Tuesday, April 17, 2012

Dineen Johnson Light Skin vs. Dark Skin in the Black Community

                 
Racism is a belief or principle that inherits differences that exist amongst human races.  These differences are determined by cultural or individual achievement.  African American people are beginning to separate themselves as two different races dark skin and light skin blacks.
  Beginning with slavery it is a fact that lighter skinned African Americans were house slaves and the darker skinned African Americans were field slaves being left outside in unbearable heat left to do the hard work.  In the media today you can see that light skinned black people are favored over dark skinned black people. It is said that Beyoncé and Halle Berry both fair skinned women are two of the best looking women on T.V.  Lil Kim and Trina both who were brown skin when they first entered the music industry are now light skin, due to bleaching their skin.  There are a few dark skin people in the industry such as Lil Wayne who do not like dark skin women and has even written lyrics bashing dark skin women.
                “Beautiful black women bet that bitch look better red.”
Not only is Lil Wayne dark skin but so his daughter.  How can you hate your own complexion?
                From my own personal experience I do believe that the black community believes that light skin blacks are more attractive than dark skin blacks.  A lot of males I know believe that to have a lighter skinned female on their arm is like having a trophy.  They say that they get more respect from their friends and there are viewed as “the boul with the bad ass red bone.” As if it is an accomplishment. The same with females, they believe that having children with a dark skinned male would give them dark skinned children, something looked down on.  They think that dark skin children are ugly.  One of my female friends believes that:
                “If it aint light it aint right.”

so sad and so true.


A black man AND ONCE UPON A TIME a well known rapper Young Berg speaking on his dislike of "Black Butts"

2 comments:

  1. I definitely agree with the content of this post. Unfortunately, it is common that the black community separates ourselves through using the "light skin, dark skin" complex. Many times you'll see people put within their twitter bio "#TeamLightskin" or "#TeamBrownskin" only to remind us that we as a community are only setting ourselves back to slavery dates, and times of racism in which the pigment/complexion of your skin did once determine your level and household existence as a slave. It's unfortunate because there has been a stigma attached to being of a darker complexion. It's gotten so bad that it's to the point where people rule out and disregard dating people of a darker skin tone.

    -Tai Virgil

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  2. Mirra Watkins

    This was an amazing post. It is sad that racism between the Africa-American community still exists. It is even sadder that dark-skinned individuals, more specifically women, are stigmatized. I could empathize with many of the women in your first video, "Dark Girls," for I grew up with the knowledge that "if it ain't light, it ain't right." My own father was deemed the darkest of his four siblings. Throughout his development years and adolescence, he was teased by his brothers and sisters for being the darkest. My father has often told me his journey through life hating his complexion. I come from a diverse household. As you probably figured, my father is African American. But my mother is Filipino. I will not retell everything that I heard because of or while growing up in a mixed household, but the things I did hear cause me to have this mentality for awhile that light-skinned = beautiful. I wish this wasn't the attitude anymore. More importantly, I can see the harm this mentality can have on children like myself and my father during our adolescence, and the young girl in the video who chose the image of a dark skinned girl as being ugly and dumb. I do not want my child or any child actually going through life hating his/her complexion simply because there is a ridiculous and cruel stigma to it.

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