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Posted on 03/23/2005 5:20:45 AM PST by FlyLow
"You can call me anything in the book when I was younger. Just don't call me African," Jason Reynolds told me. That, he said, was "the worst insult a dark-skinned boy, as a child, ever got."
"Africa," he explained, "is still equated to savage."
Reynolds, a student at the University of Maryland (UM), was not talking about racist remarks by white people. In fact, many white people don't have a clue that "colorism," the kind of prejudice Reynolds was talking about, even exists. Among black Americans, however, it's an open secret.
"I've benefited from the colorism, because I'm light-skinned, because I've always had the long, straight hair," said another black UM student, Marquita Briscoe. "I thought I was just pretty." In music videos, it often turns out, both light- and dark-skinned African-American women can be sexy — just not in the same way. "The darker the woman is," said Karen Morrison, also of UM, "she takes on what I refer to as . . . a 'ho' complex. She is the prostitute."
"The lighter a woman is, well, she's the goddess," said Morrison, who is dark. "She's the untouchable. She is the woman that all the men in the video aspire to have."
Apparently, a shade close to white is useful if you want to play a successful character in the movies. Mel Jackson, who played a business executive in "Soul Food," says light-skinned men like him tend to get those white-collar roles. "If the character's supposed to be more successful or more, more articulate or have a better background, they'll easily cast me in that character."
The Black Power movement was supposed to change colorist attitudes, and it did change some things in Hollywood. Dark-skinned male stars like Richard Roundtree began to get roles as action heroes.
(Excerpt) Read more at jewishworldreview.com ...
I still having trouble coping with not being 6'2" and having executive style hair.
No I just mean that there is 'intraracial' issues with whites too. It's just not discussed as much, except for things like tans which I think is more of a hollyweird cultural thing.
LOL oh the burdens!
Although what I was questioning....was how would a life insurance company know who someone was dating. I didn't understand the point....thus my "What?"
FWIW-
Though I hate to get into this one... I know light-skinned black AND hispanic women who have told me that everynow and then when they are wearing shorts or a short skirt that someone of their race WILL come up to them and tell them that they need to tan because they're 'too white' for what they're wearing.
First I told them that those people were just jealous.
Then I tell them that as a VERY pale red-head I, too, am jealous of their lovely skin tone!!
(What can I say? Regular egg shells have a tan compared to me!)
If you want on (or off) of my black conservative ping list, please let me know via FREEPmail. (And no, you don't have to be black to be on the list!)
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I think it was an inside joke, because it could be considered a 'dangerous recreation.' Like some insurance policies are void if you take flying lessons or get a pilot's license.
"There's brunettes vs. blondes and all the stereotypes that go with it."
So true. I didn't even think about that. Don't get me started on red-haired people, like myself.
"(What can I say? Regular egg shells have a tan compared to me!)"
LOL. My legs make my socks look dingy. :)
I remember when Fresh Prince of Bel Air was on tv. The dark skinned lady that played the first wife quit the show because they introduced a white man-black woman marriage. They replaced her with a light skinned woman which I thought was pretty funny.
Is it that or is it that you look like a barrel perched on toothpicks? [cackle]
She has also related to me the "colorism" that she has suffered at the hands of other blacks, being so dark.
"The parents and siblings of the black and native american girls had fits about them dating a white guy."
Hey, I don't mind admitting that the most racist people I know are my Indian relatives. Some will actually come out and say they hate white people.
EXACTLY
Beyonce, Venessa, Halle are all light skinned. The hottest famous dark skin woman is probably Serena, but she is only became famous because she is a tennis star. There probably is a some bias that favors light-skinned black women, just like there is a bias that favors blondes.
That's a gooooood one! I need to remember that one!
Don't know about colorism but for sure there's thinism and fatism!!
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