Shade-ism: On the black side
By Charisse N. Montgomery
In general, I couldn’t care less about the cultural commentary of Lil Wayne, but an article I read recently hit a sore spot. A fan is urging a boycott of Weezy because of his apparent dislike of dark-skinned black women. For those of us who have heard his lyrics, this comes as no surprise. I’m just kind of shocked that this type of color prejudice among black people still exists.
Before I continue, I would like to explain that preference and prejudice can run really closely together, especially when it comes to aesthetics. While we may prefer a person of a certain height, weight range or skin color, this becomes a prejudice when those who fall outside these strictly defined ranges are rejected.
As a middle-of-the-road brown skinned girl, I’m sure my experiences of color prejudices are different from those of very dark or light skinned women, and I’ve heard about the viciousness on both ends of the spectrum. But in 2011, more than a decade into the 21st century, I had an expectation that these color prejudices had been left behind. How is it that 18th-century race politics, mostly instituted by the divide-and-conquer colonial and slave owning traditions, is still so deeply rooted in our psyches?
In the case of general race prejudice, the consensus is that we can educate people out of their racism; but can we educate them out of “shade-ism”? Will exposure to beautiful people of all shades make a “shade-ist” see beauty in all shades, or will they continue to fall victim to archaic and racist ideas about beauty?
For those on all points of the spectrum, what are your experiences with “shade-ism”? Is it still alive and well?
4 Comments
Reader Comments (4)
Its most definitely alive and well. Especially in New Orleans, home of the "Brown Paper Bag" test. I must admit I have a color problem that I've dealt with since I was little. I only date Light skin men, & will reject a dark skin man in a heart beat just b/c he is too dark. I have been trying to come out of this hatred for my own kind, but its a hard cycle to break. I say hatred b/c in reality & actuality that's what it is. When your taught white is right or light is better it's difficult to make changes in yourself that goes against everything you've been brought up to believe.
I see it all the time not just from myself but family, friends, strangers. Its something that needs to be corrected from within. The cycle needs to be broken. I've gotten better but not even close to where I need to be.
I consider myself in the lighter shade of the spectrum and many of my family members are also. Unfortunately I grew up with colorism, later to realize how ignorant and sad it really is. I have dated and been attracted to men of all shades and prefer a dark skin man but I personally would want someone who treats me well in addition to attraction. I know people who will only date dark skin men or light skin men. It's sad it still exists and that some could be missing out on true love or a good relationship because of skin color. I am not a Weezy fan but he just perpetuatiin what many artist have done in their videos and lives. Racism and colorism unfortunately is something we will have to continue to deal and still lurks in the psyche with everything else harmful to black America. When will we learn to love ourseleves.
Sorry for the spelling, I was in a hurry and wanted to speak on this.
Thanks for the feedback, ladies.
Alisha, I appreciate your honesty about the challenges of overcoming these prejudices. Maybe it's different based on location as well. When I have lived in places where there weren't many black people, I found that the color discrimination was less apparent. Black was just black in those places, no matter what the shade. However, in places with lots more black people, we seem to impose our own class system, which is unfortunately often based on color.