On Wednesday, February 7, Saint Xavier’s student organization Race and Justice Education and Action (RJEA) group held an open discussion called “Is My Black Beautiful? A Discussion on Colorism.”
Held in the Student Lounge, the discussion garnered a lot of attention from the students. The Lounge was filled with students who were curious to hear their peers’ ideas on what colorism is.
Led by RJEA’s President, Jasmine McCall, and History professor, Dr. Amanda Lopez, the discussion shed light on what colorism is, what communities it is often found in, and how members of these communities can fight colorism.
Colorism is the idea that those with lighter skin color within the darker skin colored communities are more desirable, while individuals who have darker skin color within these communities are seen as less desirable.
In other words, colorism is internal racism within a certain demographic.
McCall focused on the colorism found within the Black community, while Lopez explained where it is seen in the Latinx community.
At the beginning of the event, McCall and Lopez encouraged students and members of the audience to participate in the discussion by asking a series of questions and sayings:
“She thinks she’s cute because she’s light skinned.”
“You’re pretty, what are you mixed with?”
“You’re so pretty for a black/dark skinned girl.”
“Why do you talk so “white”?”
“I just got a tan last week, now I’m almost as dark as you!”
McCall says these sayings and questions indicate how deeply ingrained we, as a society, have come to believe that lighter skinned individuals are more beautiful.
Moreover, these things proliferate the idea that darker skinned individuals just are NOT beautiful, at all.
“We see TV shows, magazines, even in our own families, where the lighter skinned Black girl is praised way more than the darker skinned Black girl,” McCall explained to the audience, “We need to stop celebrating lighter skinned celebrities and family members and instead praise people for their character.”
The celebration of these lighter skinned individuals, McCall said, leads to problems with success and even relationships.
Paige Samuels, a student at the discussion, responded, “We need to keep pushing for representation in our media, tv shows, music videos, and even in our school faculties.”
It is this representation that is also lacking in the Latinx community.
Lopez presented a plethora of magazines from Hispanic and Spanish speaking areas, like Mexico and Brazil, that featured mainly white and lighter skinned individuals.
“Latinos want their TV personas to look Italian,” Lopez explained, “And here in America, the American concept of what a Latino is, and what a black person is, is so rigid. [Americans] are not willing to deviate from that.”
SXU professor Dr. Tracy Crump was present at the discussion. Crump explained how she viewed the idea of colorism from a larger standpoint and how the idea can be dismantled.
“We’ve been put in boxes so people can try to understand us based on the stereotypes that go along with that. It’s how they know how to handle us,” Crump said.
These stereotypes have been internalized, in some ways allowing colorism to permeate the communities and cause members of the same demographic to try and suppress each other.
“With individuals within a community holding each other down, it’s because we have this syndrome that says, “I can make it to those heights but only if I put these others down,’” Crump added.
“If we don’t shun racism and sexism and all the other “-isms,” then we can’t break that [syndrome]. We need to, as a people, as human beings, start celebrating each other,” Crump said.
RJEA’s next event will be held on February 26 when they welcome author Kevin Coval to campus to discuss hip hop, poetry, and “the struggle for a better Chicago.”
RJEA meets every Monday in room L306 at 3:30pm. For more information, email rjea.sxu@gmail.com or daniels.c03@mymail.sxu.edu, or check out RJEA on Twitter @RJEA_SXU.
Cheyanne Daniels
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