Colorism

Lupita Nyong'o    movieweb.com

Lupita Nyong´o, a 33 years old oscar-winning Kenyan actress gave a speech at the essence black women last year and talked of being teased and taunted for being darker skin. She claimed of even making deals with God, to obey her mother and be a better kid if only God would make her skin lighter. "When i was a teenager my self-hate grew worse, because when i put on the television and flipped through beauty magazines, all that i saw was fair skin ." Lupita added.

Like you can imagine many people especially  teenagers with darker skin suffer the same fate as Lupita.

But why is it like that? Why is fair skin consindered more beautiful?

Is it a product of centuries and centuries of white oppression? Is it a mere media portrayed image? Is it just a normal subjective perception of the human eye? Just like light is associated with good and dark with evil,white portrays joy and black sadness?

To understand this, we have to dig deeper to the roots of the matter.

You see, back in the days people had to toil day after day in the farms, ranches or mines under the hot sun to earn a living. The longer you stayed in the sun the darker you automatically became. The fair skin was therefore considered a symbole of wealth, since only rich people could afford to stay indoors. It then continued during the time of colonisation and slavery where lighter skinned slaves received favours that darker skinned did not. Todate, people from the villages tend to be darker than those who live in the urban areas.

Colorism refers to discrimination within communities of colour towards those with darker skin.

Colorism is the mother of racism. It exists in all races and in all cultures.


Men prefer lighter skin women, parents fair children, bosses fair employees. Indians, Carrebeans, Chinese, Africans or even Black-americans. You will hear someone saying 'You are really pretty for a dark skinned girl." The society has forced these people (especially teenagers) to loath their dark skin and to turn to extreme dangerous methodologies including surgeries or bleaching creams to make their skin a few shades lighter, but let me come to that another day.


A white person reading this will be buff because white people (caucasians) are different. A caucasian will prefer tanned skin. Paleness is seen as a sign of illness and being little under the weather. They will spend hours outside on sunny days to get a few shades darker. Others will even pay money for solariums to get  exposed to artificial uv-light and attain some `color´. There is no discrimination as such among the white people.

Maybe we should fight colorism first, before we can fight racism. It is said that charity begins at home.


No one should feel discriminated especially not in their own community. Everyone is a beauty in their own shade.

I think that the biggest problem though, is not the hate from outside but the self-hate. The feeling of self worthlessness. Our inner dimmed eyes which makes us see ourselves from the ugly perspective. Why should the shade of your skin make you feel smaller than you are?

I must admit that not many very dark skinned people are out there to set an example. But the few who saw the beautiful part in them and believed that they are beautiful no matter what the society dictated; those few, my friend, ended up conquering the world.

So when you step infront of that mirror today, look at yourself from the beautiful perspective.

No one else dictates your beauty, but yourself!!!


Lots of luv
ItsRose_Beth