Colorism: The Different Shades of Racism
Today is Juneteenth, first observed as a federal holiday in June 2021 under the Biden administration. It celebrates the emancipation of enslaved Africans during slavery in America. June 19th is the chosen date from 1865 because on this day, General Order #3 proclaimed freedom for enslaved people in Texas. So, because of the holiday, it makes sense that I’ll be writing about a subtopic of racism: colorism, which “is generally defined as a discriminatory practice by which lighter skin tones, straight hair, and relatively more Eurocentric facial features are preferred over darker skin tones, kinky hair, and more stereotypically Afrocentric facial features”*** (Monk, footnote 10).
The reason behind this blog is because of the prevalence of colorism in the Latinx community, wherein I identify. As an Afro-Latina, born in the South American country of Brazil, my ancestry stems from enslaved Brazilians, similar to the ancestry of Black Americans, who descended from enslaved people of mainland North America. The captivity and dissemination of black bodies from Africa into North and South America, also referred to as the African diaspora, accounts for the majority population of this region to be descendants of African slaves. Even though both my native country of Brazil and my current country of residence and dual citizenship, the U.S., have a history deeply rooted in slavery and racism, the individual and institutionalized racism in both countries are very different. Looking at me, my brown skin clearly demonstrates my African ancestry, however, in the U.S. there is a deeper, more wounded significance behind being African (Du Bois, 1903)*. In Brazil, even though institutionalized racism exists, colorism also exists (Telles, 2004)**. Discrimination increases according to skin darkness. Because I am not on the darker spectrum, my experiences with racism as a Brazilian have been few and far between. However, in the U.S., having been socially constructed and divided by Black and White, racism is realized for anyone with any shade of brown skin, individually, and institutionally.
The first time I learned that colorism also exists in the U.S. was after watching Spike Lee’s School Daze, a movie about HBCU (historically black colleges and universities) life in the 1970s. I also wonder about how deeply colorism affects people in a White supremacist society that values Whiteness. Do lighter skinned individuals present more confidence? Do darker skinned individuals present more defensively? There is so much engrained in racism in both the U.S. and in Brazil that a little blog like this would never suffice. But it can be used to start a conversation about why this happens. In Brazil, many people identify as White when they have African ancestry but they are light skinned. My birth certificate states that I’m White, based on someone’s subjective classification on the color of my newborn skin. One day, I’ll discover how race was classified at hospitals over 40 years ago in Brazil. The good news is that in BOTH countries, I see more and more Black pride in hair, history, culture, fashion, etc. Brazil has even been looking at affirmative action practices for college admissions, based on the U.S. model. There is evolution and progress but it all starts with acknowledging the problem and taking action to evolve for the better.
*Du Bois, W. B. (1903). The Souls Of Black Folk. pdf.
**Telles, E. E. (2004). Race in another America: The significance of skin color in Brazil.
Princeton University Press. AND https://www.un.org/en/chronicle/article/racial-discrimination-and-miscegenation-experience-brazil
***https://www.amacad.org/publication/colorism-skin-tone-stratification-united-states