Posted on July 24th, 2008 by Tariq Nelson
From an article at the Root, by Keith Josef Adkins on the privilege of having light skin. There is also increasingly a such thing as “non-black” privilege.
Which brings me back to Dyson and his incarcerated brother.
Filed under: Race
While I do believe there is “some” truth in the more positive treatment of lighter skinned blacks vs. darker skinned blacks in “some” situations, I do NOT believe that it creates criminals. If some boss wants to pay you (light guy) $15/hr and you (dark guy) $12.50/hr all based on your color (undercover of course), you are still making money. You don’t rob, stab, shoot, and kill over a $2.50 pay check difference. You might be mad definitely, but that shouldn’t automatically throw you into criminal mode. EVEN if it was this way over a period of years, it doesn’t give someone the right to become a criminal.
I do notice the low quality of teaching staff in some areas of the US, and the attitudes of some children living in impoverished areas, but plenty of people growing up in those same conditions with those same type teachers have made it out and become successful.
The criminal “I’ll never be more than this-this is my destiny-I’m a prisoner in my dark skin” attitude is instilled at a young age and it can take alot to overcome it; however, it is not impossible.
If someone close to you won’t “give” you advice on how to succeed, find out how on your own to the best of your ability. If someone close to you won’t or is not able to support your ambitions, desires, and dreams, then find someone who can and will. Life isn’t always easy and things most definitely are not always handed to you. Light or black, you still have to work for yours.
BTW - I know people who have overcome situations where they were not given all of those “privileges” but fought hard throughout their lives to not be a statistic and not follow whatever mindset was prominent in their families growing up. They are very successful. They did not take on a defeatist attitude. They are of darker skin and lighter skin.
Big props to hard workers of all colors!!!!!
Just wanted to clarify about the teaching staff part. Sometimes I think faster than I write.
I was trying to state that sometimes it is a lack of training in our staff that gives the disadvantage to students in neighborhoods that are not affluent. So, the children are not encouraged to do better because the staff are not motivated themselves to do any better. They are there just to get by and encouragement is not part of their syllabus. This affects both lighter and darker skinned children. It has nothing to do with preference in these situations.
most of the people in “da hood” tend to be darker skinned
My paternal grandparents had 18 grandchildren. Only two of them were not light skin. Me and another female cousin. We were never mistreated and I might dare to say that I may have been one of the most beloved. Out of those 18 there were 7 girls and 11 boys. My sister and I are the only College graduates out of all 18. The only to have had our children legitimately. 2 boys have been murdered. 1 has served time for murder. Several are/were on drugs. None of the boys were raised in the hood, but in a nice middle class area with houses and a good school district. 9 of the boys (excluding my brother) were raised in a two parent house with a stay at home mother and are Muslim! Go figure…
There are several factors which may determine how a child will be able to deal with their darker or lighter complexion. If you have a dark-skinned child, but are scared of a suntan, demonize someone by attributing their bad character to their dark-complexion rather than their morals, openly admire light-skinned people in the media while disliking darker-skinned people in the media, and several other unspoken actions that devastates a child’s self-esteem, then you are a part of the problem. If you allow you child to be a witness to these actions by others without explaining to them how ignorant such acts are, you are damaging your child.
My child is lighter than his parents, he learned about race when he entered a Black school where he was categorized as “light-skinned” and praised for it. He came home to me and spoke of it as if he was voted class president. I quickly set him straight and let him know that complexion is nothing to be rewarded for because we were born with it. It did not take hard work, determination, faith, or any other admirable attribute to achieve a complexion! He is the smartest kid in his class, but he has two dark-skinned parents who know how to do their job as parents as the reason. When you give your child proper tools, he or she can do anything regardless of complexion!
i agree with the part that if a child is expected to act a certain way, it does help form his character, whether in a positive way or not.
For dynamite soul, not all parents would take the time or even interest to explain this to their child.
A darker child expected to just get by in school, and basically be a lost case may find it easier to just conform to those expectations than take the extra effort to break free of the stereotype. yes i know there are exceptions and i have deep respect for those who do.
criminal tendencies aren’t innate, they are acquired, and the role the community plays in nourishing these expectations is very disappointing.
I don’t agree with Dyson’s theory.
Yes, his cousin is had his troubles. There may be some other darker skinned people who are incarcerated, but before he should use color as an possible answer to his brother’s actions, he needs to think about these lurking variables: favortism.His brother only reacted to his negative treatment he received from his family.Nobody wants to be treated unfairly. In reverse reverse cases, there have been lighter skinned people who claim the same thing.
People have different ways of dealing with their problems, whether it’s understandable/incomprehensible. Nobody want to be treated as the Black sheep of the family. Dyson’s cousin may have done incomprehensible things to cope with his anger and to get attention from others.
There was a woman and her sister that I would see after classes. Both have kids. Woman A’s kids didn’t have a great life, but her kids end up leading productive lives, while woman B’s kids didn’t far as well as one of them had developmental problems. Woman B was a college graduate with a great job. Society says it supposed to be the other way around. Why? Woman A would let on a little secret that I didn’t expect for her to tell me: Her sister wasn’t a maternal woman. She never played with her kids as babies and as small children. As a result. Mentally and emotionally, they didn’t grow as well as they should have. They would get it from her( Woman A). Colorwise, One is fair complexion, the other is more of a tan color.Woman A’s kids faired a little better because she was there for them and fro her sister’s kids.
Reaction, not color is what makes one more prone to crime.If Dyson believes in theory of darker skinned people being more prone to crime, then he should also get another assessment of the dark skinned people who are well together and have never seen the insides of a jail cell. It almost sound as cop-outish as somebody telling me that I will be a statistic because I come from a single family home.People do not react to life without a reason behind it.
Assalamu Alaikum,
Well, I was going to link to your earlier entry on marrying lighter and lightening up the later generations, but then you linked to Keith’s post (of course you did) and here I am.
I think that all comments on a show like this one are necessarily edited, and so while we heard something important, some of the context of the conversation was lost.
I think Rev. Dyson has a point to an extent.
Wait, hear me out.
I’m the daughter of two dark-skinned Black Tuskegeeans. My parents, and especially my mother, have fought from day one to instill the inherence of the notion that dark skin is beautiful and has no bearing whatsoever on capability and intelligence.
And I’m glad they did so because, boy, did they need to do so. Growing up in Conservopolis (Midwestern city) I heard all the taunts.
Wrong is wrong. However, the way a person’s personality is shaped may determine whether or not they choose wrong.
That’s the quick and dirty comment. InshaAllah I have more remarks later.
peace
TwennyTwo
As-Salaamu `Alaykum,
This brother, who became a drug addict had more issues that just a perception that he was being treated unfairly in comparison to his ligther skinned brother. Substance abusers typically go through various states on their road to “recovery”, one of those being anger and resentment at others. His current thinking is his biggest problem.
Perhaps this was more of an issue in our community a couple of generations ago than it is today. I have former associates that I grew up with where the lighter skinned guys were the misfit “players” that smoked “dust” & “primos” and caught cases while the darker skinned guys went on to get good jobs and stayed out of prison. I know quite a few cases of this actually, and I grew up in the South.
This isn’t the first time that I disagree with what Dyson has said.
Wassalaam
Salaams Tariq,
I find the claim that colorism lead to this brother’s criminal behavior to crime a bit dubious. However, colorism is real and it has real effects on the lives of people. There are real statistics from real studies that show that phenotypically African criminals are more likely to be punished more severely, light skinned and racially ambiguous Blacks are more likely. For example we have the study:
http://www.diverseeducation.com/artman/publish/article_6306.shtml
Importantly, I think that Instead of talking about the privilege of 88% of Americans, it would be more effective to talk about the increasing marginalization of Black Americans, who are neither bi-racial nor ethnically ambiguous, in multicultural communities. Perhaps if we broach the issue that way, we can look at ways to address and rectify the process of social exclusion and various forms of discrimination in multi-ethnic environments where any given group can make claims of minority status.
I agree what Dyson’s statement. I’ve seen it in my own family time and time again. The lighter skin is seen as some type of honor. It can make a child grow up to hate themselves, their parent or sibling. It makes it more difficult when the same thing happens at school w/their respective teachers or coaches.
It’s not so direct as.. I’m dark I’m going to rob a store, but when you grow up feeling rejected by those you love most people will lash out in their own way.. and let’s not address the ‘justice system that lies in wait.
Let me first say
I think there is a lot in what indigo is saying. No one overtly says that dark skinned people will be criminals, but a “criminal” look is a dark skinned man while a “pretty boy” is a light skinned man. This goes back a long way with us. There were “paper bag tests” and “comb” tests for hair. We had sororities (cough *AKA*) vacation spots, social clubs and even churches where one had to be light skinned to become a member. This light skinned elite had more money and were better educated than the dark masses. They had Links and Jack & Jill for themselves while denying entry to the black underclass. You know why? Because they thought they were better than dark skinned blacks
We can’t sit here and just forget that all of this happened and play dumb and scratch our heads when someone like Dyson’s brother makes a statement like he does.
The great equalizer was sports. How many light skinned sport stars have you seen?
Sports an equalizer, is that comment tongue in cheek or for real?
At the risk of being flamed, I think the big two professional American sports (basketball and football) are somewhat modern day forms of slavery. Fights to the death between gladiators for the entertainment of the masses.
How many of those guys, especially in pro football, are discarded by the wayside when a younger, fitter version shows up.
I know colorism has defeated many people I care for in my life. I have seen family, friends, and associates from several generations suffer from the cruelty of colorism in the black community.
We have colorism in the muslim community that plays a large part in success or failure.
Salaam
Okay,
Light skinned privilege is is rarely talked about in mainstream press. I’ve read interviews ranging from Mariah Carey, Maya, Alicia Keyes, Halle Berry, and Faith Evans discussing how they were they made fun of because they were mixed. But at the same time, their multi-racial features draw the spotlight and compared to their darker sisters, they enjoy more status and popularity. Rarely do you hear them talk about stories how their dark skinned friends were made fun of, how their darker friends were negatively compared to them, etc. I am not saying that is not tough. My mother spoke of the privileges and challenges she faced as a light skinned black woman. I feel like her accounts are much more multi-dimensional than the “woe is me, I don’t fit with either blacks or whites” stories. Okay, end of rant.
While dark skinned black men do experience real discrimination in the broader society, whether for job interviews or in the penal system, within the Black community dark skinned men experience less discrimination than their female counterparts. My brother, who is dark skinned, was loved because of his chocolate skin. Since he was a child, he was adored. Maybe some men have experienced rejection because of their dark skin, but my brother and many other dark skinned men I know were celebrated. Many light skinned men, on the other hand, are not considered black enough or even masculine. Perhaps it is more complicated than we make it out to be.
As I stated before the dark skin-light skin issue does work both ways, but the majority of the time lighter skin, weather you are male or female, is more praised than darker skin especially in the black community. Because of this, I think one is just to counter to obvious other.
Although dark skin is the epitome of blackness, the closer one is to white via skin color, hair texture, eye color, especially in the black community, they are usually considered more attractive. This is true, especially considering skin color, of the Indian community and Asian community. I live in the south where it is, perhaps, more obvious.
Though I can not deny that darker skin black men are typically looked at as being more
How, even as children, dark skin is seen as something bad/negative/wrong as opposed to light skin:
http://www.blackpressusa.com/News/Article.asp?SID=3&Title=Hot+Stories&NewsID=10180
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HP2AEGli5OI&feature=related
There’s no light skin privilege in Philadelphia.Most parents don’t favor light skin kids.I’m black and light (yellow) skin.I had lived in Philadelphia (ninth-poorest US city,blacks are the majority) for many years.In Philly many brown skin and dark skin black young adults date only brown skin and dark skin blacks.I lived in cities that weren’t like this.My light (yellow) skin and my brown skin black cousins lived in some zipcodes in Philly that have many sex offenders and none of the black men would date my light skin cousin and many black men wanted to date my brown skin cousin.There are few light (yellow) skin black and brown skin or dark skin black young adult couples in Philly.
diane77:
Well, it