Colorism - Black Versus Black

"Colorism is a practice of discrimination by which those with lighter skin are treated more favorably than those with darker skin. In the African American community, this traditionally played out via the paper bag test. Those lighter than the standard paper lunch bag were allowed entry into fraternities, sororities and other realms of black upper class life while dark-skinned blacks were excluded. The Spike Lee film “School Daze” is an exploration of colorism. Definition of Colorism. (2011). Retrieved June 2, 2011, from, http://racerelations.about.com/od/understandingrac1/g/definitionofcolorism.htm

Why must we do that to each other? There are enough troubles in the world without discriminating against each other. It is even worse when it's in the African American community. We discriminate against each other because of the shades of our skin. Many of us make a difference on how we should marry, who we should be around or who we should hire because of the shade of our skin.

I have seen colorism being exercised with how my boys were treated differently when they were younger. My boys are 3 years apart. They would come up to my youngest child because he was light skinned and had green eyes just to talk and play with him but they never said anything to my oldest son. I even experienced this with some members of my family. They would always have good things to say about my youngest son, bring him gifts and offer to take him places. They alienated my oldest son because he was not light enough. He never wronged anyone. He was just an innocent child. I could see the disbelief in my oldest son's face. He did not understand why they picked his brother over him. I made sure that I taught my kids that there is no difference and that what the adults were doing was not right.

I remember when I was in elementary school and I watched the other kids tease and bully anyone that was darker than them. It saddened my heart. How can we continue to turn a blind eye to this as if it doesn't go on?

There was a popular case in the year 2000, when a black waiter sued his manager (another black man) because of racial discrimination. He stated that his manager made derogatory comments about the color of his skin because he was darker.

Colorism is no big secret. This is something that has been going on for years in the black community. It has been programmed in us from generation to generation. We have to break that chain and realize that at the end of the day, no matter how you look at it, we are all the same! We are all the beautiful creations of God. Remember, God does not show favoritism and neither should we.