"It's offensive," Toney said. "It continues a negative stereotype.""I'm perceived to be aggressive, assertive, attitude-having ... a lot of things, because my complexion is darker," said the 24-year-old receptionist.
The party was canceled last week after its promoter, who is black, received dozens of complaints. But for Toney and other black women, the issue reopened old, deep wounds as word of the party spread through the Internet.
How black women are viewed - and treat each other - depending on the hue of their skin, eye color, and the length and grade of their hair has long been a point of contention for many in the black community.
Many women with lighter skin frequently are accused of believing they are better than those with darker complexions. Many women with brown or dark-brown complexions complain that they too often are not treated as well socially or professionally as those with fairer skin.
"I think they get to slide in a little easier," Toney, who is pursuing a master's degree in counseling, said of women with lighter skin. "They are assumed to be passive and nice and sweet. I feel I have to do a little bit more. Number one, I'm black. Number two, I'm dark and I have short hair."
Promoter: 'I thought it was brilliant'
Ulysses Barnes, who goes by the name DJ Lish, says he canceled his "Light Skinned Women & ALL LIBRA's" promotion after complaints rolled in from women, activists and organizations across the country.
"I thought it was a brilliant promotion at the time," said Barnes, who has spent the last several days apologizing to people. "I didn't anticipate any type of feedback. It was just a party thing."
Barnes, 27, canceled future "sexy chocolate" and "sexy caramel" promotions and just wants the controversy to go away.
But Detroit author and anti-racism advocate Elizabeth Atkins believes it's time for open, effective dialogue on how black women truly see and interact with one another.
"The celebrated standard of black beauty have been the Lena Hornes of the world," said Atkins, referring to the fair-skinned singer and actress who became one of the most popular black performers in the 1940s and 1950s. "It's been the fair-skinned, straighter hair, bigger eyes and pointed nose."
Horne got her start as a dancer in the famous Cotton Club in Harlem. Most dancers at the nightclub in its early years had light or fair complexions.
Activist: Media feeds into stereotypes
Atkins and Los Angeles author and women's movement activist Pearl Jr. say media portrayals of black women feed into the stereotypes that are perpetuated by blacks.
Women who should be embracing their shared racial and cultural heritage instead harbor suspicion and resentment, Atkins said.
"They might be talking about flowers, or the weather or a wedding," she said, "but in the back of their minds they're thinking: 'She's looking at my dark skin or kinky hair.' Whereas the lighter-skinned woman is thinking: 'She's looking at my skin, or she's looking at my eyes and my hair, and making all kinds of assumptions of how much easier I must have it."'
Study: Skin color may affect hiring
There may be something to that perception.
A 2006 study by University of Georgia doctoral candidate Matthew Harrison shows skin color may play a role in hiring. Psychology undergraduates, most of whom were white, were given fake photos and resumes to make hiring recommendations.
Lighter-skinned women applicants were preferred over those with darker complexions but equal credentials. Light-skinned black men also were preferred over those with dark skin who had better credentials.
Such thinking is rooted in America's slavery past, Harrison says. Lighter-skinned children of slaves and their owners were given better treatment and less strenuous household chores than darker slaves who toiled in the fields.
"That created a lot of animosity among slaves and began to replicate itself even after slavery," Harrison said. "Once blacks were able to have their own groups, they too adhered to the whole system of lightness being better."
One of the ways they did so was the "brown paper bag" test, in which blacks whose skin was darker than the bag's color were denied inclusion into social events or organizations.
Not 'black' enough?
But lighter-skinned black women also complain they at times are accused of not being "black" enough.
Tamika Franklin, who works with Toney, says she was taunted as "white girl" by other black children. The 30-year-old administrative assistant has very fair skin, freckles and reddish-brown hair. She says whites appear to be more accepting of her than blacks.
"I'm closer to their shade, so they're a little more comfortable with that," Franklin said.
That's because whites set the standard for what is considered attractive and acceptable, Pearl Jr. said.
"I believe they think the lighter you are and the straighter your hair, the more you resemble them and the better you are," she said. "We have been taught as African-Americans to be less African, less dark."
The issue is central to "Other People's Skin," four novellas released this month and co-authored by Atkins and three other black women. The fictional work looks at discrimination that results from "colorism" in the black community.
Atkins has a fair complexion and long, light brown hair. Her mother is black and father is white.
"People have mimicked me to my face ... that I talk white or proper," said Atkins, who earned a master's degree at Columbia University. "An ex-boyfriend told me I should talk more black and go to a tanning salon to get darker. Another man told me I should dye my hair brown if I wanted to do business with black people.
"We often face hatred within the race, and it's more hurtful from your own people than the mainstream."
Black Spin will continue to address this controversial issue until it has been resolved and stamped out once and for all ...
Comments: (333)
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By: kia thompson on 8/02/2008 3:43AM
im blk german indian and white my hair real lightbrown reddish with some blonde in it and i have freckles on both sides of my face when it comes to pimples and cuts and scars they show easly but i believe blacks are dogging on themselves more than whites do. blacks having self hate i mean being lightskinned is bada** but everywhere i go i always got black girls mean mugging me or dont want to hang with me because im not loud,ghetto and etc...black people all around need help honestly to realize this is a HUGE PROBLEM
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By: kayla on 2/16/2009 1:37PM
All you sound stupid as hell
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By: AP on 6/20/2009 10:43PM
.
Few people ever seem to bother (or want) to note
the fact that THE DJ (who had actually planned &
promoted the cancelled 'Light-Skinned Libra Party'
in Detroit, MI) is, himself, a person who HAS
A skin tone which is that of being of a VERY
DARK COMPLEXION (and yet, still, he wanted to
host a party in which he publicly rejected
the very people who share his own features).
Those who drone on and on about how people who
have a darker-complexion skin tone are so often
'discriminated against' -- seldom seem to want
to also admit that the people who direct this
'discrimination' against them are USUALLY also
of a dark (not light) skin-complexion themselves
(ex. friends, relatives, potential partners, etc.).
Thus, one cannot help but to feel that the REAL
question should NOT be "Why does it seem that
the lighter complexioned people are so 'favored'?"
-- BUT RATHER -- "How can society help the darker
complexioned people stop rejecting each other?".
Blaming the 'discrimination' -- which is often
suffered by the people who are of a darker skin
complexion -- on the simple "existence of" or
the alleged "favor toward" the 'people with a
lighter skin-complexion' will NOT result in
the 'discrimination' disappearing -- but rather,
will simply serve as a 'SMOKESCREEN' to distract
from the REAL problem -- which clearly seems to
be that of a strong 'SELF-HATRED' embraced by
some darker-complexioned people that is apparently
then PROJECTED onto other dark-complexioned people.
RELATED LINKS:
http://boards.mulatto.org/post/show_single_post?pid=34070414&postcount=14
http://boards.mulatto.org/post/show_single_post?pid=34070161&postcount=13
.
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By: AP on 6/22/2009 12:28AM
.
Few people ever seem to bother
(or want) to note the fact that
THE DJ (who actually planned
and promoted the cancelled
'Light-Skinned Libra Party'
in Detroit, MI) is, himself,
a person who HAS A skin tone
which is that of being of a
VERY DARK COMPLEXION (and yet,
still, he wanted to host a party
in which he publicly rejected
the people with his own features).
Those who drone on and on
about how people who have a
darker-complexion skin tone are
so often 'discriminated against' -
seldom seem to want to also admit
that the people who direct this
'discrimination' against them are
USUALLY also of a dark (not light)
skin-complexion themselves
(ex. friends, relatives,
potential partners, etc.).
Thus, one cannot help but to
feel that the REAL question
should NOT be "Why does it seem
that the lighter complexioned
people are so 'favored'?" - BUT
RATHER - "How can society help
the darker complexioned people
top rejecting each other?"
Blaming the 'discrimination' -
which is often suffered by the
people who are of a darker skin
complexion - on the simple
"existence of" or the alleged
"favor toward" the 'people with
a lighter skin-complexion' will
NOT result in the 'discrimination'
disappearing - but rather, will
simply serve as a 'SMOKESCREEN'
to distract from the REAL problem
- which clearly seems to be that
of a strong 'SELF-HATRED' embraced
by some darker-complexioned people
that is apparently then PROJECTED
onto other dark-complexioned people.
RELATED LINKS:
http://newsblaze.com/story/20090621155502zzzz.nb/topstory.html
http://boards.mulatto.org/post/show_single_post?pid=34070414&postcount=14
http://boards.mulatto.org/post/show_single_post?pid=34070161&postcount=13
.
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By: AP on 8/27/2009 1:57AM
.
Since mention was made of the topic of the ‘house'
and the ‘field’ slave — I just wanted to note that
this false concept that so many people have
-- that the lighter-complexioned chattel slaves
“had it easier” or “thought they were better”
than the darker-complexioned slaves -– and
/ or largely “relaxed in the big house” while
the darker-complexioned slaves “suffered
in the fields” — is very much (just like the
infamous ‘Willie Lynch Letter’ Hoax) all VERY
MUCH AN URBAN MYTH (and, is one which,
in nearly every way that’s possible, completely
defies the true historical recorded account).
The historical record shows that
those enslaved people who were of a
lighter-complexion (i.e. mulatto-lineage)
and that were found on the continental
United States during the antebellum
(chattel-slavery) era were actually treated
MUCH WORSE than were those enslaved
people who were of a darker-complexion.
In fact, the record shows that most of the White
people (especially the White women) tended
to look upon the lighter-complexioned slaves
as being mere ‘mongrels of miscegenation’
(resulting largely from the rapes caused by the
plantation 'Overseers'); in their disgust at the
sight of these slaves — insisted that they
be “banished to the fields”; and also then
purposefully reserved most of the ‘big house’
positions (ex. mammy, cook, driver, etc.) for
the darker-complexioned slaves -- who most of
the White people had perceived as being “more loyal,
more docile, less competitive, etc.”, and, even more
important, they were also of a skin tone which
could never cause them to be seen as being
any part-'white' (and even worse, perceived as
"possibly" also being "a member of the family"
--as it were-- of a given plantation 'Owner’).
And this maltreatment was generally even much
more so the case if the lighter-complexioned
enslaved person was even remotely ’suspected’
(by, say, a wife, sister or daughter — who ran “the big
house”, while a ‘male’ family member ran “the plantation”)
of possibly being the offspring of a given plantation
'Owner' (or his son, or father, or brother, or any other
male found in the plantation 'Owners' White family).
In addition, the few lighter-complexioned enslaved
people that were actually permitted to do any work
in the "big house" were (as a punishment for having
the lowly status of “mongrel” and in order to make sure
that they did not become “too uppity”) kept under a
much more severe work supervision (by both the
White women who ran the plantation household and
also by the darker-complexioned enslaved people
who had been placed over the lighter-complexioned
enslaved people and given various "rewards" in an
exchange for the promise to 'keep an eye on' them)
than were most of the (more trusted and seemingly
endeared) darker-complexioned enslaved people.
Books by Deborah Gray White; Paula Giddings; bell
hooks; J. California Cooper; William Wells Brown;
etc. expose the truth about the urban-myth and
show that the lighter-complexioned enslaved
people received NO special treatment and were,
instead (due to being seen as mere “mongrels of
miscegenation”) usually treated much worse than
were most darker-complexioned enslaved people.
The hatred, fear and mistrust that many of the antebellum
and post-antebellum era White southerners felt toward the
people who were both of a light-complexion (mulatto-lineage)
and were also chattel-slaves, is very strongly presented
in the 'D.W. Griffith' racist film 'Birth of a Nation'-- where
pretty much all the trouble, tragedy and dangers found
experienced by White southern families in the film is
falsely presented as being caused by "uppity" Mulattoes
who 'needed to be taught "their place" among White people'.
(i.e. they "needed" to be beaten, raped, lynched, etc. by the
"proud" White people who had been reared to make it clear
that they felt "no connection" to any non-White person).
Anyone who would like any additional information
on this topic can feel free to contact me directly.
Hope this information is helpful
& that everyone has a great day.
– AP (soaptalk@hotmail.com)
SOURCE:
http://boards.mulatto.org/post/show_single_post?pid=34070161&postcount;=13
.
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By: Lisa on 10/23/2007 5:00PM
I am a dark skin women so I understand completely what this young women is talking about. But the sad thing is White folks are not bother by my complexion it's my own people who has a problem with it.
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By: RoxAnn on 10/23/2007 4:59PM
This is really a shame but it is true. We as black people should stop taking what other races do to us and use it to hurt each other. As Beautiful black women of all shades we should emprace our own uniquenes and compliment and not tear down our black sisters.
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By: VMRoss on 10/23/2007 5:57PM
People are so sick now-a-days that no matter what, they will always find something wrong with someone else. If they only examined their ownselves as they do someone else, just think we just might get better a little at a time. It is so many people today that have mixed genes, that even if you were light skin, or fair skin, or whatever you call it, the hair is very kinky. So how can you tell who is who anyway. I've seen some very dark black women with beautiful, long hair and not a weave. Just look at the fact that today black folks are now called African-Americans, well not me, I am still black. Damn how will they identify me next year. As for the person using the promo, light skinned invidiuals in free, who know's where their head was at the time. They stated they ment no harm, however, it did affect the darker skinnned individual, but when you hear caramel or sexy chocolate, guess what, any one of any tone of skin is answering to that. If it doesn't apply, let it fly.
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By: Brittani Lewis on 10/23/2007 6:58PM
None of us can conrtol what we look like! If you have a problem with it take it up with God!!!! He created us!
SIMPLY SAID
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By: madison on 11/10/2007 3:22PM
i feel sorry for this woman i have this friend who was
discrimanated who ever does this stuff to anybody i feel sorry for the one who gets hurt
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