TYRESE BASHES BLACK WOMEN FOR BUYING THE LONG STRAIGHT HAIR HE ADORES ON WOMEN

Years ago, I read about Tyrese Gibson (of FAST AND FURIOUS movie fame) helping a black male friend choose a bunch of women for that friend's music video.

They didn't seem to be picking any black women at all. Once these two black "men" had picked a dozen or so, some black women said, "Hey! What about us?"

As I recall Tyrese said something like, We're only picking the most beautiful. "No special favors."

In other words, white and light bright = beautiful. Black women need special favors to be chosnen placed among the most beautiful.

Correction: White and maybe latina = beautiful for Tyrese because I don't think he even chose light-skinned women. I could be wrong as I only saw the chosen women in a photograph taken from some distance. But if any of the women were black, they were that pale.

Tyrese was 10 minutes into his career when he said, 'No special favors.' So, I've pretty much always read him for trash.

The only difference between Tyrese and other black men who talking out of both sides of their mouth, running down black women about their weaves is that Tyrese is ever so slightly dumber.

Somebody should tell Tyrese and his hotep cousins that the color of their skin isn't fooling anyone either. You can't be down for black folk and ONLY be down for black men only.

Please tell non-feminist black women to stop listening to black men who try to tell black women how to be black women. Tyrese and Steve Harvey are successful because they fell into careers that are mostly based on luck, not intelligence.  And Ben Carson has proved intelligence is over-rated.

So there's no reason to listen to any black man on how black women  should perform black womanhood. Any man that tries should be looked upon as suspect and told that he needs to check himself.

Let us all keep in mind that every group, including black men, have problems enough of their own to keep them busy for a couple of centuries or more.
 
* * * * *

from LisaAlamode.com

“YOUR WEAVES AREN’T FOOLING MEN” TYRESE BLASTS BLACK WOMEN FOR TRYING TO EMULATE THE FEATURES HE FINDS ATTRACTIVE

Read More:

http://lisaalamode.com/2017/03/18/weaves-arent-fooling-men-tyrese-blasts-black-women-trying-emulate-features-finds-attractive/

YOU CAN'T EAT BEAUTY by Lupita Nyongo

From May 2016

A BLACK GIRL WRITES  Lupita Nyongo and says she was saved by Lupita walking onto the world stage. She was just about to buy skin bleaching cream.

Lupita responds with a quote from her mother and says what it was like growing up and recovering from internalized colorism.

DENZEL MUST THINK WE'RE IN A POST-RACIAL COUNTRY BECAUSE OF ONE BLACK PRESIDENT

According to BOSSIP Denzel Washington said, 

Asked if colorism holds dark-skinned actors and actresses back in show business, Denzel replies, “One of the best roles for a woman of any color in the last, in a good while or at least any movie that I’ve been in, a dark-skinned woman has in this film. So as long as you’re being lead by outside forces or just being reactionary then you won’t move forward. You have to continue to get better.”

“You can say, ‘Oh I didn’t get the part because they gave it to the light-skinned girl, or you can work, and one day, it might take twenty years, and you can be Viola.” He continues, “The easiest thing to do is to blame someone else, the system. Yeah, well, there’s a possibility, maybe, that you’re not good enough, but it’s easy to say it’s someone else’s fault. But there’s a possibility that you’re not ready and you can still blame it on someone else instead of getting ready.”

https://bossip.com/1392220/denzel-washington-says-viola-davis-is-proof-colorism-doesnt-exist-in-hollywood/

In 2012, 9 out of 12 of the wealthiest black actresses (the ones that work the most) could pass a paperbag test in the dark. The only reason that may NOT be true right now is because of black women like Shonda Rhimes and Ava DuVernay giving dark-skinned black actresses work -- not due to black male directors and producers.

If Viola hadn't been given high visibility, opportunity to win acting awards, Denzel would have wound up with Paula Patton cast as his love interest...again. 

DENZEL WASHINGTON IS WHAT HAPPENS WHEN
A BLACK MAN BELIEVES THAT
EXAMINING WHAT IS  HAPPENING TO BLACK PEOPLE 

MEANS
EXAMINING AT WHAT IS HAPPENING TO BLACK MEN ONLY

Colorism's affect on black women is many multiples larger than it's affect on black men because a woman's worth is still connected to beauty in this society. And since white beauty aesthetic is the standard, light-skinned actresses get more work.

Viola Davis is probably 10x the actress Vanessa Williams is -- but Vanessa's networth is many multiples of Viola Davis's because she's light.  Angela Bassett's networth is much less than Halle Berry's and she's definitely the better actress.

If Washington had thought critically about how colorism affects black women just one time he wouldn't have essentially said,

"I'm not going to look around and see the pattern of what's happening to my sisters. The only black woman I care about is my wife. And when somebody questions me on colorism I'm going to think and talk like a white man who says racism is over because ONE black man got to be president."

He even added his OLD RICH-MAN-ITIS (MERITOCRACY BELIEF plus ARROGANCE) In a very Cosby-eske type manner he is saying,

"I made it, why can't you?"  

It is my firm belief that rocket scientists can brag about hard work paying off. But actors? Even without the racism and sexism, hard work and talent have to combine with luck at some point. I'm never going to find the words "I made it, why can't you?" between the lines and do anything but sneer. But a freaking actor? Come on! If there's another career more dependent on luck than actor, I can't think of it right now. There are people working in restaurants with more talent Meryl Streep who will simply never be in the right place at the right time.
And some of those more talented, harder working people are black women who are too dark.

Clearly, Washington does not understand just who it is that's been holding him up all these years. It's black women, by the way. And I think black women have been holding him high because he's one of the few black men in hollywood that has a black wife that looks black. I wouldn't have guessed that he would say something this ridiculous, but the handwriting was probably on the wall as far as him NOT-SEEING black women.

Reading between the lines of his entire career, you can see it. With the exception of maybe Jurnee Smollet as near as I can tell he did not use his power to advance one black woman in a 30 year career -- and I love her, but she's a paperbag passer.

Furthermore, the women's roles in most of the movies that he CHOOSES to be in as an actor OFTEN suck so bad I am usually glad black actresses weren't in them by the time I get to the end. I guess I don't have to wonder why anymore.

You know what's worse though? I think Spike Lee has advanced more white women's careers than he has light women's careers.

I was looking at all of Spike's movies, the first 3 or 4 actors billed in each of his movies (people with real speaking roles) and there were a lot more white women than I remember. Sometimes I went deeper than the top 3 or 4 actors to get to ANY woman at all. Other than his sister, the women were light and white a lot

You know why a lot of black men can't see colorism? It's just like white people who can't see their own white supremacy and white choices. It's just so normal to them. Despite being discriminated against based on race, black men willfully do not see their male supremacy and their male choices of lightness and whiteness both.

I just recently saw two photo collages online. One was of black actors and athletes married to white women. Another was of black actors married to black women. If you were to put both collages together I'm guessing 3/4s of the women were light or white. But I'm confused as to why young black girls are looking for long straight weaves and bleaching creams, aren't you? (Yeah. I'm being sarcastic) However, I'm not confused about Denzel's attitude. It's common as dirt among black men with power in Hollywood. We all know white racism informs colorism. Now you know sexism informs colorism too. There's no way Washington would have said this if he had the slightest notion of the problems that black women face. Again, it's particularly galling that the one dark-skinned black woman he named probably wouldn't have been on his radar at all if it hadn't been for another black woman, Rhimes, who appears to see colorism just fine--- which is why she works on dismantling it. Sexism - Colorism - Racism. Their enablers all think the same way.

All the Women are Light-Skinned: Colorism Comes to Survivor's Remorse

Feeling Rebloggy

"And all the wavy, light-skinned girls 

is lovin’ me now"

 ~ Jay Z lyric from “December 4th”

The television show Survivor’s Remorse has become this powerful beam, highlighting all that TV has yet to touch on, even during this Golden Age of peak TV. Serial killers, presidential affairs, mobsters, ad men, monsters in parallel universes—all these and more have come to the small screen, and one of the most surprising things on TV right now is a show offering up a storyline about one of the most common aspects of life… at least for black people.

Teyonah Parris

[August episode] “Photoshoot” (written by Ali LeRoi) centered on Missy Vaughn (Teyonah Parris), now Cam’s Media Consultant, booking a photoshoot for her client. She finds herself under attack after firing the light-skinned model who was hired to replace the dark-skinned model she originally booked to pose with Cam. 

Parris brilliantly delivers Missy’s point of view, as a business woman who wants to be well-respected for her work, and as a black woman who knows that, if she doesn’t take a stand and use her position to address problems she knows exist, she won’t respect herself after the work is complete. In fact, the work itself lacks relevance, the moment she can’t use it to address an issue that has plagued her since her youth—dark skinned girls are, in so many ways, invisible. From the cotton fields and big houses, to the rap videos and lyrics, to the movies and magazines—dark skinned girls are less than, and deserve the same...

~Pastemagazine.com

Read More: 

https://www.pastemagazine.com/articles/2016/08/all-the-women-are-light-skinned-colorism-comes-to.html

In the interests of refusing to support colorism, this is how you look up the entire cast of a show:  

1) Go to google images 

2) Type in television show name PLUS the word "cast" 3) A string of photos like this should pop up.
4) For me? The number of medium to dark-skinned sisters should outnumber the light 2 to 1 (I'm experimenting. I may go to 1 to 1)

EVERYDAY COLORISM, NEVER A LOVE STORY

Colorism is a hot topic right now,
so Im'ma tell y'all a story about when
it really settled in [for] me how    f***ed up it is.

My mom was good friends with a black woman at work who had children that I grew up playing with. We ended up calling each other cousins.

My cousin "T" was my age, also a girl, and very dark. Anywhere we'd go together it seemed like someone would comment how dark she was. She would always respond by laughing or making a joke of it. It got to the point where by the time we were in high-school together she would get to making jokes about her skin before anyone said anything. People would laugh.

She was super funny and likable, and attracted a lot of white friends who felt comfortable making jokes about her too.

She began to become more depressed. Every time she reached out her family would just say she wanted attention. I started seeing bleaching cream in her bathroom.


Every time we went out guys only talked to me and completely ignored her. They might even talk shit about her as we walked by. I could tell it bothered her a lot and it also really bothered me. At [some] point, every time we hung out,  I started getting uncomfortable with the overall vibe.

She would tell me I'm pretty in the saddest voice and it'd break my heart.

I remember she was a fantastic writer and would write these stories that were interesting but was always about a lighter skin girl who was wanted by everyone.

Back then I didn't realize how much being dark affected her everyday life. 

She distanced herself from me and others in the course of a year and dropped out of school randomly. I got a hold of her a couple times and she seemed sadder than ever, telling me she didn't want to be around white people anymore.

I didn't hear from her [for] a year.

One day I got a PM from a guy she used to date online. She had talked to him for several years and even made plans to see each other but each time it somehow fell through. She talked of him often and always mentioned how he liked her for her.

[So,] he messaged me one day (I've never spoken to him before) and said "Y'all are really f*cked up. This whole time you let her play this game with me. You just kept giving her photos knowing she was playing me? So f*cked up something wrong with both y'all"

I'm extremely confused. I reply "I have literally no idea what you're talking about, I swear. Are you talking about T? What did she do?"

After he was convinced I wasn't in on whatever he was talking about, he told me that since day one when he met T online years ago, she has been posing as me. He said she used tons of pictures of me, my family. Anytime he asked her to video chat she'd make sure i was around and just film us together being dumb and not really talking to him.

[Then,] I remembered that she would ask me randomly for pictures and I'd send them over, having no idea they were being used to catfish her online boyfriend. I asked him how he found out and he said she revealed it to him that day. He said he told her he never wanted to speak to her again.

The next day, I get a call from her. Her voice is weak and she says she overdosed and is going to die but she loves me. I rush to go get her and me and two friends help her into the truck and drive to the hospital. 

She ends up being okay. I knew it was about her revealing what she had been doing, and that guys reaction. I never said anything though, never asked about it. All I felt was guilt.

* * * * *

Black men should never, ever be left out of any colorism discussion
whether it be on a structural level or a personal level.
Not Ever. 

It has been six years since all of that and I still haven't said anything about it.

It is so hard knowing that she was suffering the whole time, hating herself and disguising it with humor. And to know that I was contributing in ways I didn't even realize to her pain makes it all the worse. 

Even though I didn't have a name for it then, I've seen countless instances of colorism happen to someone I love. I wish I could talk to her about it but she's doing well these days and I don't want to open those wounds.

RELATEDhttp://www.vibe.com/2013/06/20-light-skin-dark-skin-references-rap/





 "...And all the wavy light skinned girls is loving me now"  
         ~From "December 4th" by Jay Z, The Black Album, 2003

  Marriage to Beyonce', 2008


TO BE CONTINUED... SOON

BLACK WOMEN HAVE A RIGHT TO BE ANGRY ABOUT COLORISM

FROM FOR HARRIET'S
LET'S GET REAL ABOUT COLORISM

A) Colorims is a daily Marginalizing System like racism and sexism

B) SIDE NOTE TO LIGHT SKINNED WOMEN "I am not taking away your blackness..."

C) STUDIES ON DARKER VERSUS LIGHTER-SKINNED WOMEN

1) Socio-economic status is higher for lighter women than darker women

2) Housing you're allowed to live in is different for lighter versus darker women

3) Access to Education has historically been easier for lighter versus darker women

4) Success in running for public office is different for lighter versus darker skinned women

5) "Straight Outta Compton" Colorist Hiring List

6) Marriage Rates for darker skinned vs light

7) Income of the black man a woman marries is higher when a black woman is lighter

Black Power Couples after the VMA AwardsIMAGES LIKE THESE NEVER GETS TALKED ABOUT WHEN
YOUNG BLACK GIRLS START RUNNING FOR
LONG STRAIGHT WEAVES AND BLEACHING CREAMS

8) Darker-skinned girls are punished more harshly in school

9) Darker-skinned women receive longer prison sentences

10) Low income women with medium to darker skin are more likely to experience suicidal ideation

All the studies mentioned prove things were already known by black women and the people that actually love them. 
In the video below, Kimberly Foster makes a good case for how vigilant we have to be if we're going to make an effort to stomp colorism out or at least reduce it. But I'm going to go a step further and say we have to stop contributing to it ourselves. We have to vote for what we want  to see with our dollars.

What we see regularly is what we reproduce. I don't care how smart some of us think we are. What we see in our entertainment matters. 

So, I'm not watching "Luke Cage"

I'm not watching "This is Us"

I don't go to anything Kevin Hart is in

And, I'm running toward anything that puts the bite on "Straight Outta Compton" 

It's not likely I'm going to run to see anything that has Zendaya in either.

I'm not boycotting Zendaya or the new crop of light girls. But I'm not making an effort to support Zendaya or any other light women unless there's a darker-skinned black woman in it too. Again, I don't hate Zendaya or any other light skinned actress. But I've supported the careers of Halle Berry and Vanessa Williams for decades.

Been there. Done That. And done.

Light-skinned women ought to be grateful to me and a lot of black women like me.  

Yet, we ought to be grateful to the light-skinned sisters in entertainment and in every other profession too because light-skinned women broke the white glass ceiling for black women. They always do. But it's time to stop light-skinned women being 90% of the ones that benefit from the ceiling being broken when they probably represent less than 10% to 20% of black women.

It's 2016. Light-skinned black women have dominated black female roles in movies and television since 1960 at the very least. It's time for this to be over.

So, I'm going to reserve my dollars and my time for Lupita Nyongo, Aja Naomi King, and Danielle Brooks shaded sisters. I'm going to go to the movies to see black women who are more average in shade, just like black men go to see movies about themselves where the black actors are quite a bit more average in shade. 

By the way --> As much as I want to see the movie Moonlight it irks me, once again, that black men always get darker skinned black men to represent themselves but don't notice when all the women, except the shady politician -- a rich role for Alfre Woodard, I'm sure -- are light-skinned in respectability politics soaked television show Luke Cage. 

 

For Harriett Video - Let's Get Real About Colorism
With Research References You Look Up!

COLORISM IS A STICK BEATS BLACK MEN TOO

AS QUIET AS IT'S KEPT

Feeling Rebloggy

There is a tendency that I have noticed, that when dealing with issues of colorism, you would think that this issue does not affect Black men. While I can tell you from first hand experience that it does, I definitely understand why some Black men choose not to engage the topic. 

Hottie Felon
Jeremy Meeks Photo Went Viral

OUT OF JAIL 
MARCH 2016
INTO MODELING CONTRACT
 MARCH 2016 

I won’t re-tell to you some of the spiteful things that have been said to me as a dark-skinned fellow, because I don’t want to empower those mis-educated voices. I did have issues with self-perception due to my complexion, but thankfully I shed them as I got older. I have cut everybody loose who made me feel less than for the simple reason of what shade I am. That’s how I dealt with it.  But I can tell you that it was no cake-walk being my hue back in the day.

When you are regarded as more “dangerous” and menacing because of your skin shade, that ain’t a good feeling. It makes you at times go overboard to put people at ease around you

http://www.politeonsociety.com/2011/05/30/color-struck-the-politics-of-shade-in-the-black-community/

I wouldn’t deign to criticize another filmmaker’s voice or their hard work but as a dark-skinned black woman and someone whom [the film "Dark Girls"] would appear to represent, I have some reservations.

A number of filmmakers have explored black culture’s preoccupation with skin tone and hair texture, with mixed results. This includes Spike Lee’s School Daze, which featured a musical number with dark- and light-skinned black women fighting over “good” and “bad” hair, Chris Rock’s Good Hair, a comedic look at black women’s quest for straighter hair, andMy Nappy Roots: A Journey Through Black Hair-itage, by Regina Kimbell, an empowering film about black women struggling with and, ultimately embracing, their hair in all its varied glory.

Dark Girls (2011) by Bill Duke and D. Channsin Berry

It is interesting that while the issues around color and hair affect the lives of both black men and black women, the filmmakers tend to be male and the domain in which it is explored is female. 



I don’t believe this is just because beauty is a uniquely female concern. 

Instead, by framing the pathology and misery of the black experience in a female context, whether through derisive humor or with deep compassion, the male filmmakers are able to explore the topic from a comfortable distance. 
This is the nature of male dominance, and it happens at the expense of black men exploring and healing their own pain.

READ MOREhttps://ohgeeproductions.wordpress.com/2011/05/27/will-dark-girls-address-colorism-on-the-backs-of-black-women/

EVOKING THE MULATTO

Evoking the Mulatto is a multimedia project examining black mixed identity in the 21st century, through the lens of the history of racial classification in the United States. It was created by the filmmaker Lindsay Catherine Harris, and features compelling interviews with young Americans as they reflect on the complex process of defining themselves. This is the first of four episodes

http://www.theatlantic.com/video/index/471885/mulatto-its-not-a-cool-word/

" 'MULATTO' IS NOT A COOL WORD"

ETYMOLOGY  (noun) - the study of the origin of words and the way in which their meanings have changed throughout history. [Definition from google]


ETYMOLOGY OF THE WORD "MULE"  - 1590s, "offspring of a European and a black African," from Spanish or Portuguese mulato "of mixed breed," literally "young mule," from mulo "mule," from Latin mulus (fem. mula) "mule" (see mule (n.1)); possibly in reference to hybrid origin of mules (compare Greek hemi-onos "a mule," literally "a half-ass;" as an adjective, "one of mixed race"). As an adjective from 1670s. Fem. mulatta is attested from 1620s; mulattress from 1805.

http://www.etymonline.com/index.php?term=mulatto

DO WE ALL CONSPIRE TO PROTECT LIGHT PRIVILEGE?

I'm only 1/3 of the way through reading "A Taste Of Power," a book about Elaine Brown, one leader of the Black Panthers. 

Prior to reading the book, I'd have thought it doesn't matter whether a dark-skinned or a light skinned actress played her in a movie adaption of the book --just like it didn't matter with Mandela, Martin,  Malcom, Marva Collins, or Tina Turner.*

At first I couldn't figure out why the book so much time on her childhood. But within the 1/3 that I've read, Elaine talks about how poverty, class, and color, how being light-skinned affected her choices, her mindset, and her opportunities as a child, a teen, a 20 year old.

If someone eventually makes a movie about her life and includes her formative years, then the actress would need to be light-skinned. If somehow Elaine Brown's story was told by a white person or that always white-sought colorism-blind black person, where there wasn't any reference to her formative years -- much like Malcom X's story was told, then the actress could be light-skinned or dark-skinned because her skin color would have been erased from the story.

But Nina's story doesn't contain such a choice. Elaine's, as told by Elaine, really doesn't either. But even a blind white person can see or hear that a lot of Nina's work was about her distance from whiteness. 

Nina's person, Nina's art, Nina's music, Nina's interviews were about being a dark-skinned black woman. That's why even white(?) hollywood understood that they would only be able to hire the same paler, white-featured "black" actress they always hire if the actress wore blackface and a prosthetic nose.

It can be seen as standard operating procedure for white Hollywood  to offer the role to Saldana. (And, I do pray this was a white idea, omg) But no self-respecting black woman should have taken the part under these conditions -- which brings me to my next point. 

What is even MORE inappropriate is that Saldana's mindset on race is as far from Simone's as Donald Trumps is from Ghandi's on any subject under the sun. Her willingness to put on blackface and the prosthetic nose show us this. Her comments on how it was okay for White people to play Cleopatra, an Apache, and Othello (while wearing black face) show us this. 

The thing that's become clear in many of the discussion I've read on Zoe as Nina is that LIGHT PRIVILEGE and LIGHT FRAGILITY are as real as White privilege and white fragility.

LIGHT-PRIVILEGE =
Saldana's inability to see
that she could only be approved to play Nina Simone
in white/light circles
BECAUSE she is light-skinned
(like 80% - 90% of all black actresses
since film was invented)
DESPITE Nina's story being
a dark-skinned black woman's story

This whole thing is so much like white racism
IT
IS
SCARY

But there's a huge, heart-breaking difference between white racism defeny-ers and black colorism deny-ers.  
White racism deny-ers don't get high levels of agreement from their targets, the non-white. But colorism deny-ers do.

That is, I'd guess that 50% or more of colorism targets, the dark-skinned, will agree with colorism deny-ers in saying that colorism isn't real, or it wouldn't be if we could just stop talking about it And most of the time those screaming "There's-no-difference!!!" in treatment between dark and light skinned blacks, over and over with their hands over their ears, claim they are doing so in the name of unity. 

This will continue to rip us apart from the inside for as long as we allow the  reverse colorism screamers to go unchallenged. The reverse colorism screamers (dark and light in skin tone) are every bit as ignorant and vocal as white reverse racism screamers. And we need to let them know it at every possible opportunity.

As Patricia Collins has pointed out, every human being has sites of oppression and also of being the oppressor. This leaves black women, of all shades, not wanting to acknowledge that they are unwitting oppressors based on class or religion even as they are oppressed by white people and men. Black men don't want to admit the oppress black women as males because they are, along with black women, oppressed by white people. And light-skinned women, mostly via their denial of obvious and decades long looking-closer-to-white privilege, oppress dark-skinned women despite being the targets of racism too.

Saying we are "all one race" doesn't erase racism when white people shout it from the roof tops. And saying "We are one black people" doesn't erase colorism, light privilege, or light entitlement either.

Our fear of a lack of unity cannot get in the way of the truth.


White people at work prefer light-skinned women. White run Hollywood prefers light-skinned women. Black men in the public view, in large numbers, prefer light-skinned women. Yet, it is not all upside for light women. The jealousy, based on reality of preferential treatment, has to be dealt with. The fawning of black men and white people due to their light skin can't feel any better than being a person that's loved for their money -- not for the woke.

In my mind, the only thing that going to get rid of light tears and light privilege is to provide  rejection to those that are giving them that privilege rather than oppressing darker skinned women via denial. 

2013 Black Actress
Ladder Of Net Worth SuccessMost Black Actresses Left and Center
with Cosby Actresses Right

For those light women that don't feel or see any privilege, keep in mind that most white people don't see theirs either. And I suspect that light women with strongly black features might not have much privilege at all.

However, most of the time none of us will see our own privilege unless we dig hard to root it out like the author of the article below. 

We have to do better.

We need more Nina-Simone-Minded Black women among us. We have to talk about colorism, light tears, and light privilege. Tip-toeing around it has gotten made some us nearly as moronic on colorism as 50% of the white population is on race. 
Zoe Saldana is what happens when a people is more focused on being embarrassed and humiliated that colorism exists in the black community than that people focused on talking about it, understanding it, and trying to be rid of it.

Zoe Saldana, not raised by black Americans in this country, should have been completely and totally alone in her defense of playing Nina Simone in blackface. But she wasn't.  So, I have to wonder if Nina-gate wouldn't have happened at all if so much of the black community wasn't so colorism illiterate because we're so colorism secretive due to being colorism ashamed. Maybe Saldana would have had a chance to learn more about colorism and how she has benefited from it just by hearing about it here and there as she went about her day to day life.

There have been studies that show that all children, even black children are biased toward whiteness. What many people don't know is that there have been studies that show that black and brown adults are too. As black and brown people move from childhood to adulthood, the black and brown teenager (for example) knows what he or she is supposed to say as far as being proud of being black or brown. But there are questions and ways of asking questions so that the subject cannot adjust his answer to fit the proud black/brown narrative he or she has been taught.  And when those subtle questions are asked, most black and brown adults are found to be biased toward whiteness.

That is a shameful thing for most black people to admit because most black people want to believe that they haven't taken anything inside them as a result of living with white racism every day. But that's likely a prideful lie to preserve sanity.

Colorism should be seen as a piece of anti-black racism that's gotten inside us as a result of living with white supremacy. Our fear of speaking about colorism can be seen as a defensive mechanism designed to keep each of us from getting too close to figuring out how much white racism has gotten inside us.

The refusal to speak on colorism probably walks hand-in-hand with the refusal to look inside ourselves. And the refusal to look inside means we don't root out. And what we don't root out, festers -- much like racism festers with it's white victims unaware.

We have to do better. * * * * *

Consider article below an example of us "doing better." 

“As one light-skinned black woman to another: We need to check our privilege.”

Feeling Rebloggy

Being light-skinned isn’t a problem and it is not something that we ever have to apologize for, just as white people don’t have to apologize for being born white.

I’ve never been looking for white people to apologize for being white. I’m looking for white people to dismantle the system of White Supremacy that builds them up on the backs of people of color. 

And dark-skinned black people aren’t looking for us to apologize for having light skin, they are looking for us to help dismantle the system that places us above darker-skinned black people in society.

The same system that holds us above and separate from our darker-skinned brothers and sisters is the same system that holds whiteness above and separate from us. And we are a part of this system the moment that we benefit from it. And we do benefit. As a light-skinned black woman, I’m viewed as more desirable, more intelligent, less threatening. I’m treated better by bosses, I have better odds in job interviews. People don’t cross the street when they encounter me on the sidewalk. Yes, there is a large price to pay for all of that—I am fetishized by many in the white community [and black community, both and then] ostracized by many in the black community—but when placed on a scale, I benefit...

Read More: Nina Simone, Zoe Saldana, and Light-Skinned Fragility
http://www.theestablishment.co/2016/03/03/nina-simone-zoe-saldana-and-light-skinned-fragility/

*- in years not long past white actresses were selected for white biopics because they looked like the person. But black actors and black actresses were picked for black biopics by age(?) and never looks as there were only a 3 or 4 black actors or black actresses WITH LEAD ROLE EXPERIENCE to pick from at any given moment.

AMERICA FERRERA ON RACISM IN HOLLYWOOD

[At an audition] America Ferrera received a note that there was already a Latino actor cast in the film, and thus her chances were slim to none. So she decided to take a stand.

"I defiantly bleached my hair blond, painted my face white and made the audition tape," Ferrera said. She didn't get the part. "Let me tell you: Blond does not suit me. I try not to prove my point on audition tapes anymore."

Ferrera described the situation as feeling "powerless" — that what was keeping her from getting this role was totally out of her control. "What do you do when someone says, 'Your color skin is not what we're looking for'?" she told the Times.

http://mic.com/articles/136095/america-ferrera-shares-her-experiences-fighting-against-racism-in-hollywood-auditions#.pcuUM1DJh

It has always amazed me at how the slightest tinge of color in your skin can make you "not white" It's amazing. 

Black Actresses Left Ladder /  Cosby Actresses Far Right LadderFew Exceptions to the Darker Means Less Work/Less Money Rule

And the further you get from "not white" the more your chances decrease as far as getting roles. Prior to Shonda Rhimes, Mara Brock Akil and other black people going to work BEHIND THE CAMERA and influencing actress choices, you could see which black women were having "an easier time" in Hollywood based on their skin shade.  In fact, with black actresses, you can actually put them in order by skin shade and you will simultaneously be putting them in order by their net worth.

Racism in Hollywood isn't all about skin color though. America Ferrera is fairly pale. Some of her exclusion is due to non-white facial features too. And her last name announces she's not likely not-white before she shows up to audition probably isn't helping her either. Her last name may increase her "foreign" look once she stands before those with weak minds --unless a Latina is truly pale enough to pass ala Cameron Diaz.

 Asians whose features look more white have an "easier time" in Hollywood too. That's why Julie Chen had surgery to make her appearance less Asian. And it worked. She got more work and she's famous now. 

Liberal Hollywood has a long way to go on the anti-racism front. OscarsSoWhite the 2016 sequel  is just the part of the iceberg that's riding above the crest of the waves. 

CHESCALEIGH SAYS STOP FETISHIZING MIXED RACE BABIES

Feeling Rebloggy


A mixed race person a heck of a lot more conscious than some said,  "I hate it when white people when say walk up to me and say,   'You're so pretty because mixed-race people are just so much cuter. I wanna ask cuter than who?  It's like they're saying, 'Thank God you got some white in you to erase some of that ugly' black, Asian, or POC DNA."

And I say,
When people of color say this sort of thing, they are doing the same thing, only it's self hatred.

When mixed race people of color say the same thing about themselves, it's probably self hatred as well. They might as well go home and smack the parent that's a person of color in the face as much as they respect the darker/more-ethnic parent.

The 'oh my god they are so cute because they're mixed' conversation is a colorism/white-supremacy conversation because this conversation mostly comes up when the child is a pale person of color, and the other parent is white.

Halle Berry                Vanessa Williams

By the way, bi-racial and multi-racial is mostly about social choices as far as the black community is concerned because many if not most black people are "mixed." During slavery, rape was one of the benefits of ownership. We're all shades of the rainbow as a result.

While the genetics of skin color is a lot more complicated than dropping tablespoons of chocolate into a glass of milk, when it comes to black and white people having children together,  Vanessa Williams (two light-skinned black parents) looks about as "mixed" as Halle Berry (one black parent of unknown skin-tone and one white parent)

---which is why they both are legitimately able to identify, by choice, as "African American."    

ZENDAYA'S CHOICE: AFRICAN AMERICAN OR A DARKER SHADE OF PALE

"Though many are rejoicing in Mattell’s recent decision to bring diversity to its collection with the introduction of Zendaya Coleman look-a-like doll, some have taken to social media to share some unseemly and incredibly ignorant opinions about the mixed-raced actress’s desire to self-identify as a Black woman."

~Clutch Magazine

The crazy criticism aside, Halle Berry and Barack Obama are NOT getting this kind of push back. I'm not saying they never got any. I'm saying they are not being pulled apart like Zendaya seems to be routinely.



And I think you have to ask yourself why?


When I ask myself why, I think back to when Zendaya tried to get the role of Aaliyah in a Lifetime movie of the week (or some such nonsense). At the time, I scoured the internet for how she identified. I couldn't find much of anything except her father is black. I did NOT find one thing that said Zendaya claimed to be black. And I looked hard.


Again, unlike Halle Berry and Barack Obama, I did NOT see her decision to identify as "Black," "Black American," or "African American." However, I did see what I consider white run sites, like wikipedia, identify her as "bi-racial" which is a different identity CHOICE from "African American" --- "Bi-racial" is a choice much like Tiger Woods' choice to dislike being called "African American" (look up the Oprah episode)*


In fact, I didn't see one claim to blackness from Zendaya (or any hair in locks) until AFTER she lost the role of Aaliyah. Her sincerity about wanting to be black now is as suspect as Tiger Woods or Mariah Carey might be if they jumped up and claimed blackness all of a sudden. One drop rule or no one drop rule racial/ethnic identity involves a choice.

A choice.

A single choice

You do NOT GET multiple choices base on what's good for your career in 2012 or 2013 or 2014 or 2015.
Compare: Halle Berry and Barack Obama may be identified as "bi-racial" on various sites too. But there's information all over the net, left, right, center, up, and down that Halle and Barack identify as "African American" And that information was out there and everywhere BEFORE they were known to us actress or politician.

On a not-so-separate note, white society is suspect when it chooses ultra light-skinned women like Halle, Zendaya or Vanessa Williams (who has two black parents) to represent blackness FIRST, MOST, and damn near always.

Every single of one us light or dark, if we're so "united" ought to be tired of the opportunity boat always being so dang loaded at the light end that the dark end of the boat is sticking up in the air.* And ene end of the boat sticking up in the air always means the entire thing is on the verge of sinking.




And frankly, if light-skinned women are deciding they cannot need see white preference for light-skinned women in the decision to make this doll, in fashion, in the music industry, television* and movies --which is why actor wins for women that look like Lupita Nyongo and Viola Davis have been SOOOO long in coming-- then some of these skin-tone blind light-skinned women are just a darker shade of pale. That is, light folks who cannot see light-skinned privilege (ESPECIALLY those with white features) are just like white folks who cannot see white privilege. Only they ARE black and they are attacking us from the inside.

* * * * *

Ida B Wells, Mary Murray Washington (also Booker T Washington’s Wife) Jane Addams, Josephine St Pierre Ruffin, Josephine Bruce (also Blanche K Bruce’s Wife)  Mary Church Terrell, Julia Cooper.

All Black Women Suffragists and Black Women's Club Movement EXCEPT one white woman. Can you pick out the white woman and name her?

 * * * * *

Our conversations about light-skinned and dark-skinned people need to be a lot more nuanced than they have been. The jealousy from dark-skinned women over light preferences is as real as some light-skinned women's callous disregard for the pain causing the jealousy.




Shunning the colorissm conversation
by saying we're all the same,
all while claiming
it'll get better
if you just stop talking about it
(much like white folk say about racism)

all while leaving out
black men's inability
to challenge other black men
who claim colorblind sexual habits
while only dating light and white

is only going to get us more of the same.

The only positive thing I'm willing to say about Zendaya, at this point, is that she's young. And she gets to make a FIRST choice. And this really may be her first adult choice as far as racial identity goes. And she gets to choose to be African American. But her timing is suspect and she should take her lumps or explain herself because I get a say too.


I get to say whether or not you look like my sister, just like Halle, Vanessa, and Viola do, or if you look like some outsider trying to get over by using my identity.


Again, Zendaya is young. I get that. But if Zendaya is going to be African American, she better hurry up and grow into it...if she can. Throwing some locks on her head to be edgy after she loses an acting role isn't working for me.
http://www.clutchmagonline.com/2015/09/anger-about-zendaya-coleman-doll-her-claim-to-blackness/


In regards to colorism? This isn't working for me either. It hasn't worked for any of us for more than 100 years.