If you are Black, have you ever experienced colorism within your family, among y

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   gmwilliamsposted 12 years ago

   If you are Black, have you ever experienced colorism within your family, among your relatives,
   
   friends, and associates?
   
   

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   christopherantonposted 12 years ago

   I hate to seem ignorant, but what is colorism? It's a term I haven't come across before.

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      gmwilliamsposted 12 years agoin reply to this

      Colorism is discrimination among non-Caucasian people whether they are Black, Asian, and/or Latino based upon skin color.  In other words, it is intraethnic/intraracial discrimination.

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      ketageposted 12 years agoin reply to this

      So it is another word for racism?

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      gmwilliamsposted 12 years agoin reply to this

      No it is not.  It is intragroup discrimination in the Black community.  To put it more succinctly, it is shadeism or colorism i.e. it is discrimination based upon the color of one's skin.   Although it is not racism, it is an aftereffect of racism.

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   Credence2posted 12 years ago

   Whille I am aware that it exists, I have not experienced it personally...

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   mintinfoposted 12 years ago

   As a child I have experienced it among friends and relatives but not as an adult. While I wish that I was darker unfortunately I am light in skin tone (partially due to decades of living in Canada) but maturity among family and friends has pretty much eliminated the prejudice.

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   Alecia Murphyposted 12 years ago

   That's something I haven't encountered in my family. Everyone may have different shades but on both sides there's a strong resemblance so it would be silly to make fun of each other since you look so much alike.
   Of course in school there was the light skinned, dark skinned argument but it never really got much further than teasing and joking.

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      christopherantonposted 12 years agoin reply to this

      This seems sadly to indicate that idiocy trancends racial barriers. It looks like, when it comes to discrimination, no racial grouping is metaphorically "whiter than white".

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   mali2010posted 10 years ago

   Yes, I grew up with my paternal grandmother. I remember when I was a small girl I just spoke up to her and said" mama someday I'm going to marry a doctor or lawyer" she looked at me in a serious manner and said this,  "no you are not because those type of men want either light skinned ladies or white ladies,they want to be with someone they would be proud to show off" Yes, her words did hurt somewhat but in those days colorism was all around in the neighborhoods, schools and the church.  It was just a common way of life so my grandma's words weren't unique. She had 10 grandchildren we all were brown skinned in color. She never carried any of our photos in her wallet. But when one of her granddaughter's gave birth to a bi-racial child she carried a picture of this young girl in her wallet and always showed it off to mostly white people. Her greatest thrill was how her family doctor who was white responded after seeing the photo, he told her how stunning her great  granddaughter was, my grandmother just gushed and bragged about this white man's reaction to the photo.When I turned 9 years old I decided I was going to do something about my skin color I was tired of being told "only lighter skinned black girls got the best of everything and I was tired of being among huge crowd of dark skinned girls who were pushed to the sidelines ignored  standing silent and watching the royal treatment light skinned girls received. I saw an ad in Ebony magazine advertising a brand of bleaching cream it  showed several shots of brown skinned model and the last photo showed how she had turned light after using this brand of bleaching cream  a caption under the photo read, you can be beautiful too. I remember going to the corner drugstore to pick up a Sunday paper and I also picked up a can of bleaching cream I hid it in the paper and sneaked it in the house. I remember locking myself in the bathroom and rubbing the cream on my face. In my poor little child's mind I knew I would turn light skinned overnight I would surprise everyone in my family. It was like Christmas eve I knew the next morning  I would look in the mirror and see a new little girl. Well I woke up the next day I was still brown skinned and I was disappointed. But life went on and what saved me in  my future years was the dawn of the great black pride movement.That era sat a new course for me.It taught me to be proud of the features my African ancestors passed down to me.I have been that way ever since.

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