Episode 06: How Colorism Is A Systemic Issue Around Globe
Across the globe, darker skin puts millions of people at a disadvantage. Within communities of color, lighter skin often bestows better access, privilege, and better mental and physical health.
Before we dive into Colorism, I want to shed some light on white supremacy and how Colorism is one of the direct effects of white supremacy and colonialism. White Supremacy is the belief that white people are superior to those of other races and thus should dominate them. The belief favors the maintenance and defense of any power and privilege held by white people. White supremacy has roots in the now-discredited doctrine of scientific racism and was a key justification for European colonialism. I wanted to share that because in this episode, we will dive into how colorism is a direct effect of white supremacy and colonialism.
Let’s talk Colorism:
To boil colorism down to a simple explanation, it is discrimination, prejudice, and bigotry, based on skin tone and color. We have seen colorism exist within the Black American community for centuries and it continues to rear it’s nasty head within the Black American community today. However, Black Americans are not the only people obsessed with how light or dark a person’s skin is. In Asian, Black, and LatinX communities, colorism is the elephant in the room, sitting at the family dinner table, the group photoshoot, meeting strangers for the first time, or even playing in your kindergarten classroom. This phenomenon is so deeply rooted within communities of color that it is almost taboo to talk about. Colorism is a societal toxin felt in many places all around the world, including Latin America, East and Southeast Asia, the Caribbean and Africa. According to Clinical psychologist and professor at the Chicago School of Professional Psychology, Nayeli Y. Chavez-Dueñas, “The similarities in colorism across Asian, Black, and Latino communities are specifically related to the adoration and glorification of whiteness and the perception that anything that's European and of lighter skin is better.”
Colorism finds its roots in racism and white supremacy because, without racism, someone’s value and perceived superiority wouldn't be based on the color of their skin. It is so deeply ingrained in the fabric of this nation that we are all implicated and infected by its presence. Colorism within the Black community has been around since the enslavement of Africans in America. Colonizers created a skin-tone hierarchy where enslaved Blacks with lighter-skinned were more likely to work inside of the house and tasked with cooking, cleaning, and other duties often deemed as “easier”. Whereas enslaved Blacks with darker skin were made to work in the field with harsher conditions.
Historically and even today, studies show that lighter skinned people often receive better treatment and representation than darker skinned people in criminal justice, business, the economy, housing, health care, media,the education system, and politics in the United States and Europe. In fact, a 2006 University of Georgia study found that employers of any race preferred light skinned Black men to dark skinned Black men regardless of their qualifications. In the U.S., it has been repeatedly proven that skin tone plays a role in who gets ahead and who does not, which is why colorism is a systemic issue and is directly linked to white supremacy. Lighter skin is preferred in many countries in Africa, Latin and Central America, Asia, and the Caribbean.
Sociologist Margaret Hunter writes in her book, Race, Gender and the Politics of Skin Tone that Mexican Americans with light skin “earn more money, complete more years of education, live in more integrated neighborhoods and have better mental health than do darker skinned Mexican Americans.”
In Jennifer Hochschild’s article ‘The Skin Color Paradox and The American Racial Order’, she explains that in criminal sentencing, medium to dark-skinned Blacks are likely to receive sentences 2.6 years longer than those of whites or light-skinned Blacks. When a white victim is involved, those with more "black" features are likely to receive a much more severe punishment. According to an article in Diverse Education, research done by a trio of sociologists in 2013 found that Black students with dark skin were three times as likely to be suspended than Black children with lighter skin.
Around the globe: color and class are heavily interlinked in South Asian society. Skin tones are one of the negatives of caste systems that exist within much of South Asian society. In India, Fair and Lovely is an extremely popular skin lightening cream that promise a better quality of life and beauty by helping to lighten the skin tone in order to be deemed as more favorable to society. In South Asia, they even have levels within the caste system where the Adivasi a heterogeneous tribal group of people, believed to be the original inhabitants of India, who are considered so low on the caste system that they are outside of the caste system, are historically some of the darkest skinned people in India and deemed unhirable, un educatable, and undesirable.
When Spaniards began to colonize Latin America in the late 15th century, they created a ranking system. People with lighter skin were at the top and those with darker skin and non-European facial features were at the bottom. They used this [ranking order] to dehumanize and exclude people who were indigenous people or of African descent and this system has been used for centuries throughout Latin America.
Ready to learn more? Tune in to our latest episode, Episode 06: If You’re White, You’re Alright, If You’re Brown, Stick Around, If You’re Black, Get Back! How Colorism is a Systemic Issue Around the World.