Colorstruck Ideas
 

Greetings fellow greekchatters!!

I have a situation and would like some help on. As many of you may know I am a high school teacher specifically ninth grade social studies. Today I was talking with my students about Africa and their stereotypes of the continent, etc. At any rate the topic of color came up and I had three young black males tell me that they could not think of one attractive dark skinned woman! One even told me he would rather date an ugly light skinned woman with long hair than a beautiful dark skinned woman with an afro. I was floored, I left my class and marched them down to the library and my intentions were to assign them some type of research on black women but we began discussing this topic with three of my black female co-workers who were equally disturbed and the bell rang. I understand we all have prefrences and in no way am I trying to dictate to them what they like, however they truly were looking at me like I was crazy at the notion that a dark complected woman could be beautiful. It doesn't help that I am light with long hair, they just think I am "tripping", one boy in particular is constatly referring to how dark skinned woman are not attractive. Any ideas on what I can assign them or suggest they do in order to expand their horizons? I don't want to punish them just educate them.

Maybe if they read Carter G. Woodson's The Miseducation of the Negro they will see how we have be systimatically mind-fu@%ed and it will be easier for them to understand how that extends into our formulation of beauty.

....
 

Many young black males feel the way that your students feel about what is considered beautiful. :(

I agree...explain to them the origin of this way of thinking and maybe that will give them some prospective.

I agree. I am also willing to bet that some of these students that express these sentiments are not the most fair-skinned students in the bunch. I have the same issues in my class. Soror Wonderful, aren't you from the New Orleans area? (I could have you mistaken) If you are, you may know that here we have a different type of skin color challange, like with the whole Creole, passant-blanc, and other foolishness we deal with.

I would suggest that they research the history behind the issue of African-American skin color. Let them research the field vs. house negro issue that seems to pop up in skin color discussions. May I even suggest that they research "paper bag tests." Here is a good article from ABCNews Maybe they can research the "Black is Beautiful" movement from the 1960s.

Good luck on this one. It's hard to "unlearn" this particular prejudice, but it is not impossible. Keep me posted!!

Please forgive me for crashing, but I just finished reading Cane River by Lalita Tademy, which is a family history but fictionalized. This discussion completely reminded me of the conflicts the women in the book faced and overcame. Maybe it could help? I would hate to see yet another generation of women of color defining themselves by the shade of their color!

There are a few of good books on the subjest one is:


Don't Play in the Sun: One Woman's Journey Through the Color Complex by Marita Golden


another is:

The Color Complex by Kathy Russell. This book has a well defined definition of the Color Complex in the first chapter.

also

The Isis Papers by Dr. Francis Cress Welsing


Hope this helps.

Soror, I went to Southern so I was in the New Olreans area alot. However I am from California originally. I know the New Orleans mentality though. I may have them read some books but that would require READING which to these students is like kryptonite...but thats another issue. I mean I can see it in the media where they get this crap, but come on this is the year 2005. I think the house v. field negro research might do them some good.

I also second the book "The Color Complex"

I would LOVE to read the book "Don't Play in the Sun"...
If I had a dollar for everytime I heard that one... :rolleyes:

However, I was too hard headed to listen :D

Wonderful 1908,

I've been having similar thoughts about color issues. There is a very dark-skinned young lady that attends my church (around age 14). I can tell that she has probably been teased a great deal about her skin color and suffers from low self-esteem. During a fashion show at church last week, when the commentator mentioned how beautiful she looked, she shook her head as if to say, "that isn't possible." In my opinion, this young lady is absolutely beautiful - in fact she is probably model material. I've been wondering what I can do (other than paying her frequent compliments) to help boost her self-esteem along with other young ladies that I encounter with similar problems. I just think its an absolute shame that people fail to appreciate beauty in all forms.

Interesting. I just finished reading Don't Play In the Sun ,I enjoyed it. Its not academic at all, but rather a perspective on her life as dark skinned female.

As a male, I am disappointment at the lack of appreciation/admiration/interest for darker females of our race. We can most definately attribute some of this madness to BET (Blacks Gone Wild) and poorly informed parents and authority figures. As the son of a dark skinned woman, my first image of beauty came from my mother...as a result (in my case) I prefer darker woman.

I guess it's just a preference with historical influences.

Wonderful1908

Please do not give these young men books to read.

The only thing that you can do is parade a multitude of very attractive dark skinned women through your classroom or in their presence.

If they've never seen or agreed that a dark skinned is beautiful then giving them a reading assignment will not help.

Their minds have been molded by larger society and you WILL NOT change their perception in the duration of a school semester.

Especially as they will go out and receive the same reinforcement that they've been getting before.

The only thing that you will be able to do is plant seeds.

You'd need to be able control every bit of their outside input if you wish to change their attitudes.

"Black is Beautiful" Song of Solomon 1:4
 

What your young men have stated does not surprise me. They have been indoctrinated at an early age to hate their own skin they are in and to hate women, generally. There self-hatred may have been inflicted by their family's own self-esteem issues of the concept of being "colorstruck".

I don't know if books or pictures will hone in the concept that dark complexioned women of African descent are beautiful to these men, they are a lost cause at 9th grade. They have already have found what physcially attracts them sexually and it is not women with Afrikan-centered features.

Maybe if you do a series of 2-3 week lectures of slavery and the de-feminization of the African women and then show the movie "Sankofa" they MIGHT get a clue. But I skeerioussly doubt at this time they will find any use to that logic.

But, this is all understandable utamaawazo from Marimba Ani's book, "Yurugu" and doesn't blow me away...

Modern women with dark complexions? Lauryn Hill, maybe; Kelly from Destiny's Child--who knows?

However, there are many women in the past are the epitome of beauty--like in "The Eye of the Beholder"...

i have been around plenty of men (and still am) that judge a womans beauty by her skin color. they go crazy over a "yella" no matter how funny looking she may be and overlook a dark-skinned lady no matter how attractive she may be. many black men are attracted to light skin(maybe b/c they were conditioned to or maybe legitimately). however, i am around many African women right now that are dark but beautiful. this has changed my perception since i grew up with low self esteemed dark women that knew nothing about being attractive (maybe b/c the way men were treating them). show them beautiful black women of all shades and let them see beauty in all of its forms. it may just work.

This too will change...
 

in time.
These are young brothas may be victims of naive peer pressure, and influenced by their sisters, mothers, aunts, and grandmothers' efforts to "get ready" before they go to church, or clubbin'. They watch yall put on all that make-up, get those perms, and do whatever else yall do to get yall stuff right before yall go to the mall or wherever yall rollin' to. Yall work so hardSO HARD to look like somethin' YALL think is pretty; and just look at each thing you do to achieve that. ...and yall wonder why the little bruhs are stuck on light-skinned, long-haired chicks?

LAIDBACKFELLA had it right about assigning books to read---for now. His idea to parade some attractive women in your class may make a difference too. I think this will surely get their young minds to thinking!

Some of yall suggested some good books to read. There are also movies and television shows wherein this topic is addressed. Seek them out and show your class these movies. Let them see the impact certain times in this country had on the way we think.

Re: This too will change...
 

OA, you are so wrong to say this! What's wrong with perming my hair and wearing my make-up? This has nothing to do with the skin color issue. I am not light-skinned nor dark-skinned but I heard the color-struck comments growing up. I am a beautiful shade of brown but grew up hearing comments about my light-skinned sister. For that reason I chose to date and eventually married a dark-skinned man. My children still came out light.

What's wrong with these teens today choosing light over dark?? They are just not being raised right. I remember my son when he was 4 watching the actress Michael Michelle (currently on the cover of Ebony) and saying that she was beautiful. I stopped him right there and told him that light skinned-long hair is not the only standard of beauty. LOOK AT ME, I'm beautiful!

As a middle-schooler he is still looking at light-skinned girls with long straight hair! I'm about to beat it out of him!! I may be wrong but I don't want him to think that someone who looks like his Momma is "less than".

Not only are these children not being shown much in the area of dark beauty, we have had an invasion of light-skinned, long haired girls in the media. I have had enough of Beyonce and all that hair aint even hers! No, they are not going to read books. We need a parade of black beauty!! WE DON'T SEE ENOUGH OF THE LAURYN HILLS! She's a beautiful, dark skinned sister with the African facial features. Forgive me for ranting. I'm still stuck in the 70's. We need another "Black is Beautiful" Movement!!

Bro, you contradict yourself when you say "dark BUT beautiful". Unfortunately, when people (like these young men) contradict these two adjectives, it actually shows a contrast (OR/BUT) instead of a union (AND). "Dark AND beautiful" is the appropriate phrase to support your statement. :cool:

i thought about that when i was typing, BUT i felt my point would still come across the same. your point is taken.

Wonderful---is it "kosher" (for lack of a better word) for you to give a reading assignment to only those two students? If you make a "suggested reading list" and they opt not to read any of the materials, what would happen next?

Can that be looked upon unfavorably if a teacher "treats" a student differently by giving him an assignment that was not given to the rest of the class?

Re: Re: This too will change...
 

[QUOTE]Originally posted by BlueReign


As a middle-schooler he is still looking at light-skinned girls with long straight hair! I'm about to beat it out of him!! I may be wrong but I don't want him to think that someone who looks like his Momma is "less than".




i hope that is a joke and even then not funny.(i am just going by what i readin your post and what i know about young boys) he may honestly like light skinned women. it may just be that the girls he likes happen top be light. besides i think that eventually he may do it out of spite if he keeps being forbidden from liking light skinned girls.

Re: Re: This too will change...
 

BlueReign my sistah,

I meant no personal offense in my comment. I acknowledge the fact that women choose to do certain things to enhance their looks. I respect that fact. It just makes me sad when I see people try so hard to change what GOD gave them just to achieve some ill-perceived notion of beauty-which might include brightening their complexion.

You know I am always living on the edge. Thats why I pay my union dues! ;) They respet me enough to do it anyway, so I am not worried about it. I am not trying to change their taste just expand their options. I just want them no know that Beyonce looks good BUT so does Roshumba or Lauryn Hill. We also did a little survey with the Black males teachers they ALL said it doesn't matter to them. When I confronted my students with this info they assured me had another male asked them they would have answered differently. :confused:

A poem from Soul Food (an anthology)
 

Dark-Skinded Girl

I’m a Dark-Skinded Girl
And oh so beautiful
My skintone is farrrrrrrrr from a curse
It’s a glory
A gift
A blessing
Somethin’ the world can feast its eyes upon
And marvel
That’s ryt – this here skin of mine is no chore
It’s not a burden – not in the least
I’m so mesmerized when I look in the mirror
Honey, sometimes I lose tract of time
Cause I could just stand there –
Lookin’.
Studyin’.
For hours . . .

Oh what a fool I was
I used to be so ungrateful
Oh, how I longed to be caramel or butterscotch
I’m so ashamed of my previous shame

Oh, but you should see me now

Hell, I had to cut my hair ‘cause it was in the way of my Blackness
And it wasn’t even that long

But I love my tan
I’ve had it 25 years now
And I wouldn’t trade it for the world –
Wouldn’t have it any other way
So please don’t feel sorry for me when you see me walkin’ down the street
Don’t weep for me
I’m just fine
I’m having my own personal little celebration
And if you’re in the way of the sun, please move –
Cause like I said, it ain’t no curse
And it ain’t no chore

I’ve had it 25 years
And I’m gone keep on celebratin’, ‘cause I plan to be here another 70 years
And I’ll be lovin’ the skin I’m in
I’ll be celebratin’ my title as the “Dark-Skinded Girl”

~Akiba Jama

Maybe you can use it in your classroom. :)

Even though the model Kebede is on the cover of Vogue this month--or some supermarket fashion magazine she still has hair that isn't hers all the way... However, she is a very pretty darker toned--not the rich deep dark chocolate drop--but a nice tone girl that I just noticed to grace the fashion magazines...

I do think that these "fashion" (why I keep trying to type 'facist' is beyond me) magazines have "ebbs and flows" of what is popular and what is not... I thought the "Source" was beginning to change it, until the music started turning into a "tittie bar scene"...

Anyhoo, Alice Walker's the "The Life of Grange Copeland" short story of "You can't keep a good woman down" addresses this issue in and of itself.

And Paula Giddings does a good job in "When and Where I Enter"...

The other books that are useful are "Black Feminist Thought", "The Black Woman in America", and "Black Athena"... Although there is a huge arguement with Bernal and the Pan Afrikanists...

In short, you ought to tell these boys to write an essay about the Queen of Sheba, what her name truly is and the relevant importance she had in reshaping the whole of Eastern Africa...

Queen Nzingha is another historical figure they ought to research...

Hapshepset...

Neith...

Nut...

Auset...

Okoluleone...

Hayle, let them read Nikki Giovanni's "Ego Trippin'" about "even ERRORS being correct" and they will have a whole new view of women of Afrikan descent...

However, I do find some irony that this topic is on the AKA Ave... But that's just me...

However, I am a "sepia colored sistah" married to a "light honey toned" man--and I love me some "special dark chocolate"--like Hounsou style... But I the man I love the most who returned my love was carmelized...

Oh vell...

I guess that I would consider just talking to them to really probe what is so unattractive about dark skin. Probing and probing is bound to end at the result that they hate it b/c it's black - which can be eye opening. Are they dark skinned themselves? Do they think that their mother/sister is unattractive? Ask them. It may open up their minds a little.

I think that it would be kind of odd to parade women before them and try to convince them that each is attractive. but the men on this message board have spoken and men often have a thought process that i *truly* do not understand so I will defer to them on what to do with the youngsters. For parading, I guess that you might use some celebs - since youngsters may take to them moreso than random women in a book. there are the supermodels that have been mentioned. there are beautiful pics of iman and angela bassett on the cover and inside of may's edition of essence. there is also vivica, there is keli from destiny's child on page 5 or so, there is susan taylor on page 7 or so. on and on - garcelle beauvais is inside too. whoa, i just saw tiger in an essence ad...who would have guessed! lol i guess that cablanasians can be in essence too. lolol

sc

Re: Re: Re: This too will change...
 

[QUOTE]Originally posted by K.O.T.S

Quote:

Originally posted by BlueReign As a middle-schooler he is still looking at light-skinned girls with long straight hair! I'm about to beat it out of him!! I may be wrong but I don't want him to think that someone who looks like his Momma is "less than". i hope that is a joke and even then not funny.(i am just going by what i readin your post and what i know about young boys) he may honestly like light skinned women. it may just be that the girls he likes happen top be light. besides i think that eventually he may do it out of spite if he keeps being forbidden from liking light skinned girls.

No, it's not a joke. I didn't mean to be funny either.

Re: Re: Re: This too will change...
 

My brother, you know I'm not the least bit offended. I just hope that if I were to ever meet you face to face you won't be offended by the lipstick on your collar. ;)

no comment!!!
 

Awwh Dayum!!!!!!!:D

This hits home
 

I can personally relate to this. I was teased as a child and as an adult. The pain I have visited...... :( I woulod not wish on my enemy. I used to pray a lot. WOW does this bring back sadness to me.

MIXED UP
 

RECENTLY I WATCHED A SHOW ABOUT THE LOUISIANA CULTURE OF CREOLES ( A MIXTURE OF FRENCH, INDIAN, CAUCASIAN AND AFRICAN). LIVING IN THE SOUTH, I KNOW THAT MOST PEOPLE TEND TO THINK THAT IF ONE HAS ONE OUNCE OF BLACK BLOOD IN THEM, THEN THEY ARE COMPLETELY BLACK AND SHOULD ACKNOWLEGE THAT THEY ARE "BLACK" AND NOT "OTHER" (EX. STANDARDIZED TEST OR JOB APPLICATIONS) WHAT DOES THE ROOM THINK ABOUT THIS?

Re: MIXED UP
 

I think people should be entitled to classify themselves as what they want. They should be allowed their preferences no matter how deep the prejudices you may see in it....as long as it is not physically hurting anyone. Far too often, blacks want others to "ride" with them. If you don't want to label yourself as black, fine. Just don't try to come up off the benefits afforded to blacks. But if you are mixed with something else, then logically, you aren't completely black, to me.

I'm Creole, and please note that Creoles are blacks mixed with Native American, French, or Spanish, while Cajuns are whites mixed with Native American, French, or Spanish.

Re: MIXED UP
 

That didn't begin with "us" though. If I recall Southern Bigotry 101 correctly - the "one drop rule" was invented by Southern racists and meant that if you had one drop of black blood in you - you were black and could be used as a slave.

As far as racial identification - whatever floats your boat as long as its healthy. In saying that, I mean - if your mother is Irish and dad is AA - and instead of saying "I'm black" you say "I'm part Irish, part black" - fine. But if you simply say "I'm Irish" - because you are ashamed of having AA in you, or tend to switch it up depending upon the people you are around - that person has identity issues. Some people also believe that you are whatever race your mother is...

Anyway... this reminded me of Halle Berry in Queen ..."I's negra!":p

Re: MIXED UP
 

Ironically, the reverse is true--so, I've read and heard from folks visiting down there--that in Argentina, if you have one drop of caucasian blood in you, you are caucasian...

I don't know how I think about this issue for other folks. Personally, I have no problem with choosing to keep my African descent and my looks upon me--although my genetics and inheritance would dictate more Native American blood, as well as Irish blood in me than purely West African blood--or elsewhere in Africa. I love my African descent in America. I love being Black.

Even when I see and experience atrocities that one should never have to face, I still love being Black. It is not about it being a "cool" thing to do, or that I am trying to fit into the "in crowd"... I actually think it is about my Spiritual self being deeply rooted into the cultural seeds (Asili) of the true nature and expressions (utamaawazo) of Africa... It's that one drop thing--call it a single nucleotide polymorphism in my sodium-potassium transporter genes, which cause hypertension in Blacks and comes directly from Africa--I love it...

As far as some white folks loving themselves because they are white--fine with me... I don't see a problem with it, personally...

Everyone ought to love the skin that they are in... Because that's the only skin that you are gonna get...

Unless you are Michael Jackson... But then I just saw Adult Swim the other day and they showed that he was abducted by aliens when his hair was burned in the 1980's Pepsi commercial and he was switched by the aliens with this looney tune we see now... :rolleyes:

Re: ....
 

Sadly, many of them are young DARK black men themselves. I wonder what their mamas look like

Ah, a most EXCELLENT read. They are at the perfect age for this book, too.

She actually has a video out on Color Complex issues and I found it very innovating and informative. It is, however, from the early 90s but great nonetheless.
Soror Wonderful, I strongly suggest finding footage on Color Complex from Kathy Russell. I remember it being a required viewing when I was in undergrad and it enlightenend some of the [i]struck[i] students then

The POV that 'one ounce of black blood makes you black' is really more popular as myth than it was as reality. In Plessy v. Ferguson, the court addressed this very matter:

"It is true that the question of the proportion of colored blood necessary to constitute a colored person, as distinguished from a white person, is one upon which there is a difference of opinion in the different states; some holding that any visible admixture of black blood stamps the person as belonging to the colored race (State v. Chavers, 5 Jones [N. C.] 1); others, that it depends upon the preponderance of blood (Gray v. State, 4 Ohio, 354; Monroe v. Collins, 17 Ohio St. 665); and still others, that the predominance of white blood must only be in the proportion of three-fourths (People v. Dean, 14 Mich. 406; Jones v. Com., 80 Va. 544)."

And to follow up PrettyGirl03's explanation as to what Creoles are, you may want to visit http://www.frenchcreoles.com for more information. :)

Can we never again in life quote Plessy for anything, except as an example of how the law should NOT work...

Re: This hits home
 

I'm so sorry hun, but as a light skinned woman who is tired of being targeted because of my skin color I have to say...this is the tiredest subject ever..
To all: I wish we could all just love each other for being black.. I'm translucent I'm so pale and my boyfriend loves dark skinned women, he always says he thought the woman he would marry would be brown not d@mn near white as I am, we laugh but even that hurts. I've been teased all my life about my color and pressed to get a tan at every opportunity so it goes both ways... our children are only indoctrinated with what we allow them to be. Teach them differently make them question themselves, dissonance is painful so they may buck, but with persistence they may come to see the error of their ways, and THE MISEDUCATION OF THE NEGRO is ever relevant every black child in america should be required to read it.

I agree that the law failed in that case, but the quote was simply to demonstrate the inconsistency in racial standards. Society was not truly black and white, even then.