Colorism and Black Girlhood

In a world of racism between whites and blacks, there is a fixation in our black community surrounding the color of our skin. Colorism is a term that is defined as prejudice or discrimination against individuals with a dark skin tone among people of the same ethnic group. In the 1988 Spike Lee film, School Daze, Lee explores the effect of colorism on a Black community, especially for the young black women.

The film is solely based on students on the campus of a Historical Black College and University (HBCU), where Lee framed the colorism debate between two sororities. One of the sororities consisted of light skins with long straight hair and blue eyes, and the other of dark skin females with a shorter more natural style. This immediate divide was a clear signifier of the prominent issue that black communities have today with the whole light skins vs. dark skins debate. During the film the group of light skinned girls were being regarded as the better , prettier looking one than the women of darker complexions. Not only do they seemingly wear more glamorous clothes, hairstyles, and makeup, they were also being sought after by what was considered to be the best or the most eligible bachelors. This exemplifies the standards of beauty that society creates for young women of color, and the division of women in Black America.

Furthermore, let’s take note on how the significance of beautification in this film perpetuates the celebration of European beauty standards. The darker skin women are ridiculed for their hair because instead of trying to chemically alter it in order to follow societal beauty standards they wear their natural textures, while the light skin women continue to perpetuate this stigma. It’s interesting to see how the groups of women who alter themselves in order to fit into the frame of whiteness ridicule those who don’t. This influential standard digs more deeply into the reasons why colorism far more affects women.

Not to mention on how it also affects social interaction. Within the Black America community social groups such as sororities, fraternities, or elite social clubs will only allow entrance to blacks that are able to display certain features. For instance, the brown paper bag test. This test was used to determine if a person was eligible to get admitted into an organization. If the person were lighter than the paper bag they were admitted and If they were darker than they were out. Now of course this is test is no longer in use, but those Negative connotations such as ‘You’re pretty for someone who’s dark-skinned ‘ or ‘pretty for a black girl.”, or even the media retouching pictures of actresses of color to make them lighter before putting them on the front page of a magazine, still are negatively impacting the Black American community and preventing the culture itself from moving forward.

In all, for a culture that came from years of oppression and hatred inflicted by slave owners and was forced to think that because of their color, they were inferior, blacks have somehow reverted back to having a similar mindset. This is in fact damaging them as a whole. Because not only do black females have to deal with issues regarding skin tone with the majority group,but also deal with it within their own subgroups . Black America is tearing itself apart when it focuses on such a shallow aspect of a person that they cannot control. What a person makes of themselves and their aspiration are what should be what people be judged on, not the color of their skin. African Americans should work together as one to put a stop in colorism ,because it will continue to hinder the progression of the entire black community.

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