Examples of African American colorism
Brown paper bag test
The phrase “brown paper bag test” has traditionally been used by African Americans throughout the 20th and 21st century with reference to a ritual once practiced by certain African-American sororities and fraternities who would not let anyone into the group whose skin tone was darker than a paper bag. Also known as a
paper bag party, these lighter-skinned social circles reflected an idea of exclusion and exclusiveness. The notion of the “paper bag” has carried a complex and obscure meaning in black communities for many decades. The reason for the usage of the "paper bag" is because the color of the paper bag is considered to be the "center" marker of blackness that distinguishes “light skin” from “dark skin” on a continuum stretching infinitely from black to white. Also, the brown paper bag is believed to act as a benchmark for certain levels of acceptance and inclusion.
[43] Spike Lee's film
School Daze satirized this practice at historically black colleges and universities.
[44] Along with the "paper bag test," guidelines for acceptance among the lighter ranks included the "comb test" and “pencil test,” which tested the coarseness of one's hair, and the "flashlight test," which tested a person's profile to make sure their features measured up or were close enough to those of the Caucasian race.
[43]
The bleaching syndrome
A phenomenon known as "The bleaching syndrome," constructed by Dr. Ronald E. Hall at Michigan State University in the early 1990s which refers to the process of attempting to lighten one’s skin, has made a significant impact on the commercial industry and the lives of African Americans since the beginning of the 21st century.
[45] The roots of the skin bleaching phenomenon stem from African Americans internalizing dominant cultural ideas, without the possibility of full assimilation into American society.
[46] A psychological conflict is thus created, causing African Americans to develop a disdain for dark skin as it counters dominant cultural ideals. In an attempt to simultaneously reduce this conflict and enable assimilation, many African Americans developed the bleaching syndrome.
[47] Since the degree of assimilation correlates with skin color based on dominant cultural standards, light skin is crucial relative to the degree of assimilation in the United States. Coincidentally, lighter skin is thought to be an ideal point of reference for attractiveness and marital partner selection among African Americans. The practice of applying light skin as a point of reference, however, is considered to be culturally self-destructive. Ultimately, the bleaching syndrome is a manifestation of the conflicting circumstances regarding the assimilation of African Americans into dominant cultural values.
[48]
Skin color paradox
The skin color paradox refers to the fact that no matter how differently African Americans are treated based on their skin color, their political and cultural attitudes about "blackness" as a form of identity and their feelings of relatedness and solidarity with other blacks tend to remain consistent. Although light-skinned African Americans receive many socio-economic advantages over dark-skinned African Americans, who have much more punitive relationships with the criminal justice system and greatly diminished prestige, and although African Americans are aware of this disparity in treatment and status, both light-skinned and dark-skinned African Americans have similar political attitudes towards discrimination and race solidarity.
[49]
Political scientists would suggest that skin color is a characteristic perhaps equally important as religion, income, and education, which is why this paradox is so surprising, but studies show that skin color has no real bearing on actual political preference. Affirmative action is another example of the paradox between colorism on the one hand and political preference on the other. Studies show that most African Americans that benefit from affirmative action come from families that are better educated and more well off, and historically this means that the lighter-skinned portion of the black group is receiving the majority of the aid. Yet beneficiaries of this special treatment tend to hold on to their political identification with "blackness."
[49]
Stereotypes
See also:
Stereotypes of African Americans
The light to dark hierarchy within the African American race is one that has existed since the time of slavery, but its problems and consequences are still very evident and lead to various stereotypes. Darker skinned blacks are more likely to have negative relationships with the police, less likely to have higher education or income levels, and less likely to hold public office. Darker skinned people are also considered less intelligent, less desirable in women mostly, and are overall seen as inferior to lighter-skinned people.
[49]
Studies have shown that when measuring education and family income, there is a positive sloping curve as the skin of families gets lighter. This does not prove that darker skinned people are discriminated against, but it provides insight as to why these statistics are recurring. Lighter skinned people tend to have higher social standing, more positive social networks, and more opportunities to succeed than those of a darker persuasion. Scientists believe this advantage is due to not only to their ancestors' benefits, but also to skin color. In criminal sentencing, medium to dark-skinned African Americans are likely to receive sentences 2.6 years longer than those of whites or light-skinned African Americans, and when a white victim is involved, those with more "black" features are likely to receive a much more severe punishment, reinforcing the idea that those of lighter complexion are of more "value."
[49]
The perception of beauty can be influenced by racial stereotypes about skin color; the African American journalist
Jill Nelsonwrote that "to be both prettiest and black was impossible"
[50] and elaborated:
As a girl and young woman, hair, body, and color were society's trinity in determining female beauty and identity, the cultural and value-laden gang of three that formed the boundaries and determined the extent of women's visibility, influence, and importance. For the most part, they still are. We learn as girls that in ways both subtle and obvious, personal and political, our value as females is largely determined by how we look. As we enter womanhood, the pervasive power of this trinity is demonstrated again and again in how we are treated by the men we meet, the men we work for, the men who wield power, how we treat each other and, most of all, ourselves. For black women, the domination of physical aspects of beauty in women's definition and value render us invisible, partially erased, or obsessed, sometimes for a lifetime, since most of us lack the major talismans of Western beauty. Black women find themselves involved in a lifelong effort to self-define in a culture that provides them no positive reflection.
[50]
