Colorism & Racism
My First Experience with Colorism
There is a statement by renowned rapper Kendrick Lamar that details” Colorism is not a good thing, especially when your black". In 1928 an examination called the paper bag test was presented. A test which contrasted the tone of an African American with a brown paper bag. On the off chance that you were lighter than the paper bag or near it you were granted admittance to the finest establishments, educational and job opportunities, entrance into high society programs and fraternities.
This form of methodology was utilized during slavery. An old, archived piece entitled The Willie Lynch letter: The Making of a Slave points out colorism as a form of subjugation to control the mentality of the slave by imposing one skin tone superior, and better than the other. In the piece it states.
“The Black slave receiving this indoctrination shall carry on and will become self-refueling and self-generating for hundreds of years, maybe thousands. You must use the dark skin slaves vs. the light skin slaves, and the light skin slaves vs. the dark skin slaves”.
This brain washing methodology has lingered throughout generations and has also become a form of social normalcy we see in television, advertising, movie and music industries. This belief has carried on within the African American community and culture for over centuries and still exist today. I recently had the opportunity to attend an online group called “Clubhouse”. Clubhouse is an online app that allows individuals to create support groups and safe spaces for individuals to tackle taboo topics that society are intimidated to touch.
I logged on and listened to individuals talk about how one skin color was more abusive than the other. Listening to the conversations get deeper as people of their own race began to demonize their own race by calling darker skin people bullies, evil, darkies, and Blackey. A survey was later taking in which the tally number total out darker complected people were considered the aggressor against lighter toned individuals. Listening to these horrific stories from black people about black people caused me to have flashbacks of my own personal experiences as a child. At an early age my first encounter was not with experiencing racism but colorism. I informed my mother who is a brown skin woman that I experienced colorism by my own people before I experienced racisms by other races.
In Compton California 1995 I attended a local catholic school in the city of Compton. Being one of the darker skin black girls I first experienced colorism by my teachers. Hispanic and lighter skin children were greeted with embraces and social praises while darker skin- children were singled out called stupid, publicly embarrassed in front of the class and ridiculed. I struggled for a minute and thought perhaps it was just my imagination playing strange tricks on me until one day my little sister who is a brown skin girl entered my science class and the teacher begin to chase her around the classroom calling her pretty little girl. As I approached to participate, I was told to sit down.
I eventually let it go asked my mother to place me into public school. I got older I noticed colorism more in my junior year of high school when two black girls were going up for a competition the majority of male class voted for bi-racial light skin girl to be our class spokesperson over a darker skin black girl who was two times smarter and more knowledgably about the topic of the subject. My encounter with racism did not occur until I began to work in various companies where I was the only black person and darker skin tone at that. I remember being called into HR when a check went missing and being asked if I utilized the companies check book for personal use.
So, when asked about my first experience with race and color, I always state this is a touchy subject. We still struggle with generational PTSD and psychological scaring revolved around color and race. Rapper WALE composed a piece called Shades in which he details the upbringing of feeling like an outsider for being a dark skin black kid. In this masterpiece he highlights that the lighter the skin the better the life would be. The song shades embrace the various tones of colors that African Americans have stating no matter how dark or light, black is beautiful.
The question we all must ask is how do we break the cycle? I have seen the wheels of change are turning slowly but nerveless turning. In 2016 Deshauna Barber was crowned Miss USA. In a previous interview she spoke of the hardships of experiencing both racism with individuals creating a poop emoji to represent her skin color and colorism from her own people. Ms. Barber continued to preserve even though she was a victim to this form of prejudice on both sides of the table.
If you see someone being biased toward one individual over another because of the shade of their skin, please do the following:
#1. Speak Up: Change can only occur if you are willing to give a voice and address it. If you see someone singling a person out because of their skin color address it, bring it to the full front.
#2. Report it: If Colorism or Racism is happening on a job and it is visible or demonstrates a form of biases within the workplace contact your HR Department, address the concerns.
#3. Show Love: Show love toward a person who is a shade different feed their spirit with positive energy let them know they are special and beautiful.
In closing we must remember we are all one people, one race which is the human race. We must silence colorism, racism and destroy it from spreading into the minds of the next generation. When you come across it acknowledge it and confront it.
In closing remember we come from the same God, and he created many different shades of us. How boring could a world be if we were only one shade of color.
Copyright © 2021 Meshell Baylor All Rights Reserved.
