As African Americans, is there a subconscious obsession with complexion? Do we compare ourselves to those who share our ethnicity but not our skin tone? Since post-slavery, the conversation of complexion has made its way through the mouths and ears of millions. Since the "Brown Paper Bag Parties" which were African-American social gatherings at which only individuals with complexions either the color of a brown paper bag or lighter were admitted, African Americans have discussed the relevancy of complexion in society. It has been stated that lighter skin suggests better treatmeant or superioity in comparison to darker skin. Over the years various African-American political and social icons have tried to break this barrier by continuously reminding our ethnic family, that although we come in various shades, we are still one entity and should act as such. I believe that complexion is just that; In 2013, we as African Americans should be able to look past the skin tone of a person and look the more important factors such as integrity, education, and plans for success. I emplore each person to reach out to another person in relation to "skin barriers" and help to bridge the gap of ignorance that infects us as a people. Let's be serious, will the ignorance continue forever? Are things always going to SKIN deep? You be the judge..
I agree with you. Social media plays a big part as well on this whole LightSkin vs. DarkSkin thing. I really see it amongst males, especially when comparing females. I think our generation is just immature, they don't think before they act or react and everything is a battle even against your own people. Being as though you even wrote this post, I guess there are some mindful people left in our generation.
ReplyDeleteI agree as well. Of course history has shown us that this is nothing new, considering the whole "house slave" and "field slave" thing (lighter slaves compared to darker slaves), but I feel like as a new generation, we should be proactive in ending this pointless feud. It does nothing for us as a people or individuals. A lot of females, and maybe males sometimes, have low self esteem because of things like this so we all need to play our part in ending this.
ReplyDeleteOne thing I hate is how we do this light skin dark skin thing, but to the rest of the world we are just black, which isn't a bad thing. In the past it used to be others separating us by complexion, now its just us doing it to ourself. We need to take all this color energy and put it towards making us better as a whole (sorry if i posted twice)
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