a significant concept to study because of its ability to stratify within marginalized communities and further, its capacity to register negative perceptions and evaluations of African Americans from an institutional level and from the white community. “Dark-skinned Blacks in the United States have lower socioeconomic status, more punitive relationships with the criminal justice system, diminished prestige, and less likelihood of holding elective office compared with their lighter counterparts” (Hochschild and Weaver, 2007).
“Skin color is associated with individuals’ preferences as well as their outcomes…. Relative to their lighter-skinned counterparts, dark-skinned blacks have lower levels of education, income and job status. They are less likely to own their own homes or to marry; and dark skinned blacks’ prison sentences are longer” (Hochschild and Weaver, 2007).
Complexion and appearance are also related to how voters evaluate candidates and who wins elections. Exploring grounded theory approaches, the investigations of Terkildsen, 1997; Weaver 2012; Hochschild et. al., 2007; and Hunter, 2002 examine white voters perceptions of skin color influencing black electoral candidate success and the implications of colorism on societal achievement, aiming specifically to understand the socio cultural factors that construct and advance colorist socialization. Research indicates that there is a direct correlation between skin color and phenotypically black facial features and electoral success and white voters candidate evaluation; black electoral candidates and individuals with darker skin complexions will be evaluated much more negatively.
Poem created by World Drama Class
When they ask if my skin burns on a sunny may
If I ever had a day.
Where.
I think about is how much I lay there?
In the warm sun
When they touched my hair
Why didn’t I say
Hey
The photos of the models on the magazine don’t seem right
I look at their eyes and they seem too wide
Skin with a glow that shines too bright
The contours of their jaws do not seem to match mine
I see them on tv speaking for me but they do not look like me
I say no they say yes,
They say “I’m proud”, I say “I’m disappointed”
Hey!
Shade in my melanin
not pure enough so they had me anointed
with religious beliefs they thought holy
All the while my surface area being hairy
Follicle roots so engraved they could barely take,
All the ethnicity, my mother gave
Heavy curls swaying in their light strands
Hey!!
As if their sensitivity is more important than my amenity
The harsh lines on my palms tell more than ever about my society
But they are still so negligent and defensive about my workings
The tea sis,
Is that colonialism has us trapped in vulgarity
When they perceive us, all they see is cavities
But In the earth’s surface,
We are so dense with history
-defeating-
Did you see it, when they wished upon me a lighter skin
me rising
against them with full force dark tint
Obi-Wan Kenobi didn’t even flinch because
Girl
I’m the force to be reckoned with
But even he still can’t understand my full blown accent
The game is played in the arena
We didn’t make the rules
But we play by them, inventing more hate tools
They turned us on eachother
saying “Too light skinned! Too dark skinned!”
How are we supposed to be, we can’t always fight
Sometimes, we protect our people;
Other times, we resent our people
Eyeing each other’s melanin
Instead of what matters:
Individuality
My friend sees his privilege, he tells me his story:
“A man and I interviewed in an office
They see me light
They see him dark
I walk away with a job
He walks away with ”
Hey!!!
shades of classes in a system that bleeds
filled with everything but
me
perceived to be (something) but just not everything
long big textured nose stretching
The change is in the difference between A and B
suggesting we not cross the line
of conservation and equilibrium
Don’t destroy their power and progression
With stories of brutality and oppression
they say that I’m lying about how comfortable I am dear
I say
let’s not forget the past because I am just starting to realize your fears
Works Cited
Harris, Trudier. “Pigmentocracy.” Freedom’s Story, TeacherServe©. National Humanities Center.
http://nationalhumanitiescenter.org/tserve/freedom/1865-1917/essays/pigmentocracy.htm
Hochschild, Jennifer L., & Weaver, Vesla. (2007). The Skin Color Paradox and the American Racial Order. Social Forces, 86(2), 643-670.
Hunter, M. (2002). “If You’re Light You’re Alright”: Light Skin Color as Social Capital for Women of Color. Gender and Society, 16(2), 175-193.
Jordan, W. (2014). Historical Origins of the One-Drop Racial Rule in the United States. Mishra, N. and Hall, R. (2017). Bleached girls: India and its love for light girls. The Conversation.
Terkildsen, N. (1993). When White Voters Evaluate Black Candidates: The Processing Implications of Candidate Skin Color, Prejudice, and Self-Monitoring. American Journal of Political Science, 37(4), 1032-1053.
The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, Fifth Edition copyright ©2018 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. All rights reserved.
Weaver, V. (2012). The Electoral Consequences of Skin Color: The “Hidden” Side of Race in Politics. Political Behavior, 34(1), 159-192.
Weatherford, C. (2017). Hearts and Minds: How the Doll Test Opened Schoolhouse Doors.
Southern Quarterly, 54(3/4), 164-181.
https://www.huffingtonpost.com/2013/06/24/dark-girls-documentary-colorism_n_3478913.html
Dark Girls Huffington Post
https://www.huffingtonpost.com/2015/01/15/light-girls-documentary_n_6474292.html
