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Being in the minority will soon be an outdated term. In the oncoming years, there will be no primary race that leads in census reports (Cooper). As the racial makeup of the United States increases, the idea of a post-racial society is discussed heavily. While racism subsiding is a possibility, another form of prejudice will take its place. An alternate form of prejudice pertaining to race is colorism.
Colorism can pertain to any race because it involves passing judgment based on skin bias. Despite its prevalence among other races (Latino, Asian, and etc.), the study of colorism primarily focuses on African Americans. As a result, the diversity in the research provided was limited. Therefore, the missing information required the implementation of subtopics that pertain to colorism and prejudice.
The limited selection provided a narrower angle than desired for the needed research. Some of the academic journals were excerpts from books that provided a link for purchasing, which was not what beneficial. Therefore, from the excerpts read and searched terms that consistently appeared like “taboo”, “interracial”, “mass media”, “racism”, and “post-racial”. This topic truly did prove to be almost untouched, because it was a process of trial and error to locate any results pertaining to directly to the thesis. The subtopic searches provided extraordinary articles that provided for more diversity on the topic of colorism.
A reoccurring subtopic of colorism is interracial marriages. The history of interracial marriages and colorism coincide when discussing it amongst the African American community. In the African American community, colorism goes back to the era of slavery.A beneficial article pertained to interracial relationships an...
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...easing Diversity, Say U.S. Will Be a ‘Plurality Nation’." The New York Times. The New York Times, 12 Dec. 2012. Web. 24 Mar. 2014.
Fears, Lillie M. “Colorism of Black Women in News Editorial Photos.” The Western Journal of Black Studies 22.1 (1998): 30. General OneFile. Web.13 Mar. 2014.
Harrison, Matthew S., and Kecia M. Thomas. "The Hidden Prejudice In Selection: A Research Investigation On Skin Color Bias." Journal Of Applied Social Psychology 39.1 (2009): 134-168. Academic Search Premier. Web. 25 Mar. 2014.
“Michigan researchers study letters of slave-trading family: papers revisit long-standing taboo of mixed-race affairs. (noteworthy news).” Black Issues in Higher Education 13 Mar. 2003: 14. General OneFile. Web. 18 Mar. 2014.
Roberts, Kimberly C. "'Oprah's Lifeclass' Looks at Colorism." Philadelphia Tribune: 4. Jan 10 2014. ProQuest. Web. 25 Mar. 2014
America have a long history of black’s relationship with their fellow white citizens, there’s two authors that dedicated their whole life, fighting for equality for blacks in America. – Audre Lorde and Brent Staples. They both devoted their professional careers outlying their opinions, on how to reduce the hatred towards blacks and other colored. From their contributions they left a huge impression on many academic studies and Americans about the lack of awareness, on race issues that are towards African-American. There’s been countless, of critical evidence that these two prolific writers will always be synonymous to writing great academic papers, after reading and learning about their life experience, from their memoirs.
Race has been an issue in North America for many years. Eduardo Bonilla-Silva discusses the new racism in his book, Racism without Racists. Bonilla-Silva classifies the new racial discrimination as color blind racism. Color blind racism is then structured under four frames (26). Color blind racism is believed to have lead to the segregation of the white race from other minorities called white habitus. Color blind racism and white habitus has affected many people, whom don’t even realize that they are, have been or will be affected.
Winant, Howard. 2000 "Race and race theory." Annual review of sociology ():-. Retrieved from http://www.soc.ucsb.edu/faculty/winant/Race_and_Race_Theory.html on Mar 17, 1980
Back in the early 1800’s, the color of one’s skin mattered amongst African Americans and Caucasian people. There was infidelity between the Caucasian slave owners and the African American slaves. Of course, the outcome of that produced a fairer toned child. In most cases the child could pass as white. The mixed toned kids got to be inside doing housework, while the dark Negroes worked in the fields, under extraneous work conditions,”their dark-toned peers toiled in the fields”(Maxwell). From the early 1800’s to modern day, there is controversy that light or bi-racial African Americans are better than dark colored African Americans. African Americans had to go through tests to see if they were able to receive priviledges that white people received,”light-skinned African Amerians receive special priviledges based off of their skin shade”(Maxwell). If an African American did not receive the priviledges similar to white people then they would try to change themselves to fit in,”African Americans are using bleaching creams so that they can make their skin lighter , just to achieve the standard beauty”(Brooke). As much as one will not one to discuss this topic, statistics shows how people are more lenient towards light and fair skin tones.Light oor fair coloredAmericans that poseess Caucasian features are prefiebly preffered.
Colorism in the United States is a result of the history of people being discriminated based upon one’s skin tone. For many years, the European standard of beauty has been set forth and pushed upon mainly young men and women of many backgrounds
Racism (n): the prejudice that members of one race are intrinsically superior to members of other race (Wordnet search, 1), a controversial topic in today’s society, a subject that many people try to sweep under the rug, but yet a detrimental problem that has been present in America since the colonial era. Will this dilemma come to a halt? Can all Americans see each other as equals despite their skin color and nationality; and what role has it played in past generations versus today’s generations and how will it affect our future? Has this on going way of thinking gotten better or worse? These are questions raised when many think about the subject; especially members of American ethnic groups and backgrounds, because most have dealt with racial discrimination in their life time.
* Howe, Jeff. " Race Divides...". Link, The College Magazine. New York : College Television Network., pg 18-25. 1998.
Whitehead, John. "OpEdNews Article: The Myth of a Post-Racial America." OpEdNews, 2013. Web. 30 Jan 2014. .
Racism, and discrimination, remains very predominate in America today. There are many authors who addressed this subject matter but the three chosen to discuss are W.E.B. Du Bois, Richard Wright, and Gunnar Myrdal. Their interpretations of the subject matter in America are similar in some ways and vary in other ways. The first author, Du Bois, indicated how the facts of American history in the last half century have been falsified because the nation was ashamed of its actions. The second, Richard Wright, depicted the interactions between white and black people, and the third, Gunnar Myrdal, discussed the essential points of race relations in America. All of these writers discuss their perspectives on the history of American race. The study of the American race has been ongoing many years. Even though some factors have changed, there is still an underlying division in America.
“Deeply negative attitudes about skin color have seeped into our own house, advanced by grandmothers who favor the light children over the dark ones; men who pass by the pretty dark-skinned sisters in the club; and music video producers who habitually cast racially ambiguous dancers” (Essence). Harvard Medical School psychiatrist stated “of course, most of us celebrate the various shades of mocha, caramel, cinnamon, peach and chocolate that make up African-American families, but..."The unconscious prejudices we have, where we think we 're going to have a better life if we 're lighter than if we 're darker, have not
notice people of different backgrounds. The part that is most surprising is the statement about people of unlike races are becoming clearly defined as being lesser than. Although some white people are stereotyped, most people view whites as being greater for no clear reason. First, we can see the cruel cycle of how American culture reveals ethnic stereotypes, and how society has such negative thoughts about minorities because of the way other races are described on television, movies, music, sports, books, magazines, media, etc. Omi continues to disapprove on popular culture and explain how
Sollors, Werner. I Interracialism: Black-White Intermarriage in American History, Literature, and Law. New York: University Press, 2000.
Rose, Arnold. “The Negro in America”. New York: Harper & Row, Publishers, Incorporated, 1964. Print
The Association of Black Psychologist (ABP) (2013) defines colorism as skin-color stratification. Colorism is described as “internalized racism” that is perceived to be a way of life for the group that it is accepted by (ABP 2013). Moreover, colorism is classified as a persistent problem within Black American. Colorism in the process of discriminatory privileges given to lighter-skinned individuals of color over their darker- skinned counterparts (Margret Hunter 2007). From a historical standpoint, colorism was a white constructed policy in order to create dissention among their slaves as to maintain order or obedience. Over the centuries, it seems that the original purpose of colorism remains. Why has this issue persisted? Blacks have been able to dismantle the barriers faced within the larger society of the United States. Yet, Blacks have failed to properly address the sins of the past within the ethnic group. As a consequence of this failure, colorism prevails. Through my research, I developed many questions: Is it right that this view remain? How does valuing an individual over another cause distribution to the mental health of the victims of colorism? More importantly, what are the solutions for colorism? Colorism, unfortunately, has had a persisted effect on the lives of Black Americans. It has become so internalized that one cannot differentiate between the view of ourselves that Black Americans adopted from slavery or a more personalized view developed from within the ethnicity. The consequences of this internalized view heightens the already exorbitant mental health concerns within the Black community, but the most unfortunate aspect of colorism is that there is contention on how the issue should be solved.
Smiley ,Tavis. "Interview: Marita Golden Discusses Colorism In The African-American Community." Tavis Smiley (NPR) (n.d.): Newspaper Source Plus. Web. 29 Mar. 2014.