In honor of Black History Month, we need to address the damage that’s being done within our community. How many times have you heard someone say, “Black is beautiful”? Do you recall Procter & Gamble’s media campaign with the slogan “My Black is beautiful”?
As I’ve shared, I’m a mother of two little girls. One, of a darker hue, while her younger sibling is not. From the day they came into the world, I was fully aware of their burden for being Black and having to deal with the colorism within our community.
The Merriam-Webster Dictionary defines colorism as “a prejudice or discrimination especially within a racial or ethnic group favoring people with lighter skin over those with darker skin.” In short, colorism damages people with darker skin, while those of a lighter complexion are privileged.
Light skin versus dark skin is a debate that goes back as far as slavery. When the slaves were sold on the auction block, the masters divided them into two groups: field slaves were of darker pigmentation and banished to work the fields, whereas slaves with lighter skin color did domestic chores within the slaveowners’ houses. Please understand that I’m not minimizing slavery and its brutality. However, there were some treatment differences.
Colorism created a silent war equipped with deep-rooted hate and jealousy among the slaves. Unfortunately, the resentment didn’t end with slavery, and the generational trauma still exists. We all are too familiar with the brown paper bag test to determine if a Black person was light enough to be in certain social circles.
How many times have you said, “Light-skin people are stuck up,” or “She pretty to be dark.” Although you may have said these statements jokingly, it’s serious because they’ve divided the Black community. Because a woman with fair skin is associated with beauty, they have a 15 percent greater chance of marrying, according to a study titled “Shedding ‘light’ on marriage: The influence of skin shade on marriage for Black female” published by Duke University.
Despite the accomplishments Black women have made, beauty continues to be equated to lighter skin. Hence, skin bleaching became popular. Bleaching is a cosmetic process of using substances, treatments or mixtures to alter one’s skin color physically.
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