colorism the
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The Collective Voice © 2018
colorism the
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inside gori | samar saif black panther| breana parks mIdnIght | kyra green
gosamrair saif
no g. l that I am in u f r a k e n p a p h t a . ps re ld be tic. Exotic headache that kee sexualized, I shou o x E . ic t o Ex d. A an be ainful thu when it c d e ir s e d ent. A sharp p the ntity only n enticem tractive for being e a r id o i s t e is D d My a. or at A jiha uropean lled Osam or a commodity. E a t c s r o e g lm n a and t lo to pass as a terroris of apples h d m g e a u ir I o t r n e e e r Eith light they a for being ke when a e t iv t le c p a o r t me e t A pproach market p a e t h e t e t . r t a e s it it e s al fru oppo on th the tropic iliar men y are you?� e m k a li f n d e U k ? Pic enian hnicit ian? Arm “What et s , r n e P io t ? s n e r oranges. u arred dle Easte e same q t hairy sc h f id t o s M d y n u a o m y s y e . Are ched ry wa gry ey irl he tou cing hun me of eve g r g e ie it in p h d h w in it t to n w e . Taugh rm of rem e only no o h m f t e s d a e h t h n is in w r Kno kaged as nou ery is pac e polished ivory. oil that h t s t a e fl h t t a y b h T lik iar , unfamil s not look body doe to different, ethnic pieces in skin. igestible d o t Distorted anger in my own in n str ken dow feel like a again will I be bro ver Now I ne w. to swallo But hard
Black Panther Sparks Colorism Conversation I
by Breana Parks
watched a sex positive, activist, and overall great YouTuber, Shannon Boodram’s recent video on Black Panther (2018). The highly anticipated movie, about T’Challa, the Black Panther and the livelihood of Wakanda, the technologically advanced civilization in Africa hidden away from the outside world. Wakanda is known for its raw material known as vibranium, the material Captain America’s shield is made of. She recalls a conversation she had with a person who asked, “Don’t you find its weird ‘we’ weren’t represented in the film” to which Shannon responds, “Us?” The girl goes on to say “Yeah, us lighter skinned people”. This comment struck me, when watching the film a few days before I never noticed this—I just saw it as a cast of beautiful Black people being represented as leads in a usually white mainstream marvel universe. So often in the media, we see lighter skinned black people in leading roles or praised for their beauty, while the darker skinned black women aren’t. That idea is broken in Black Panther, which makes it even more groundbreaking in that it made darker skinned black people, especially the women look beautiful and badass. In addition, this may be my own rhetorical question for Shannon’s friend: why do we need to have the lighter skinned black people tell this story when not all black people are all the same shade? This is something to think about as not all of the adversity in this country is even aimed at lighter skinned black people. We are trained from how we are brought up in this society to look down on darker skinned people. As a half Black half Filipino person, I have been told by my elders “I got too dark and I need to stay out the sun”— colorism is also seen in the Asian community. But I digress, all these ideals for beauty and how fair our skin is supposed to be in order to look beautiful was created through colonialist ideas. By making more people represented in films like Black Panther who aren’t normally represented in leading roles tells society they are beautiful and need more chances for lead roles but more importantly we need to change the way we represent beauty in a generation that is becoming more multiethnic than ever before.
mIdnIght kyra green my mommy has skin like midnight like schoolyard bullies jesting like crying on the walk home like where is my beauty? my brightness? my mommy has skin like midnight like deep sky full of burning mass and twinkly dreams like destined for highlighter pinkorangeyellow on her lips and hips like the softest arms to ever hold me, softest lips to ever kiss me her mommy said “you so pretty i love your skin and my favorite time of life is deep midnight�
the collective voice co-facilitators
courtney loi haneen mohamed
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colorism the
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