Colorism: A Darker Side of the Conversation

I was in elementary school, around the fourth or fifth grade, when I first remember being “roasted” over my skin. “You over burnt brownie!” boy yelled at me. By that time, I had seen and understood that most rappers prefered lighter skin women; I heard them sing about it all the time and was an avid watcher of 106 & Park. But never did I think my own skin color would be used against me. It was the first time but I knew, even then, it would certainly not be the last.

Growing up, I was called every name in the book. Due partially to the fact that not only did I have the audacity to be a black girl and excited to learn, I was also of a dark complexion. I have heard it all about my skin color but I’m far from the only one to endure this type of     abuse. A quick look at Twitter would find people calling dark skinned black girls a slew of insults from roach to monkey, assessing them as ugly, worthless and ultimately subhuman. Aimed to be funny to a certain audience, aka ‘Savage’ twitter, the people they target are forced to endure the abuse. This is a manifestation of colorism.

Colorism is a form of discrimination based on skin tone and shade and it is steeped in structural racism. This form of subjugation in the black community can be traced to slavery where those of light skin complexions (the product of rape and abuse) received better treatment. Post abolition, it manifested as the paper bag test where if the person was lighter than a paper bag, they were more likely to get jobs and advancement opportunities. Even now, the people who receive the brunt of this discrimination are of a darker skin tone.

Curistan, an African American student, began noticing colorism around age 14. “I was going to a predominantly black school where everyone was mostly brown and dark. The light skinned kids caught jokes but they were still loved and accepted. When I went to high school, it was mostly black kids but they were either mixed or light. All the people my complexion or darker were extremely rare but we were all really attractive which is why I heard a lot of ‘I usually don’t date girls as dark as you’ or ‘You’re not that dark’.”

“One time, in particular, a guy told me that I wasn’t that dark and if I wasn’t, he wouldn’t have talked to me,” she recalled. “A few guys have told me that they don’t usually date girls as dark as me. It made me feel inferior but it used to make me feel like the exception and eventually, I was ashamed to feel that way because I realized there’s nothing wrong with being dark.”

Despite the fact that a high volume of darker skinned people can attest to the effects of colorism in their lives, when colorism does come up, it is dismissed as just another divisive issue. Some people (particularly people of lighter complexions) believe that colorism is just another complaint, one preventing the community from reaching the precipice of equality we struggle for. Despite this pushback, colorism is very, very real. It affects various facets of daily life for dark skin black people. For instance, dark skin blacks are theorized to earn less than their lighter skin workers and in schools, darker skin black girls are more likely to be suspended than their lighter skin counterparts.

The black community, however, is not the only ethnicity to experience this form of discrimination. People of South Asian and Hispanic descent also experience colorism in their daily lives.

Athina is a Mexican American senior of a deeper skin tone. She spoke openly of her experiences as a darker skinned Latina. “I guess, coming from a Hispanic background and from a place where color is still important, in the Mexican culture, for me, it’s like a hierarchy. For example, you can be broke as hell but if you have lighter eyes or if you have more European features, you’re valued more than someone who looks more indigenous, even if [the indigenous person] is smarter. I remember one time, my grandmother said to my mom that ‘Oh, she’s so pretty because she’s so white’ as compared to another cousin who was born darker.”

Although there is no visible end in sight to colorism or racism for that matter, some people have ideas on how to fix it. Curistan is one. “There has to be a redefining of beauty standards. I would like to see a person’s shade not be a big deal,” said Curistan. I agree. But we have such a long way to go.  

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