Light-skinned privilege: what people mean
I know too many people who keep quiet about politics and social justice because they’re afraid they’ll say the wrong thing and offend somebody. I bet you know people like that too.
And I’m not an expert on this stuff. I don’t always have the right language to dive into the tough topics that dominate my news feed. But I do have Google, and the determination to find people with reliable and diverse voices who are already writing about issues that the rest of us need to understand so badly.
White supremacy is pervasive. Colorism, or the systemic preference for individuals of color who have a lighter skin tone, is as old as slavery itself and was used to evaluate black people during slavery. It is a stalwart component of structural racism that has permeated the black community ever since the divisive concept of the house slave and the field slave. We are socialized to believe that “light is alright.”
Colorism has driven black American beauty standards for centuries (for example, the “brown paper bag test”) and has also been found to be a determinant of life chances in larger society: individuals with lighter skin tones have a higher socioeconomic status, have shorter prison sentences, are less likely to be punished in school. Colorism has real consequences. Thus, we must address how colorism works in our every day lives, our activism, and our advocacy work.
Go read it all: Why We Need to Talk about Light-Skinned Privilege by Jordie Davies
There are structures within the Black community itself that have historically worked to benefit people of a lighter hue. Spike Lee’s “School Daze” movie touched on it. Some of America’s oldest historic Black organizations participated in colorism. Historically Black sororities and fraternities had paper bag tests. Yes, THEY DID! If you were too dark skin, your application to join could have been denied simply because of your hue. The NAACP was a very colorist organization. The NAACP wanted only light skin receptionists. But please remember, the NAACP was not the only one.
Go read it all: We are all Black but you as a light skin person are benefiting from light skin privilege by Bougie Black Girl
Society at large places a very high value on the perceived proximity to whiteness. I knew this as soon as I began to understand what my race signified to other (read: white) people. I was 8. 8-year-old me thought it would be easier for people to see who I really was if I didn’t overwhelm them with my blackness. Light skin to me meant, “Hey, I’m sorta like you! It’s not a big deal! Just a little extra browness!” I knew I was black, and I knew it didn’t (or shouldn’t) matter. But it did and it does. That’s the cold-hard reality of it. And pretending otherwise not other neglects the problem, it fails to celebrate the positives of why it does matter.
Go read it all: Denying your light skin privilege is harmful to the Black community as a whole by Erin White
Light-skinned privilege is often spoken about as though it is the same as white privilege. In fact some people even say that people of colour with lighter skin have white privilege. There are a lot reasons why I feel it’s definitely not ok to compare light-skinned privilege to white privilege. I personally experience this as incredibly offensive.
For one thing, as I highlighted above, light-skinned privilege is not fixed and straightforward for many people. It is also extremely complicated to discuss the racial privileges of a group when that group also faces racial oppression. Unlike mixed race people, white people don’t face any racial disadvantages. Light-skinned privilege, even for people like myself who know exactly where they fall on the skin tone spectrum, is not constant. People with lighter skin can and do still face racism. The mistake that many people make when they talk about light-skinned privilege, is to think that it is a continuous buffer against racism and racial stereotypes, and that it is a constant source of advantage for light-skinned people. It isn’t. Whereas white privilege will pretty much always racially benefit a white person, light-skinned privilege will not always shield mixed race people from discrimination. Light-skinned privilege also often comes with the expense of denying your connection to blackness and therefore the compromising of the self in psychologically harmful ways. It does not support a mixed race person in having a sense of a whole identity and this is important for mental health and well-being.
Another thing that complicates the matter of light-skinned privilege is that race is not communicated through skin tone alone. People pick up on race through hair, facial features, voice, mannerisms and people’s personal choices. For people who have light skin, a broad nose and an afro they may well be more likely to encounter racism and a lack of privilege than someone with light-skin, a straight nose and loosely curly hair. This obviously doesn’t change the fact that light-skinned privilege is real, but again it highlights that it’s complicated in a way that white privilege isn’t.
Go read it all: Light-skinned privilege: It’s real AND it’s complicated by A Mixed Race Feminist
We live in a country and world that perceives dark skin as evil, threatening, foreign, exotified, and objectified.
Because my light skin is associated with whiteness, I am perceived as less threatening, more beautiful or attractive, more educated. I did not and do not need the same warnings as my brothers.
Go read it all: Colorism in the Black Community: Perspectives on Light-Skinned Privilege by Michal ‘MJ’ Jones
So go read all of these! And let me know what has helped you understand light-skinned privilege (links and powerful quotes also appreciated).
For more roundups, check out my main list of stories. And if you found this helpful, I’d appreciate a clap!
