Colorism On and Off the Screen
History is the study of past events. Usually these events are what we use to create a strong foundation for what we are trying to build. The foundation will often hold certain values and ideas that were originally brought into the picture. A lot of those ideas and values are not always good but they have been used in the foundation for so long , that at times the system as a whole may not know how to exist without them . They become a vital piece of the system, so the idea of them not existing is scary , because of how big of a role they’ve played in the upbringing of the system. For years white people were and still are seen as being the ideal race. They’ve had first hand picks at schools, music, land and so much more. Brown people were always seen as being “bad” and inferior to them . We were told this by our masters during slavery and once slavery was revoked, they found other ways to enslave our minds and continue that type of thinking by using other forms of power. We were deprived of education, public transportation, and even water fountains. It had got so bad that we had began to believe what was being fed to our heads. We believed that we weren’t good enough or that we didn’t deserve to be in America. Some of us tried so hard to be accepted by whites that those of us who could pass for white would . Why? Because it gave them privileges they never even knew existed. Some called it smart, but others called it selling out. Even today we as a race uplift those who have lighter skin and tear down those of a darker tone. Sound familiar?
Colorism is a certain prejudice or discrimination against individuals with a darker skin tone, typically among people of the same ethnic or racial group. This is something that has been going on in society for quite some time now. We as a society, just choose when to make it an issue, when in reality, it has been a issue since it first evolved. Even in slavery, slaves that came across as having lighter skin were appointed to house duties and were labeled as “house slaves”. Shortly after slavery there was a new way of separating those of lighter skin from people of darker skin. They would do this thing called the “brown paper bag test”. What it did was determine whether or not an individual could have certain privileges; only those with a skin color that matched or was lighter than the brown paper bag were allowed privileges.
The same acts of oppression that were placed on us, we are now placing on each other. “Grown-ish” is a spin off from a popular show know as “Black-ish”. It primarily focuses on the day to day life of a successful black family, which is rare to see on televison now of days. However, one of the main characters (Zoe) who is played by Yara Shahidi has received a lot of backlash , because she is being labeled for having lighter skin and the cast lacks people of darker color. A woman said she will refuse to watch the show because of the lack of representation of darker cast members. Shahidi claps back though!
“It is a-okay to not watch the show… but on the basis of my ‘racial ambiguity’? that neglects the fact that I am perceived as a young black girl in most any space I occupy” she wrote on Twitter at the time. “Now, we can have a separate conversation on the ever present colorism and the monolithic black aesthetic on TV of 3c hair and lighter skin…”
Shahidi had some very strong feelings about the comment and made sure she was heard. As a society, we tend to think that by demanding the representation of darker actresses/actors on the screen is an act kindness, because we’re supporting our people. But, what we fail to remember is that black people come in many different shades, so how can we really be uplifting out culture if we continue to tear down parts of it. Yes they could have added a dew more cast members who were of darker skin tone, but that doesn’t mean we don’t congratulate our people who did get casted. If we as a whole want to help change the system, we have to start uplifting each other. There is no team dark skin or team light skin when it comes to racial injusitces. They dont see us as being separate , they just see us as being black and dangerous. So why is it that we as a African American society keep placing ourselves into these subcategories. Team light skin isn’t going to save you from police brutality or racial profiling. If there is going to be a change it has to start with us.
