DARK SKIN PAIN, LIGHT SKIN PRIVILEGE.
SUZANNE FORBES-VIERLING, PHD. RETIRED, VICE PRESIDENT OF ACADEMIC AFFAIRS AND PROFESSOR AT ARGOSY UNIVERSITY.
Dark Skin Pain, Light Skin Privilege: Nine Solutions to Dismantling Colorism in the Black Community. Colorism finds its origins in slavery. During this time, we found that white slave owners preferred Africans who possessed European features. Light-skinned slaves were oftentimes products of rape between the European slave-owner and African women. The lighter skinned black slave worked closer and was sometimes related to the slave-owners family. They also received higher valued work assignments. This color based acceptance / rejection continuum is still internalized by African Americans over 300 years later. In turn, we use the same color value-based system to discriminate against each other. Research on colorism indicates that racism exists and delineates the benefits of light skin privilege, even to the point of equating it to the power of male patriarchy and white feminism. It can’t be denied that colorism gives some black people advantage. Colorism hangs over our heads divisively and impacts our lives. We end up pitted against each other and the pain seems to be never ending. Solutions to colorism have been focused on the victims of colorism and not to those who maintain it. We are accustomed to
seeing dark skinned and light skin women process their emotional pain related to their “status” inside the black community. We hear about who’s been given privilege and who didn’t and why. We silence those who we feel have privilege for the sake of raising the voices of those who suffer from blatant rejection. We are accustomed to accurately stating “It’s the fault of white supremacy.” Indeed – white supremacy created colorism – a form of intraethnic, intraracial discrimination practiced globally. However, pleading with and waiting for racist systemic forces to take the lead in extinguishing this product of colonialism is not going to happen anytime soon. Many are working on it but don’t wait on it. Rarely is there discussion on those inside our community who perpetrate colorism. The power behind maintaining colorism lies in all of us who participate in applying hierarchical value on someone’s physical features. Dismantling colorism lies in going after those who perpetuate it. Here are 9 solutions that we can work on today to dismantle colorism. 1. SELF. Do you show a preference? Do you assign high value to lighter skinned
88 // BIOLOGICAL PIGMENT BIAS: PERSPECTIVES ON COLOURISM
