DARK/LIGHT...SKIN COLOR.........Is this still an issue? Let's be honest Sorors & SF'

[mizzkes]

Hello ladies. This is a topic that gets me riled up every time. I hope that I dont sound too radical. The complexion issue is one of those issues that were put into place hundreds of years ago (by whites slave masters) to keep us divided. Lets not forget that the lighter complected,mixed race slaves were "houseslaves" while the darker complected ones were "field slaves". This was a technique used to keep the race divided so as to avoid revolts. This issue is one of the major self perpetuating complexes that we as black people buy into. It is sad that "we" are so cought up in skin color when there are so many other more important issues for us to deal with as a race. Lets talk about economics, crime, injustice...
I've heard children express the same things as mentioned above. My nieces and nephews came home saying that my mother is choclate and I am vanilla. My nephew told me that he like vanilla girls. Of course I gave him a long lecture on the issue. My mom had an exprience with a brother from her church. He is a dark complected man who is a single father of a really dark complected father. This man is the center of the attention of many of the single sisters in the congregation. Do you know that he had the nerve to say that he wants to marry a light complected woman?!!! My mother said to him "Well if every man felt the way you do, then your daughter will never find a husband. What do you think of that?" He was dumbfounded of course. I just think that it is a deep rooted issue that will be hard to change on the national scale. It is sad.

[GR∑∆TChan]

Hi
I've been reading this thread and I think that the fact that shad ism still exist in the african american commnunity is absolutely ludicrous.

Growing up I was always picked on for several reasons:
Being a "light skinned" person
Having longer hair than the others in class.
Wearing glasses haha
Speaking white(lol as stupid as that sounds)
Being "Bourgeois" (allegedly)
Being tall and skinny
and the list goes on...

However as I got older and met different people. I realized that issues that exist within the black community are not even a concern in main stream america. When i got to college. I realized that the way that my own people treated me during my child hood was still alive. So coming from a family full of AKA's and Delta's. I ironically made my choice to go another way. I joined a historically Jewish sorority...Obviously this didnt sit well with most of my friends and familly but I wanted to step out of my confort zone. Only to see what white people thought about my race. While doing so I've realized that they don't see complexions.hair textures.or dialects...

They see just BLACK.

I want everyone to realize that ..
Regardless of the way you look,walk or talk you are a different from them....one can try to conform but ..its useless...This issue of complexion doesn't matter to them..it just matters to us unfortunately.

I just wish that we would stop seperating ourselves and come together and represent ourselves more positively especially in neighborhoods that suffer from poverty....

My Grandmother marched back in the 60's ...for everything she believed in......the best part about it was that she was not alone.......The Harlem community was united.....we need to support eachother just the way that the Jews do it.!!!!

We suppress ourselves.

[DSTCHAOS]

Originally Posted by GR∑∆TChan

Hi
I've been reading this thread and I think that the fact that shad ism still exist in the african american commnunity is absolutely ludicrous.

Growing up I was always picked on for several reasons:
Being a "light skinned" person
Having longer hair than the others in class.
Wearing glasses haha
Speaking white(lol as stupid as that sounds)
Being "Bourgeois" (allegedly)
Being tall and skinny
and the list goes on...

However as I got older and met different people. I realized that issues that exist within the black community are not even a concern in main stream america. When i got to college. I realized that the way that my own people treated me during my child hood was still alive. So coming from a family full of AKA's and Delta's. I ironically made my choice to go another way. I joined a historically Jewish sorority...Obviously this didnt sit well with most of my friends and familly but I wanted to step out of my confort zone. Only to see what white people thought about my race. While doing so I've realized that they don't see complexions.hair textures.or dialects...

They see just BLACK.

I want everyone to realize that ..
Regardless of the way you look,walk or talk you are a different from them....one can try to conform but ..its useless...This issue of complexion doesn't matter to them..it just matters to us unfortunately.

I just wish that we would stop seperating ourselves and come together and represent ourselves more positively especially in neighborhoods that suffer from poverty....

My Grandmother marched back in the 60's ...for everything she believed in......the best part about it was that she was not alone.......The Harlem community was united.....we need to support eachother just the way that the Jews do it.!!!!

We suppress ourselves.

Blacks aren't the only ones with colorisms and who treat people differently based on shade. Whites often treat blacks differently based on shade, which is a big reason why colorism continues in the black community in the first place. We don't just "suppress" ourselves. This thread is about intraracial prejudice, though, and that's why we're specifically discussing blacks' colorisms.

And what does it mean when they see you as "just BLACK?" Is that good or bad?

[AKA_Monet]

Dearest Greatchan:

After having my dinner practically ruined last night from some dumbassed caucasian teenage kids talking to their caucasian parents about what it means to be Black in the US and the difficulties Blacks face for most of their lives and how the past is invalidated like you have just judged us here, all I can say is bless your heart, good luck to your future and I wish the best for you!

Please post wherever you feel comfortable. I am overjoyed that you found open arms wherever you found it and are happy in your own midst. I hope you never face what I, my parents and my ancestors have suffered. But if in some unfortunate circumstance you ever do, I hope you have the wherewithal to overcome judgment of us kneegrows who are suffering in the trenches of life due to injustices.

[DSTCHAOS]

Originally Posted by AKA_Monet

Dearest Greatchan:

After having my dinner practically ruined last night from some dumbassed caucasian teenage kids talking to their caucasian parents about what it means to be Black in the US and the difficulties Blacks face for most of their lives and how the past is invalidated like you have just judged us here, all I can say is bless your heart, good luck to your future and I wish the best for you!

Did you want to interject? LOL.

I wish I had the transcripts for that convo. Comic relief for the day.

[GR∑∆TChan]

First and Foremost,

Perhaps ones personal experiences would determine their opinion. I respect that.However that doesn't solve the current issue. Shad ism exists because of the Western influence on society. Unfortunately the sense of being as "white" as possible has been drilled in our culture sense the days of slavery...I know that the same problem still exists.... latinos(preferring lighter hispanics) ,asians(the double eye-lid surgery), and even within the Caucasian community(slender nose augmentations),Jews changing last names and etc.......

The bottom line is this.
The change starts within our own race
realizing that BLACK IS BEAUTIFUL!!.

I LOVE MY CULTURE,RACE,AND HISTORY...DONT EVER MISTAKE THAT.....I'm proud for all of my achievements and the strength that was passed down to me from my ancestors.

There is nothing wrong with white people seeing just black...(in response to who ever asked if I felt that it was problematic.)


The problem that I was addressing was that they don't see complexion.They see race.It doesn't matter how light or dark you are, we are all African American.

I just wish we would just see that for ourselves and stop focusing on light eyes,color pigments and "good hair"(whatever that is )instead we should judge each other based on intellect.character.and ultimately our achievements.

TY.Stay Classy.