When we discuss race, we tend to see the black community as a collective, however when we zoom in we see a myriad of experiences, backgrounds, and colours. Although some people might be of the same race, their skin colour can differ. Enter, colourism .
What is colourism?
Colourism defines the prejudice, discrimination, or bias that members of the same race experience dependant on the colour of their skin. A commonality is that lighter skin is ‘systematically privileged whilst darker skin is disadvantaged and often devalued’. Intersectionality defines people of the same race, but different colours, navigating a different experience of being black.
This is the result of internalised racism and years of colonialism where Eurocentric features (such as lighter skin, straighter hair, and smaller lips) were deemed the norm, and blackness was placed on a continuum of these norms.
Historically, Eurocentric features represented ‘purity, beauty, and power’, and as a result, anything that diverged from this was systematically devalued. Unfortunately, there is still a huge prominence of colourism across cultures, including within the black community. When we negatively perceive Afrocentric features (such as darker skin, curlier hair, and bigger lips) we are reinforcing damaging stereotypes, and contributing to a system built on the dehumanisation of blackness.
Colourism and the media
Dating back to the Jim Crow era, dark skin women face a “double jeopardy” from society due to their skin colour, and gender. Society has often failed dark skin women as they have been consistently misrepresented in the media, through oversexualisation or exclusion. This is a result of misconception of blackness and emphasises the need to uplift and empower dark skin women. A great example of exclusion is the portrayal of Caster Semenya, a 2016 Olympic gold medallist. Despite her incredible achievements, the media consistently pursued a growing attack on her appearance and gender, with arbitrary markers of racial difference labelled as ‘manly’. The media is guilty of its colourist implications and and reducing Semenya to the standards of westernised, white-washed beauty.
Similarly, colourism can be seen in an abundance in the music industry. With male rappers often glamourising lighter skin women within lyrics and videos.
The exclusion and oversexualisation of darker skin in the media has led to worrying manifestations. Including the use of light skin or white women posing as darker skin women for ‘cultural references’ rather than using actual dark skin women. This further reinforces the misperception of blackness. It is a necessity that we start using and seeing more dark skin women in the media to portray a true appreciation for the beauty of darker skin, tighter curls, and Afrocentric facial features, rather than modifying light skin and white women to meet the colonialised standard of beauty. This has contributed greatly to the rise and coinage of ‘blackfishing’. Colourism is feature-selective, and so to colourist people, blackness is seen as an accessory, something malleable, quantifiable, and available to dissect, leaving black features to be scaled in equation to beauty. A recent, and ongoing, exemplar includes the depiction of Blue Ivy vs North West in the media, with unsettling petitions created to shame Blue Ivy’s hair and facial features, in comparison to the fetishisation of North West as a mixed race child.
A classic example of colourism is the non-black use of “chocolate” as a compliment. When we examine positive implications of dark brown colours, this is one of the only comparisons that comes to mind. This reinforces the fetishisation of dark skin, deeming blackness as only desirable when compared to something positive, rather than being something positive. This is far from the truth and needs to be tackled by promoting more positivity around darker skin, curlier hair, and Afrocentric facial features.
Notably, the non-black use of “caramel”, “mocha”, “latte”, and “bronzed” to describe lighter black skin tones is also distasteful, and shows a reduction and fetishation of blackness. This is often used as a marketing point by beauty brands to to give non-black people a look that is “just black enough”.
When we acknowledge colourism, meritocracy becomes a myth. The acknowledgement that lighter skin is wrongly favoured by the media unveils a level of privilege for those who possess it – I’m calling this the Destiny’s Child effect (the fact they put Beyonce front and centre despite the talent of Michelle Williams, and Kelly Rowland, her darker skinned peers).
Although men do not face the same societal standards of beauty, the implications of colourism reveal themselves in criminal injustice and economic inequality. A 1995 study revealed that darker skinned men were perceived as being more violent than their lighter skinned counterparts, a damaging and wrongly reinforced result of colourism. This can be partially attributed to the negative portrayal of dark skin men in the media. The ’56 Black Men’ project addresses this, as a campaign aimed to dismantle the portrayal of black men in association with being perpetrators or victims of violence/crime. Research at the Michigan State University saw that black men were 50% more likely to be wrongly incarcerated, with a further study revealing that darkness of respondents’ skin tone is associated with 13% higher odds of incarceration. Combine colourism and the patriarchy and we see lighter skinned men exceed darker skinned men, dark skinned women, and light skinned women in terms of financial income, as well.
So, what can we do?
Many people, including those within the black community, are subject to these internalised biases. So, it is essential that we understand that colourism is colonial residue, and use this to dismantle the ideology that blackness defers from the norm. I asked an audience of inspired individuals to contribute their thoughts on this topic, including what we can do to dismantle colourism, their experiences, and how we can uplift darker skin people within the black community.
“I think first we have to change our own biases. And 2nd we have to educate and inform others so they can do the same. We can educate in a number of ways, such as your blog, or movies, art etc.”
Dr Sarah L. Webb, creator of ‘Colorism Healing’
“Growing up as a darkskin black girl really didn’t come easy, yes now it’s “in fashion” but back then it was hard. People wouldn’t even think twice before calling you ugly or whatever. It affects your self esteem a lot, and like everyone there’s many factors that bring down your self esteem but this one really took a heavy toll on me. You always offer to take your friends pictures because you don’t wanna be in the picture and ruin it. You use snapchat filters to try appear lighter than you are. Small things like that. Colourism is definitely a thing. Being a black girl in this world is already hard, but being a darkskin black girl is even harder. You’re literally cringed upon. But it’s okay, that only makes us stronger. You learn to find your beauty and embrace it, because your black is beautiful.”
Millicent Lebo, student
“Greater Representation in black media and culture e.g music, hair (4C). Dark skinned women could be more valued even in the black music industry; and also when it comes to our own hair products or pieces, we often focus on makeup and foundation but colourism also extends to hair, and I feel that 4C Afro hair extensions or ponytails even are a lot less accessible or in variety.”
Emma Bakare, athlete, model, and law student
“I feel like there is a stereotype of black men wanting a light skin or mixed race girl and I feel as if this has been a societal pressure, sadly reinforced by music videos, TV. So in regard to colourism, I believe there is an existing double standard which is projected more onto male dating tendencies rather than women as a result of a patriarchal societal. So as a result we still have problems today we need to uproot and remove. We need to work together as men and women, as many black women blame colourism on men and assume black men would rather go for a lighter skin woman (although true in certain cases) and this is wrong to accept, and we need to dismantle this misconception.”
Elijah Etete, student and owner of Konjira clothes
So, it is down to members within the black community as well as non-black people to promote healthy, realistic, depictions of people with different levels of blackness. It is important not only for lighter skin people to understand their privilege, but combat the seemingly accepted and ongoing misperception of the dark-skinned intersection of the black community.
Melanin and the Mind 