The Curse of Colorism

Seniors in Ms. Moreno’s 12th grade English class read The Autobiography of Malcolm X: As Told to Alex Haley and then created their own research projects about topics in racism that still affect America today in the first semester. The following is an excerpt from a much longer and detailed paper that Jeffrey wrote for that assignment.

Although America may or may not be taking steps towards making the country a true place of equality of all races alike and adverse, the denial of the fact that anti-blackness is still present, is delusional, especially if you believe it doesn't exist within other communities of color. Anti-blackness is not a new issue for it has been around for quite a while, however people probably wouldn't expect to see it in communities of other minorities. Minorities that are also put through some of the same hardships as Black Americans are not completely void of having biases and sometimes even showing racism. Anti-blackness shows itself in multiple ways in communities of color. One such way is colorism, which has the effect of reversing progress, and leads to communities having bias and distrust of each other, rather than being united. Although this idea was mentioned and explored a while ago by significant figures like Malcolm X, it is still prevalent in today's modern society. 

Colorism is a notion that leads people to prefer people over others simply due to the tone of their skin. This is one of the many ways in which anti-blackness lingers in modern-day POC communities and people may experience it in their normal lives. Even people from the 1930s would have mentions of this like Malcolm X.  They may be the same race, but that does not deter them from treating each other differently for being lighter or darker. Whether it's someone's own family or people elsewhere, you can find bits of colorism in simple things. In today's modern society, whether it is on purpose or not, lighter-skinned people seem to get more of the spotlight compared to people with a darker tone. In an article by Forbes, author Janice Asare writes, "Simple research will show that lighter skinned people are promoted and highlighted more." Asare makes the point that it is kind of easy to notice the difference in the amount of publicity between lighter-skinned people and darker-skinned people. This goes to show that the people that are marketing, seem to think that the public prefers a lighter-skinned person over a darker one and that colorism is prevalent in this society. A bit later on in the same article, it highlights a comedian's joke about Latino families and a "rule" that the parents place, the article says that there is some truth in the joke that Latino parents have a rule to not marry a black person, Latino parents also say to not stay in the sun for too long so that they don't get darker. This joke is a prime example of how even though Latinos and African Americans are both minorities and subjected to some of the same prejudices, they are not clear from having their own biases against each other. Colorism is shown to be in communities of color from this joke as other people who hear this joke concur with the fact that some truth lies in the joke. Malcolm X also talks about this himself, in The Autobiography of Malcolm X As Told To Alex Haley, he talks about his own family and show of colorism. Malcolm was treated differently by his mother and father for his lighter skin tone, he recalls, "I feel definitely that just as my father favored me for being lighter, my mother gave me more hell for the same reason"(pg. 8). Malcolm talks about his father having a softer side for him due his lighter skin tone, yet his father is a man that seems to be prideful of his dark skin, seeing as he would push for other African Americans to move back to Africa, showing his fathers engraved idea that Malcolm deserves special treatment due to his lighter tone of skin, and vice versa with Malcolm's mother. His mother would treat him worse than his siblings who were darker than him, Malcolm's parents' treatment of him shows that colorism is not only present in families, but also from back then, it creates a link from the 1930s to the modern-day. Through the showcasing of the examples, it is obvious to see that colorism was prevalent in the past as well as in the modern day - not only in general, but as well as in communities of color and to people by their own families.

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Throughout this research and examples, it is clear to see that anti-blackness is commonplace in communities of color. It is shown with colorism: people's preferences over one another due to the tone of their skin, with the differences that a lighter-skinned and a darker-skinned person face. Unfortunately, the bias shows up in all aspects of life. Just because someone is a part of your  own family doesn’t mean that they will be rid of having biases against someone based on the shade of color in their skin. Just because someone is also a minority does not exclude them from having anti-black sentiments. Simply because someone isn't aware of their prejudices does not mean that it is less offensive. Anti-blackness is still very prevalent in today's society, it has become such an ingrained and innate idea that people may not be aware of it at all. Colorism affects us all as we are both victims of and perpetrators of the harmful bias. As long as there has been humanity, there has been judgment and discrimination, and we need to be honest and have open conversations about the prevalence of this bias in society and how we can break the cycle of harmful colorism stereotypes in our community.