Colorism Denied: Embracing the Spectrum of the Black Experience
Sometimes, a personal story is enough proof of the existence of some condition, state or object. We are all under immense pressure to fit in, to assimilate and project the “American” image. After all isn’t that the definition of faith; the substance of things hoped for the evidence of things not seen (Heb. 11:1).
While strolling my Facebook newsfeed the days following the 2016 BET Awards show, a disturbing theme appeared: Jesse Williams isn’t black enough to be so black power and David Banner has been saying what Jesse Williams said.
The old divide and conquer strategy: colorism. Oxford Dictionary defines colorism as “prejudice or discrimination against individuals with a darker skin tone, typically among people of the same ethnic or racial group.” While Jesse Williams has made the latest ripple, colorism is a vast ocean that has, since the days of ancient Nubia, longed divided and weakened black people the world over. And the colorism phenomena is not exclusive to the African diaspora. In fact, evidence of colorism can be found in every society colonized by Europeans. Colorism is a symptom of white supremacy, which only makes sense when you understand that privilege comes from bearing closer resemblance to whiteness.
Resist the devil (adversary or adversarial events) and he will flee (end). Resist the urge to reject a message just because the messenger’s appearance aren’t to your specifications. A message carried by many messengers, through many channels has a greater chance of reaching its intended audience, rather than relying on a single messenger or channel alone. Diversification is important because it allows for many perspectives. What better way is there to get the full picture? As the facts of life would have it, some may receive it more willingly from a messenger like Jesse Williams, while it’s true others may more readily receive from a messenger like David Banner.
Are either messenger’s words less true because of the degree of melanin in their DNA, a completely random and uncontrollable biological event predetermine by some unknown force before a person’s birth. We shouldn’t continue to allow colorism to regulate how we interact with, receive from or think about one another.
In final thoughts, some like their coffee black, yet others like a little coffee with their cream and sugar: Nevertheless, coffee is coffee. Or as Sil Lai Abrams so clearly and concisely put it in her Huffington Post article about colorism and the black experience, “A n*gger, is a n*gger, is a n*gger.”
