When you consider the families of influence in our own city of Memphis (The Fords) they are all fair skinned people who continue to gain access to the political and social realms although in many instances they are not qualified and should not have those positions of power. Now is this still a relevant issue? That would take a lot of time to break down, but on any given day the images of negativity in the city that are shown are predominantly of darker skinned people. Does this mean that Dark skinned people commit criminal acts in a greater number? That is for someone who is willing to do the research to answer, but it does generate a negative perception that derives from the conflict of colorism.

We know it is not right to judge based on skin tone, but it occurs in every culture and it is not just dark skinned blacks who catch a lot of heat because of their color. Any culture you check, the darker hued people are considered the outcasts. So in regard to your final comment that we do it to ourselves, that is both true and argumentative. When I was in Australia fairer skinned aborigines were treated better. In Mexico darker skinned Mexicans were treated, and are still treated, worse. In India, the outcasts are primarily darker skinned. Colorism is a problem that both maintains the problem of race in society and in many ways colorism perpetuates a lot of the negative aspects of racism. If that makes any sense.

As for today’s entertainment; men are usually in charge of what images are presented. They choose what they prefer. But I notice that there is featured women of all shades in entertainment. Not just lighter ones. There are Halle Berry’s AND Angela Bassetts. Gabriel Unions AND Paula Pattons, there are India.Arie AND Alicia Keys. Black women of all shades should be admired, and are shown. It is only black people that distinguish the difference, and compare. Everyone else sees a light OR dark woman as Black. It is annoying seeing constant comparisons in our community, between artists of varying shades. We make it Will Smith VS Denzel, Beyonce VS Jennifer Hudson. Why cant we just agree that all of them are talented African American artists that we are all proud to claim as our own? Why must we choose? I don’t see Hispanics trying to decide whether they like Shakira or Jennifer Lopez Better. They claim them both. Besides, does it matter if the girl showing her A*** in a music video is light or dark skinned? Either way she is a woman exploited.

As for relationships: If a man has a white OR light skinned wife, that is that man’s PREFERENCE. However, putting light skin in the same boat as ‘marrying white’ is truly ignorant of our versatility as a people. But if he wants to do either one, that is that man’s business anyway.

I am light skinned. It just happened that way, I got lighter genes from my grandmother. My sister came out extremely dark,
I have heard all my life people constantly telling my sister she should be proud to be dark and beautiful, but that speech was never given to me, as if I’m supposed to be BORN with self esteem, or perhaps play myself down to make my sister feel better about who she was. We both look just alike, so the constant comparison was ridiculous. She was beautiful, yes. But aren’t we all in our own way? My father always said ‘Dark skinned women are more beautiful than light” around my sister, to encourage her self esteem. But he never said my skin was lovely as well. Then, in a blazing show of hypocrisy, he always brought light skinned women home. Because I was light, my husband should not have married me, but instead should have married my sister? Based on what?
It’s interesting to me how the lighter skinned children are expected to feel bad for being born light, and renounce their beauty in order to not make darker skinned women feel inferior. But aren’t we all SUPPOSED to feel beautiful and special as women?
Again, my husband is dark like my own father was, but(genetic dice roll) My children range in shade from really light to really dark as well, and I tell them they are all equally beautiful. I try not to discuss color. I keep African American history books through the house. I tell them to be proud to be black. I fight with schools over inappropriate slavery lessons, I mentor black youth in the community. We learn about our culture outside of school through museum trips and I fill the house with ‘politically correct’ toys, dolls, and books, not DARING to buy any white dolls out of fear that they might ‘prefer them’. I went out of my way to make sure that my kids were all proud of being black.
Then…it happened. I hear my children in another room teasing each other and making comparisons/jokes. I didn’t teach them that, but they did it anyway. My children have the same two parents, but because a roll of the genetic dice, one is deemed to be ‘better’ than the other because her skin is darker, or lighter? I cannot make my lighter skin child feel inadequate by constantly telling my darker skinned child that she is so beautiful, as was done to me, nor will I allow my darker skinned child feel less beautiful than her sister, so I tell her everyday.
It is just pitiful that we cannot unite as a people enough to celebrate the successes and talents of ALL black people, without feeling the need to put each in a special category. Other races rarely do it.
We mostly just do it to ourselves.