February 6, 2023 • 46 mins
Your Host: Shyra DeJuan
Is challenging you to be open to change your internalized thoughts about light skin and dark skin. Correct your behavior as it relates to colorism! If you are an Ally for people of color know that your awareness matters! We have all been guilty of judging ourselves or others based upon skin tone. Embrace All Skin Tones! When we are real together we heal together. It is time to practice a mind elevation and shift on our world view relating to people of color! We must see the beauty of dark skin, we must see the beauty of naturally kinky and curly hair, we must see the beauty of our full lips and wide noses. We must embrace our cultural natural beauty! The brain wash and white wash can no longer separate and divide us from loving ourselves. If you are an ally for the black community, understand that dark skin does not mean bad or evil or violent! We all exude the same peace, comfort and love! Please listen and celebrate Black History month!!
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The Darkest Child by Delores Phillips
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Transcript
Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
(00:02):
Oh, smiles champions.
Welcome to mind elevation healthand wealth.
I am your host Shire.
An educator, emotional healerand entrepreneur for this month,
we will be celebrating blackhistory culture and how we can
heal worldviews by being an allyby understanding, and by
(00:23):
increasing our knowledge ofblackness black ish and black
excellence of AfricansAfrican-Americans after Latinos,
we will learn across allcultures.
We are all the same kind ofdifferent this.
This session, we will explorecolorism, not racism.
(00:44):
Colorism.
You are here on purpose.
Session 10.
Colorism and brace all skintones.
Listen and listen, well,champions, whether you have
faith in God.
Faith in the universe or faithitself, you have the power to
(01:04):
promote self-love and change thelives for future generations or
children that will be born intoa world of color.
If you've been negativelyaffected by colorism.
If you have family members thathave been negatively affected by
colorism.
If you have, or no children thathave been negatively affected by
(01:25):
colorism, this session is givingyou the opportunity to
understand what colorism is.
Avoid unconsciously, makingcolorism comments, remove the
internalized negative thoughtsabout skin color.
And be aware of how colorismstarted due to classism,
colonization, media, andtelevision.
(01:48):
And sometimes it started rightin our own homes by our own
family members and brands.
First, we will start bylistening to the testimonies of
individuals of different agesand cultural backgrounds.
I have to give thanks to thebrave young men and women that
agree to share their storieswith us today.
It, isn't always easy to sharestories that may impact you or
(02:11):
that have impacted you in anegative way or your loved ones
in a potentially negative light.
However, when you hear how thesebeautiful humans are doing the
work, when it comes toencouraging teaching and
promoting self-love to everyone,they meet, they embody what it
means to be champions for lifechange and breaking negative
(02:34):
generational cycles.
Listen and listen.
Well, My name is Q um, 25 yearsold.
And I'm an African-American man.
My skin tone.
Brown.
sometime in middle school,around 12, 13 years old.
(02:54):
mainly black girls in middleschool or the most.
Uh, impacted by.
Um, negative third is like,Midnight or burn biscuits.
well, currently I'm an educator.
Um, so it's, uh, some exampleson the students now.
so I've corrected them in themoment.
(03:15):
And the future of justcontinuing to educate students
on the points of.
Uh, colorism and that all skintones matter.
All skin tones are beautiful.
No matter what you look like.
We're all beautiful blackpeople.
My name is Radika.
I am 32 years old and I am anIndian woman.
And I guess I would describe myskin tone as a medium.
(03:41):
But the first time I realizedthat my skin color within my own
race is a thing is.
Well, there was several timeswhen I was little.
They.
There were certain things I wastold.
Like don't be out in the sun toomuch, or like there were several
activities like that it requiresyou to be outdoors and,
especially as a woman.
(04:01):
You were told not to be outdoorsso much because the sun is going
to 10-year, you're going to getdarker.
That was always the thing like,oh, don't play out so much.
It.
Pretty outside so much, likeyou're going to get darker.
I never really understood, whywas that an issue?
When I was little, I reallydidn't understand like I thought
of it as, okay.
My, my mom told me not to goplay outside for a long time
(04:23):
that I'm not going to go playoutside for a long time.
And I guess I am going to getdarker.
I don't know.
I never really thought about it.
I guess until.
I moved to us, I really saw likehow, there are so many other,
people here, and theyappreciate.
My color.
And when I got here, there wasso much curiosity questions
(04:44):
about my skin color and my skinand where I come from and all
that.
And then I really understoodlike the beauty of it there was
an issue.
Even with my mom because my mom.
is considered as a dark skinIndian, and she was always made
fun of for that.
And to the point that like, theyused to call her a dark girl,
(05:06):
like an as an insult per se.
And she never really understoodthat herself.
So it was, it's a very sensitivetopic for her.
And then, so when she had me, soshe was very careful about, not
having me.
Spent too much time outside withthe same concern yet again,
like, oh, you're going to getdarker.
But I never really understood.
Why was that an issue?
(05:27):
Especially when I moved here.
When I started to love my skincolor, especially because there
was so much appreciation for it.
And then made me question herthinking and make her realize,
like, why do you think, beingoutside in the sun or I'm going
to lay out on the beach.
Why is that going to be anissue?
Like why.
Why does ha it has to be that,oh, you're going to get darker.
So what are you going to getdarker?
(05:47):
Like it's just tan.
Right?
and then I made her question,like, why is that a problem?
Why is, but then she alwayslinks it back to her being
teased for it, which she neverrealized why it was a thing,
but.
No, she is stuck in this, herown cycle as well, doing the
same thing to me and notrealizing how she was part of
(06:10):
that.
she wasn't in my shoes one dayherself.
So in order to, I guess, Bringawareness.
Towards it is two.
How people question, why do wethink the way that we think
sometimes.
Because there are so many timesthat we have certain stereotypes
within us or a bias that makesus believe in a certain thing,
(06:31):
just because, that's what wehave been told.
And there's been times peoplejust blindfoldedly follow what
we have been, following for thelong time or what we have been
told or what we have been taughtas a child.
But we never really questionedit just because you was coming
from our family.
So, having these podcasts likethis or interviews, or, you
(06:51):
know, getting people to talkabout this topic.
Is going to be helpful and isone of, The solutions to an
issue like colorism because alot of it, if you really sit
down and like, try to break itopen is doesn't really make
sense.
So, Uh, name with someencouraging words is to be your
(07:12):
beautiful self.
And, every skin color isbeautiful.
Because that's how you are sentto this world.
And appreciated and educatepeople, about.
Their beliefs and correct themin the most decent way possible.
I have took Kuwait, sheriff.
I am a 43 year old.
(07:36):
Black woman.
I would say my skin complexionwould be, more of a.
Dark.
Carmel complexion.
I would say.
Oh, I was very young.
I would say elementary, maybe.
Elementary age.
Maybe first, second grade.
(07:59):
Possibly younger.
I realized that just by beingmore on the darker side, I would
always get teased.
Bye.
The boys for not being as lightas the next female.
So yeah, it was a really youngage.
I would say one of my.
(08:19):
Experience that really has.
Stuck with me throughout theyears.
I've had plenty of experiencethat this particular one stuck
with me throughout the years.
With my sister and I.
We were in.
China.
And.
My sister had already livedthere for probably three years
(08:42):
and I went to visit.
and she was taking me around thecity of Beijing, sizing.
And.
Soon as we.
Try to get on the train.
My sister understood Mandarinvery well.
So when we were trying to get onthe train, Everyone was staring
(09:03):
at me.
And they was talking to mysister said they're really
amazed.
And they're trying tounderstand.
Because they never seen a darkskin.
African American.
Woman.
And so she made a video of,individuals tripping while they
(09:24):
were watching me because theythey couldn't, they didn't
understand it.
And they will run up to me, takepictures of me or with me.
And, we had a hard time tryingto flag calves down because I
was more dark skin than her.
I had to actually step away fromher so she could stop a cab.
We were in the zoo.
(09:45):
And it was a grand.
Mother and her grandchildlaughing at us.
And I really didn't understandwhat was going on.
So I was smiling and, you know,laughing back.
Well, next thing I know mysister started, you know, my
sister was really upset speakingin Mandarin, and then she began
to speak English.
Well, the grandmother wasactually telling the little.
(10:09):
Boy.
He was probably about four orfive years old.
That we were, monkeys and wedeserve to be in the cage with
the.
Dog.
That was an occasion for us,which was, uh, supposed to be
American dog, but it actuallywas a, German shepherd.
But it was labeled American dog.
And that was really sad andheartbreaking because the entire
time my sister was trying tokeep me away from the negativity
(10:33):
that was really taking placewhen everyone was watching me
and talking and running up,taking pictures with me.
without my consent, it wasn'tbecause they thought I was
beautiful.
It was because I was dark skin.
I was a dark skinnedAfrican-American.
And that will always stick withme, especially the grandmother
(10:55):
telling the little boy that wewere monkeys.
And we were supposed to be inthe cage at the zoo.
With the dog.
I try to always broadcast on mysocial media.
a lot of do.
You know, just all different.
Races and, Shades of skin tones.
And just, embrace all thebeautiful things about each
(11:18):
person and, how we're alldifferent and unique and, we
should never go by.
The color of our skin to placejudgment on someone, it's way
more to a person and theirbeauty besides the color of
their skin.
I would, I would mostdefinitely.
Tell them you are beautiful.
And as Tupac would say, theblacker, the Berry, the sweeter,
(11:41):
the juice.
Oh, My name is Ashley Smith.
I'm 40 years old.
And this is the first time I'vebeen asked to describe my skin
tone.
Wow.
I guess the whole life, everyoneelse has done it for me.
Let me see, have you ever beento Hawaii?
I went recently and one of thethings that stood out to me was
(12:03):
the color of the sand.
Honestly, I was hoping for thebright white Sandy beaches of
the Caribbean.
But Hawaii beaches aredifferent.
It's more of a caramel brown.
And if you look closely, you cansee the small individual rocks
that make it up.
And they're all different shadesof brown.
That's me.
That's what I'm going withtoday.
A beautiful mixture of differentshades in the closer you get,
(12:26):
the more you're interested, themore you'll see.
When I realized the color of myskin matter.
Ooh, young, very young.
I remember living in theCarolinas and having no friends,
I was probably four or five.
If you asked me, then I thoughtI had one friend, but if I was
honest, I had none.
Because even my one friend wasflaky.
(12:48):
I can't remember what it was.
It made me aware that it hadeverything to do with my looks,
but I remember I knew that wasthe reason.
I also remember that my oldersister who could pass for white
had more friends than me.
I wish I could say I've donesomething significant to stop
colorism in my culture.
I think the best work and maybesometimes the most important
(13:09):
work was on me.
I evaluate how I see people.
I recognize the stereotypes,even in my own community and how
they might influence me.
I'm trying to do better.
I listened to people's storiesand I do the hard work of
showing empathy.
I can't fix it.
I can't fix other people, but Ican at least not add to the
(13:29):
problem.
I'm so lucky to have a family, abeautiful family, many different
shades.
I guess like the Hawaiian sand.
I have two beautifulstep-daughters, one black and
one biracial.
I listened to their stories.
Their sisters grew up with thesame parents, but they have
different experiences.
I have a son who will always beviewed as black and he has a
(13:51):
grandmother.
Who's a hundred percent white.
I'm going to have to help himnavigate that.
I have a nephew with thebrightest blue eyes and curly
blonde hair.
And if we go by the drop role,he's black, but the world will
treat him like he's white.
I'll probably have to help myson understand that too.
my name is Christian.
I am 31 and I am a black woman.
(14:15):
I was in middle school when I.
Realized that I was affected bycolor at the time I didn't.
Understand.
I didn't understand what thatfelt like or what that looked
like.
But there is one specificinstance that I can remember,
being at about six or seventhgrade.
So I was probably around 12 or13.
(14:37):
that instance, as I look back, Ican realize that is when I was
actually affected by colorism.
So six or seventh grade.
I remember I would always playoutside.
I was just like an outside kid,riding bikes.
Big tomboy loved doing, all theoutdoor things.
(14:58):
And one summer, I noticed that,I was out in the sun.
I would go swimming.
I was out in the sun a lot andmy skin got very dark I am.
Kind of, I'm just browncomplected, not on a
light-skinned spectrum night onthe darker skin spectrum.
I'm just kind of in the middle.
Honestly.
but during the summer, my skindoes get really dark.
(15:21):
And when I was younger, Iremember noticing that after.
Going swimming.
And I was at my aunt's house,which is, shy the healer.
My aunt is the person who isover this podcast, she actually
ends up being a huge part ofthis memory.
And I remember going into herrestroom and I was in the
(15:43):
bathroom.
There for awhile.
And I'm looking in the mirrorand what I'm doing was I was
scrubbing my face.
I'm using soap and water,washing my face over and over
again.
Oh, man, it kinda makes meemotional thinking about this,
but watching my face over andover again and scrubbing my
face.
Trying to lighten my skin up.
(16:03):
because I did not think thatbeing darker skin was beautiful.
Just based off of the mediainformation.
That was put out there with themedia.
Publicized was, lighter skin orlight complected.
Or more, of.
Characteristics of a whitewoman.
(16:24):
Or even just white teenagers iswhat I saw.
and even just being black,lighter skin women were in men.
Were the ones that weretypically seen as more
beautiful.
And so I'm just scribbling awayTrying to lighten them, my skin
and just, and I remember my auntknocking on the door and she
(16:45):
came in.
And she's like, are you okay?
And I'm like, yeah.
And she asked me what I wasdoing.
And I was like, I'm scrubbing myskin because I'm too dark.
Like, um, um, I'm just too darkin dark is not pretty.
And she stopped me and she likelooked at me really intensely.
(17:05):
And it was like, black isbeautiful.
You are black is beautiful.
Don't ever say that don't everfeel like your skin color, even
if it is darker, whatever it isthat your skin color is not
beautiful because it is.
And I remember that.
I remember, having aconversation with her in her
house.
And her just reminded me ofthat.
(17:26):
And I never forgot that day.
and even when I would have thoseinsecurities come up or even
just, the summers where I getdarker, and even now the summers
where I get darker.
I remind myself like black isbeautiful.
It comes in different shades.
we had different shades ofbrown, black Chan.
(17:47):
Whatever.
And I just always try toremember that.
and so now as an adult, What aretrying to do, because I know how
much that impacted me and I cansee how media plays a huge role
in this.
Although, with social media, yousee more representation with
darker skin, women and men,being the.
(18:08):
Illustration of beauty.
And so that's been really cool,but what I'd still try to do,
cause I still see that colorismcome up, even in our community.
I work a lot with, youth andteenagers and even young adults.
And I try my best to when I seethose conversations come up or
when I seen.
A young girl having insecurityabout her skin tone.
(18:31):
I always just remind them, youare beautiful, you know, like
your curls are beautiful.
Your color is beautiful.
Your features are beautiful.
fuller lips, bigger noses.
like whatever it's beautiful.
So I use that opportunity allthe time.
And then now I'm raising twoyoung.
beautiful boys that are ahundred percent black.
(18:56):
And my husband is very fair skinwith red undertone, some red
hair.
And we have two sons.
one is five or he'll be five.
And a couple of weeks.
And then one is five months and,My oldest son.
he's my complexion.
And then my five month old isbrighter than my husband with
(19:16):
red hair.
in red eyebrows.
And so it's so cool to see how.
genes can play a factor, play arole.
but with me, having two sonsthat are a hundred percent
black, same parents.
But two very different skintones.
And I just always tried toinstill in my four year old.
How handsome he is.
(19:37):
And he is a black boy and hishandsome and his hair is curly
and his skin is beautiful.
And he'll say I'm black.
I love my skin.
I'm black and my mom's black.
My dad is black.
Not.
My brother's black, you know,and just telling him, cause
he'll ask like about his littlebrother he's like his skin is,
(19:57):
is light.
Is he still black?
And I'm like, yes, he's black.
So I'm just teaching him that wecome in different shades, but
they're all beautiful.
And to be proud of what he lookslike and the features that he
has and I will be having thatsame conversation with my
younger son when he realizesthat he's more fair-skinned and
has readier, and just havingthat conversation.
That's one way that I'm tryingto, really instill.
(20:20):
And the next generations tocome.
Just.
Debunking those negativethoughts.
towards our skin color.
And so I just want to encourage.
just everyone in the blackcommunity that you literally are
beautiful are black isbeautiful.
It comes in different shades,different.
(20:42):
Shapes different hair textures.
Different characteristics,different sizes, just
everything.
Like we are.
Just so versatile.
We are so beautiful.
And we are honestly justamazing.
I just want to hype everybodyup, and just remind you that you
are beautiful.
(21:03):
You are made just the way thatGod created you.
And that is perfect.
And if you've ever beennegatively affected by colorism,
it's never too late to loveyourself and see who you truly
are.
Love your color, love, even theexperiences that you've gone
through because they make youwho you are.
and they shape you and that youcan pass on to the next
(21:24):
generations and have themunderstand what it is.
And to be strong through it.
And I be, Negatively affected byit.
Yeah.
Yeah.
Awesome.
So much love to y'all.
As we listened to thosetestimonies.
Some of you were probably forcedto reflect on your own
experience.
(21:44):
One of the main reasons forlistening to the stories of
others is to learn.
The similar challenges that weall face across cultures.
Before I move forward.
Let's go off of the vocabularyof some of the words you will
hear being used the session.
Colorism is defined as.
(22:06):
Differential treatment based onskin color.
It's specially favoritismtowards those with lighter skin
tone and Ms.
Treatment or exclusion of thosewith a darker skin tone.
Classism is defined as bias ordiscrimination based on social
or economic classes.
(22:26):
Examples of classes areupper-class rich or wealthy
people middle-class above thepoverty limit or lower class,
poor and impoverished people.
Colonization.
Is defined as the action andprocess of settling and
establishing control.
Over the indigenous people of anarea.
(22:49):
Examples of colonization isEuropean invasions and
colonizations Africa.
European colonization ofAmericas for the native
Americans, Europeancolonization, forced enslavement
and human trafficking.
Of Africans to the Americas.
(23:09):
Those are all examples ofcolonization.
I promise we will discuss how weare all the same kind of
different or some like to say weare all more alike than
different.
I got that from a really greatmovie.
I watched called same kind ofdifferent as me.
I think it's based on a truestory.
I'm going to start by explaininghow colorism is a cross culture
(23:34):
issue.
Based on my research.
Let's travel to Asia.
Asia and colorism.
At its root colorism and theresult in discrimination and
bias, that is a result ofcolorism has its roots due to
classism in Asia.
Unlike the racist ideology, thatwas a direct result of the
(23:55):
rationalism of slavery byWestern European countries.
Of Portugal, Spain, greatBritain.
Colorism in Asia came from theidea that lower wage workers had
to work in the field and haddarker skin as a result.
Lighter skin people and Asianswe're able to stay out of the
(24:15):
sun and Asia.
There is a deeply rootedcultural notion that.
Associates, dark skin withpoverty and working in the
field.
Whereas pill, skin reflects amore comfortable life.
Out of the sun and therefore ahigher social economic status
and higher class.
This was from an articlepublished by Jessica.
(24:37):
Hawaiian August of 2020.
You heard the testimony of, toQuita and her experience
traveling to China.
Historically China already has anegative view of dark skin in
their own culture.
But based on the lack ofknowledge about other cultures
to see an African-American witheven darker skin was viewed as
(24:58):
animalistic, which resulted indehumanizing an innocent young
woman, such as to Quita.
Let's travel to India.
India and colorism.
Some historians say colorism inIndia was greatly intensified by
colonization of the British.
It was a practice by the Britishrulers to show favor to the
(25:21):
light-skin Indians forgovernment jobs, preferences for
light skin toned.
Over dark when it came tomarriages.
And most of the jobs.
Are still affecting the lives ofhundreds of thousands of
Indians.
This was an article by SamirYessir.
And Jeffrey gentlemen.
(25:41):
And June 28th, 2020.
As we heard radical story andtestimony as an Indian woman and
the struggles her mother wentthrough as a young Indian child.
Faced with the teasing of beingin darker skin, Indian.
Let's travel to Latin America.
(26:02):
Latin America and colorism.
Before the arrival of Europeansin the region of Latin America,
many indigenous people whereMayans.
Then later, both the Spanish andthe Portuguese brought African
slaves to the colonies aslaborers to work.
This caused the creation of AfroLatinos, which are individuals
(26:22):
of Latin American descent whoare also of African ancestry.
Same cycle a favor to thelighter skin, Latinos and
discrimination to darker skinLatinos.
There is an article publishedNovember 4th, 2021 that states
the majority of Latinos say skincolor impacts opportunity in
America.
And shapes daily life.
(26:43):
When you add colorism in class,there are Latin American
politicians like Marco Rubio,who was a Republican Senator in
Florida.
We have to wonder, would youhave made it that far in his
career?
If he had darker skin as anAfro-Latino, if his skin was
darker, he would not pass forwhite.
Can he really fully representthe Latin American culture here
(27:04):
in America with Latin Americaand classism visibly?
If you can pass as white, it isa complete.
Eraser of dark skin in the LatinAmerican culture.
The ratio of dark skin causespeople to question when an Afro
Latino or a dark skin, Hispanicis actually speaking Spanish,
even though Spanish is theirnative language.
(27:29):
Let's travel Africa.
African and colorism.
Due to colonization televisionand media in Africa.
Skin bleaching and skinlightening creams are number one
full product in Africa, mostcommercials and advertising
portrays white or lighter skinwomen and men, most acting jobs
(27:52):
and roles are given to lighterskin, men and women.
So the idea that lighter skin isbeautiful and it also offers
more opportunities in an articlepublished on March 10, 20, 20 by
Lynn and Thomas.
Uh, Somali American activists.
She scored a victory againstAmazon and against colorism.
The beauty, well, project teamedup to convince Amazon to stop
(28:14):
selling skin lightening productsthat contain toxic levels of
mercury.
Africans were going to theextremes of using toxic products
to lighten their skin.
This has been shaped overall bywhite supremacy and institutions
of racial, slavery,colonization, and segregation
class engender.
(28:35):
Let's travel to the UnitedStates of America.
Colorism.
Is due to colonization andslavery.
It started on the plantation.
African women were kept and usedas concubines, which means they
were being used and abused forsexual purposes by their white
enslavers.
This would result in pregnancy,the child will be born as what
(28:58):
they called back then.
meaning with both black andwhite race.
Today, we simply say by racial,oftentimes this child would have
a lighter skin tone, which alsomeans this child is most likely
being slaver or masters'biological child commonly.
Although this child is born intoslavery, this child will receive
privileges that other.
(29:19):
All black flames did not receivethis child was allowed to live
in the big house.
Sometimes when these childrenwill become adults, the master
would allow them to becomeoverseers.
Also known as the enforcers oftheir own enslaved family.
Imagine being the mother to anall black slave child working in
(29:39):
the fields.
And also the mother to abiracial child that has housed
in boss, like privileges.
How do you wrap your mind aroundthat?
However, when mothers realizethat if they're light-skinned
children could possibly pass forwhite and be a free human, like
any mother you want the best foryour child, right?
(30:00):
But this is also where the loveand hate of light and dark skin
colorism started taking placewithin our own community on the
plantation.
The dark black enslaved Negrowas mistreated and only capable
of working in the hot sun in thefield.
Only able to eat what's leftover from the pig, which would
(30:20):
only be pig intestines.
And then there is the light-skinuppity Negro that works inside
the cool house, the big housewith the privileges of working
in the kitchen and eating otherportions of food and sleeping on
the inside.
Instead of out in the slaveshack, they had options.
They either embrace theirso-called good life as a
(30:41):
light-skin relative of theirmaster with the potential to
possibly pass and be free.
Or they have the option to shinetheir dark skin, brothers and
sisters that needed to keepworking in those fields for the
master.
The stress of a mother born intoslavery sexually assaulted
regularly, and then have towatch our children be separated
(31:02):
by color and class no longerUnited.
Hence the term.
United we stand divided.
We fall.
It is safe to say that colorismaffects the whole world.
Not only do people have to worryabout being a person of color.
They also have to worry aboutthe shade.
Of their color.
(31:24):
Then you add in skin color witha kinky hair texture, skin color
with a larger body size skin'scolor with larger lips, skin
color with the larger nose, skincolor with eye color.
I get exhausted.
Just thinking about how deep thelevel of colorism drives us
immediately into judgment andhating our God given features.
(31:47):
Michael Jackson and the wholeJackson family that liked their
skin and decrease the size oftheir nose.
OJ Simpson's dating.
I'm not black.
I'm OJ.
Does the associating himself dueto social class?
Then time magazine, dark, andhis skin on the cover of the
magazine when he was beingcharged with murdering his wife.
(32:08):
Barack Obama skin was darkenedduring the election by Hillary
Clinton's campaign ads with darkand his skin on purpose, knowing
the influence and worldview ofdark skin, blacks.
Back in 1947, the famousphotographer, Gordon parks
captured a photo of a littleblack American girl pointing to
the white doll.
(32:28):
When she was asked to point tothe pretty doll.
This test is known as the dolltest, her young mind was already
led to believe that white andlight are pretty as a, her dark
skin was not.
This test led to schoolintegration, brown vs.
Board of education, demandingracial integration of American
(32:50):
public schools.
I remember in high school,around the year of 1996.
A friend who was dark skinned,black young lady.
Made the comment.
I want my babies to be mixed, sothey have lighter skin and good
hair because I want my kids tobe pretty.
I was instantly triggered.
By my childhood of having amixed race sister.
(33:13):
And the pain that wasunknowingly and unconsciously
inflicted on me.
When grownups was saying thingsto my father, like.
Are those young childrenreferring to my little sister
and I.
This one.
Pointing to, or picking up mylittle sister.
This one is so pretty.
She's so pretty.
Got that good hair too.
(33:35):
Their mind her so much, theynicknamed her sunshine.
They never call me ugly.
They just showed me what prettywas supposed to look like.
And unfortunately it wasn't me.
At age nine.
I knew the definition ofbeautiful and that definition
was light skin and long loosecurly hair, not the tight nappy
(33:57):
curl like mine.
I was teased often about mynappy ball here.
And just recently at the age of43, decided to release myself
from weaves and hair extensions.
I'm now wearing my naturallocks, praising myself for
self-love and overcoming theinsecurities of my skin and hair
(34:20):
texture.
I'm celebrating the wins.
Y'all.
Anyways.
I internalize that since my skinwas darker and my hair nappy
here, I was not the beautifulchild.
She also had privileged withbeing pretty.
They will give her a candy askif they can take her places.
I was not even seen or noticed.
(34:42):
I will be right next to herstaring and admiration, wishing
that I could be adored.
That was the start of my lowself-esteem.
I don't blame any of the adultsin my life.
I've never envy.
My little sister, I alwaysadmired her beauty.
I just hated myself and wantedto change the color of my skin
(35:03):
and the texture of my hair.
I remember hearing commentsabout other little girls, like
she's dark, but at least she gotgood hair.
But at that time, I didn't havewhat classified as good hair.
I didn't even have the geneticjackpot that my little sister
had.
I don't blame my father becausehe didn't even know how it was
(35:23):
affecting me.
He didn't even know he shouldhave corrected the other adults.
He didn't even know that heshould have reminded me that I
was also just as beautiful as mysister.
Colorism was never acknowledged,understood or addressed.
I don't even think colorism wasa word that was spoken back in
the eighties.
(35:43):
After listening to thetestimonies earlier in this
podcast, we are already seeingmindset shifts against colorism
because in the past.
I remember black folk woulddeliver their child, have their
baby and check the color oftheir baby's fingertips.
Just hoping they were not darkbecause of the tips were a lot
darker than the rest of thebaby's body and meant the baby
(36:05):
would be a dark child.
There used to be a brown paperbag rule in the south, meaning
people shouldn't date otherblacks.
If their skin was darker than apaper bag.
There was a one drop rule.
Meaning if you have one drop ofblack blood in you, you are
considered black.
If you were passing as white andgot caught.
(36:26):
You could be murdered.
And anyone else that knew youwere really black will be
murdered.
Also, there are still black maleand female women that are living
in the white world as passersand have completely denied and
erase their true identity andblackness.
Hey, you.
The champion for life changes.
(36:46):
I'm challenging you to be open,to change or internalized
thoughts about light skin anddark skin.
You know, you have been guiltyof judging yourself or others
based upon skin tone when we arereal together, we heal together.
It is time to practice a mind,elevation and shift on our
(37:07):
worldview, relating to people ofcolor.
We must see the beauty of darkskin.
We must see the beauty ofnaturally kinky hair.
We must see the beauty of ourfull lips and why noses.
We must embrace our cultural,natural beauty.
The brainwash and whitewash canno longer separate into bite us
from loving ourselves.
(37:27):
If you are.
An ally for the black community,understand that dark skin does
not mean bad or evil or violent.
There has been a misconceptionthat colorism is someone being
insecure about the color oftheir skin.
The truth is colorism can causeinsecurity.
(37:48):
However, it is a realdiscrimination that can promote
an internalized self hate andinferiority.
Based on our research andknowledge.
We now know.
Colorism is designed.
And systematically structured todivide and conquer in many
different countries, includingthe United States, bringing
(38:09):
awareness and correctingcolorism comments.
We are here to disrupt thesystems of oppression.
As you heard into Quita story,darker humans are sometimes
compared to animals and othercultures also being teased as a
young lady for being darker thanother black American girls.
Or as you heard in Q story, whenhe talks about how as a young
(38:35):
boy, he would hear.
Darker skinned, young blackgirls being talked about and
called names like midnight orburnt biscuit.
As you heard in radical storyand her Indian culture as a
young woman being told to avoidgoing outside with the threat of
becoming darker.
A projection of her mother beingteased for being a dark Indian
(38:58):
girl.
As Christian and Ashley stateand their stories of colorism,
they have young boys, they willteach to love their skin tone
and teach them to navigateconversations and comparisons
relating to family members andall the beautiful genetically
defined shades of skin tones.
We will do better.
(39:18):
We must do better and we have toteach and promote.
The beauty of all skin colors.
Each week.
I promote a book.
And Arthur.
Is that have impacted my lifeand helped me heal by increasing
my knowledge and awareness ofexperiences.
Outside of my own.
Years ago, I read the bookcalled the darkest child by
(39:41):
Dolores Phillips.
And this historical novelDelores Phillips sets the scene
in Georgia in the 1950s.
The story is centered around apoor 13 year old young
African-American girl.
That happened to be her mother'sdarkest child to a mother that
would pass for white.
Because she was the darkest ofher siblings, her mother
(40:02):
mistreated, abused, and sold herdaughter's young 13 year old
body to white men for six.
Reading the injustice is shownin her own home between her
siblings just tugged at myheartstrings so much that even
though the book is full oftrauma and sadness, I could not
stop reading because I wanted toget to the antici.
(40:24):
If she was victorious in herlife.
I won't tell you the end.
You should purchase a book andread it.
The link is in the podcastnotes.
I also want to promote Dr.
Sarah L web.
She has created aself-affirmation book, a
children's coloring book andworkbook, and she has a blog and
website called colorism andhealing.
(40:45):
Dr.
Web addresses, what it reallytakes to in colorism and courage
and honesty by being able todiscuss the controversial issues
relating to colorism, because wehave to be open and honest to
admit that within our own race,we have hurt others mistreated.
The others have been prejudgedto others and sometimes our own
(41:07):
children and family withnegative colorism comments and
remarks, she stays at it takeswhole families and persistent
action over time to make thesechanges.
We can't act like colorismdoesn't exist or that it still
isn't happening in our culturesand communities.
You are now a champion forhealing and change.
(41:30):
For quick recaps ofclarification and understanding.
Listen and listen.
Well, Recap one, understand thatcolorism affects people of all
colors.
All cultures all over the world.
It takes every one of us toacknowledge that it is real.
And to start addressing it inour homes and in public.
(41:52):
It always start with healingyourself.
First, if you are alight-skinned person.
Correct people that use yourlight-skinned as a compliment as
if dark skin peers are not justas beautiful.
If you are dark skin, correctpeople that make comments like
you're pretty for a dark skingirl, or you're pretty to be or
(42:13):
handsome to be a dark skinnedman.
Remind them that all skin colorsare beautiful.
Recap to stop using thefavorable filters that make your
skin color and eyes brighter.
Embrace your skin tone on yoursocial media pages.
I stopped using filters aboutthree years ago, I embrace no
filter.
(42:33):
Please stop using foundationmakeup.
That's lighter than your actualskin color.
We see the color of your neck.
We love the color of your neck.
Recapped three.
Stop stating your preferences inmen or women.
I only gave dark skin.
I only date light skin when itis strictly related to behavior
men.
(42:55):
Our men, women are women.
The color of their skin does notactually determine how they
behave in a relationship.
Stop it stop the stigma thatdark skinned men and women are
bitter insecure and lovable orhateful.
Now this excludes attraction.
Recap for stop comparing yourchildren based on their skin
(43:17):
color.
And don't let others judge ormake comments about your
children based on their skintone hair, texture, or looks.
If they compliment one child,they need to compliment all of
your children, redirect andstudents or young people's
negative comments.
When you hear young adultsnegatively insult other young
adults with comments likeyouthful black, or name-calling
(43:39):
installs like burnt biscuit orblack as tar headaches.
Correct.
And redirect immediately toremind them that their black is
beautiful.
This type of teachable momentcan change a whole generation of
our future humans.
Champions for life change.
This is our time.
This is a way that we cancelebrate black history month by
(44:01):
embracing.
Who we are all over cultures,whether it's black, whether it's
African, whether it'sAfro-Latino, whether you're
Asian.
Whether your.
Black and Asian, whether you're,Indian, whether you're a dark
skin, Indian would have for yourrace.
(44:23):
What ever your skin tonecolorism is real and it takes
us.
And this generation of youngadults to change it.
Before I close.
I want to give a shout out andthanks again to.
The beautiful souls that sharedtheir testimony.
(44:43):
Too.
To Quita.
Radica.
Ashley.
And Christian.
There would've been more, but weran out of time to get those
testimonies in.
But you are truly appreciatedand the work and sacrifices that
you're making in the way thatyou're raising your children and
the way that you're being aneducator and the way that you're
(45:06):
projecting, the sense of beautyon your social media pages.
and the way that you're evenacknowledging and challenging
your own parents' belief abouttheir skin color, those are all
successful ways of fighting forjustice for colorism.
Thank you all again.
(45:27):
You all are champions, and I'mso grateful to have each and
every one of you in my life andyour willingness to participate
in something so personal and sodeep on this level.
You are appreciated Elevate yourmind.
Be open to health and wealth.
Trust the healing process,sometimes healing hurts, but
(45:49):
when completely healed youbecome a stronger.
Wiser and amazing human.
That was heavy.
Let's relax and breathe.
Breathe in love.
Breathe out.
Love.
Breathe in peace.
(46:12):
Breathe out peace.
Breathe in love.
Share love.
Now, share this podcast to helpsomeone you love I enjoy.
interacting with my listeners.
(46:33):
Click the support link in thepodcast notes to donate and
support.
See you next self care sunday
Oh, smiles champions.
Welcome to mind elevation healthand wealth.
I am your host Shire.
An educator, emotional healerand entrepreneur for this month,
we will be celebrating blackhistory culture and how we can
heal worldviews by being an allyby understanding, and by
(00:23):
increasing our knowledge ofblackness black ish and black
excellence of AfricansAfrican-Americans after Latinos,
we will learn across allcultures.
We are all the same kind ofdifferent this.
This session, we will explorecolorism, not racism.
(00:44):
Colorism.
You are here on purpose.
Session 10.
Colorism and brace all skintones.
Listen and listen, well,champions, whether you have
faith in God.
Faith in the universe or faithitself, you have the power to
(01:04):
promote self-love and change thelives for future generations or
children that will be born intoa world of color.
If you've been negativelyaffected by colorism.
If you have family members thathave been negatively affected by
colorism.
If you have, or no children thathave been negatively affected by
(01:25):
colorism, this session is givingyou the opportunity to
understand what colorism is.
Avoid unconsciously, makingcolorism comments, remove the
internalized negative thoughtsabout skin color.
And be aware of how colorismstarted due to classism,
colonization, media, andtelevision.
(01:48):
And sometimes it started rightin our own homes by our own
family members and brands.
First, we will start bylistening to the testimonies of
individuals of different agesand cultural backgrounds.
I have to give thanks to thebrave young men and women that
agree to share their storieswith us today.
It, isn't always easy to sharestories that may impact you or
(02:11):
that have impacted you in anegative way or your loved ones
in a potentially negative light.
However, when you hear how thesebeautiful humans are doing the
work, when it comes toencouraging teaching and
promoting self-love to everyone,they meet, they embody what it
means to be champions for lifechange and breaking negative
(02:34):
generational cycles.
Listen and listen.
Well, My name is Q um, 25 yearsold.
And I'm an African-American man.
My skin tone.
Brown.
sometime in middle school,around 12, 13 years old.
(02:54):
mainly black girls in middleschool or the most.
Uh, impacted by.
Um, negative third is like,Midnight or burn biscuits.
well, currently I'm an educator.
Um, so it's, uh, some exampleson the students now.
so I've corrected them in themoment.
(03:15):
And the future of justcontinuing to educate students
on the points of.
Uh, colorism and that all skintones matter.
All skin tones are beautiful.
No matter what you look like.
We're all beautiful blackpeople.
My name is Radika.
I am 32 years old and I am anIndian woman.
And I guess I would describe myskin tone as a medium.
(03:41):
But the first time I realizedthat my skin color within my own
race is a thing is.
Well, there was several timeswhen I was little.
They.
There were certain things I wastold.
Like don't be out in the sun toomuch, or like there were several
activities like that it requiresyou to be outdoors and,
especially as a woman.
(04:01):
You were told not to be outdoorsso much because the sun is going
to 10-year, you're going to getdarker.
That was always the thing like,oh, don't play out so much.
It.
Pretty outside so much, likeyou're going to get darker.
I never really understood, whywas that an issue?
When I was little, I reallydidn't understand like I thought
of it as, okay.
My, my mom told me not to goplay outside for a long time
(04:23):
that I'm not going to go playoutside for a long time.
And I guess I am going to getdarker.
I don't know.
I never really thought about it.
I guess until.
I moved to us, I really saw likehow, there are so many other,
people here, and theyappreciate.
My color.
And when I got here, there wasso much curiosity questions
(04:44):
about my skin color and my skinand where I come from and all
that.
And then I really understoodlike the beauty of it there was
an issue.
Even with my mom because my mom.
is considered as a dark skinIndian, and she was always made
fun of for that.
And to the point that like, theyused to call her a dark girl,
(05:06):
like an as an insult per se.
And she never really understoodthat herself.
So it was, it's a very sensitivetopic for her.
And then, so when she had me, soshe was very careful about, not
having me.
Spent too much time outside withthe same concern yet again,
like, oh, you're going to getdarker.
But I never really understood.
Why was that an issue?
(05:27):
Especially when I moved here.
When I started to love my skincolor, especially because there
was so much appreciation for it.
And then made me question herthinking and make her realize,
like, why do you think, beingoutside in the sun or I'm going
to lay out on the beach.
Why is that going to be anissue?
Like why.
Why does ha it has to be that,oh, you're going to get darker.
So what are you going to getdarker?
(05:47):
Like it's just tan.
Right?
and then I made her question,like, why is that a problem?
Why is, but then she alwayslinks it back to her being
teased for it, which she neverrealized why it was a thing,
but.
No, she is stuck in this, herown cycle as well, doing the
same thing to me and notrealizing how she was part of
(06:10):
that.
she wasn't in my shoes one dayherself.
So in order to, I guess, Bringawareness.
Towards it is two.
How people question, why do wethink the way that we think
sometimes.
Because there are so many timesthat we have certain stereotypes
within us or a bias that makesus believe in a certain thing,
(06:31):
just because, that's what wehave been told.
And there's been times peoplejust blindfoldedly follow what
we have been, following for thelong time or what we have been
told or what we have been taughtas a child.
But we never really questionedit just because you was coming
from our family.
So, having these podcasts likethis or interviews, or, you
(06:51):
know, getting people to talkabout this topic.
Is going to be helpful and isone of, The solutions to an
issue like colorism because alot of it, if you really sit
down and like, try to break itopen is doesn't really make
sense.
So, Uh, name with someencouraging words is to be your
(07:12):
beautiful self.
And, every skin color isbeautiful.
Because that's how you are sentto this world.
And appreciated and educatepeople, about.
Their beliefs and correct themin the most decent way possible.
I have took Kuwait, sheriff.
I am a 43 year old.
(07:36):
Black woman.
I would say my skin complexionwould be, more of a.
Dark.
Carmel complexion.
I would say.
Oh, I was very young.
I would say elementary, maybe.
Elementary age.
Maybe first, second grade.
(07:59):
Possibly younger.
I realized that just by beingmore on the darker side, I would
always get teased.
Bye.
The boys for not being as lightas the next female.
So yeah, it was a really youngage.
I would say one of my.
(08:19):
Experience that really has.
Stuck with me throughout theyears.
I've had plenty of experiencethat this particular one stuck
with me throughout the years.
With my sister and I.
We were in.
China.
And.
My sister had already livedthere for probably three years
(08:42):
and I went to visit.
and she was taking me around thecity of Beijing, sizing.
And.
Soon as we.
Try to get on the train.
My sister understood Mandarinvery well.
So when we were trying to get onthe train, Everyone was staring
(09:03):
at me.
And they was talking to mysister said they're really
amazed.
And they're trying tounderstand.
Because they never seen a darkskin.
African American.
Woman.
And so she made a video of,individuals tripping while they
(09:24):
were watching me because theythey couldn't, they didn't
understand it.
And they will run up to me, takepictures of me or with me.
And, we had a hard time tryingto flag calves down because I
was more dark skin than her.
I had to actually step away fromher so she could stop a cab.
We were in the zoo.
(09:45):
And it was a grand.
Mother and her grandchildlaughing at us.
And I really didn't understandwhat was going on.
So I was smiling and, you know,laughing back.
Well, next thing I know mysister started, you know, my
sister was really upset speakingin Mandarin, and then she began
to speak English.
Well, the grandmother wasactually telling the little.
(10:09):
Boy.
He was probably about four orfive years old.
That we were, monkeys and wedeserve to be in the cage with
the.
Dog.
That was an occasion for us,which was, uh, supposed to be
American dog, but it actuallywas a, German shepherd.
But it was labeled American dog.
And that was really sad andheartbreaking because the entire
time my sister was trying tokeep me away from the negativity
(10:33):
that was really taking placewhen everyone was watching me
and talking and running up,taking pictures with me.
without my consent, it wasn'tbecause they thought I was
beautiful.
It was because I was dark skin.
I was a dark skinnedAfrican-American.
And that will always stick withme, especially the grandmother
(10:55):
telling the little boy that wewere monkeys.
And we were supposed to be inthe cage at the zoo.
With the dog.
I try to always broadcast on mysocial media.
a lot of do.
You know, just all different.
Races and, Shades of skin tones.
And just, embrace all thebeautiful things about each
(11:18):
person and, how we're alldifferent and unique and, we
should never go by.
The color of our skin to placejudgment on someone, it's way
more to a person and theirbeauty besides the color of
their skin.
I would, I would mostdefinitely.
Tell them you are beautiful.
And as Tupac would say, theblacker, the Berry, the sweeter,
(11:41):
the juice.
Oh, My name is Ashley Smith.
I'm 40 years old.
And this is the first time I'vebeen asked to describe my skin
tone.
Wow.
I guess the whole life, everyoneelse has done it for me.
Let me see, have you ever beento Hawaii?
I went recently and one of thethings that stood out to me was
(12:03):
the color of the sand.
Honestly, I was hoping for thebright white Sandy beaches of
the Caribbean.
But Hawaii beaches aredifferent.
It's more of a caramel brown.
And if you look closely, you cansee the small individual rocks
that make it up.
And they're all different shadesof brown.
That's me.
That's what I'm going withtoday.
A beautiful mixture of differentshades in the closer you get,
(12:26):
the more you're interested, themore you'll see.
When I realized the color of myskin matter.
Ooh, young, very young.
I remember living in theCarolinas and having no friends,
I was probably four or five.
If you asked me, then I thoughtI had one friend, but if I was
honest, I had none.
Because even my one friend wasflaky.
(12:48):
I can't remember what it was.
It made me aware that it hadeverything to do with my looks,
but I remember I knew that wasthe reason.
I also remember that my oldersister who could pass for white
had more friends than me.
I wish I could say I've donesomething significant to stop
colorism in my culture.
I think the best work and maybesometimes the most important
(13:09):
work was on me.
I evaluate how I see people.
I recognize the stereotypes,even in my own community and how
they might influence me.
I'm trying to do better.
I listened to people's storiesand I do the hard work of
showing empathy.
I can't fix it.
I can't fix other people, but Ican at least not add to the
(13:29):
problem.
I'm so lucky to have a family, abeautiful family, many different
shades.
I guess like the Hawaiian sand.
I have two beautifulstep-daughters, one black and
one biracial.
I listened to their stories.
Their sisters grew up with thesame parents, but they have
different experiences.
I have a son who will always beviewed as black and he has a
(13:51):
grandmother.
Who's a hundred percent white.
I'm going to have to help himnavigate that.
I have a nephew with thebrightest blue eyes and curly
blonde hair.
And if we go by the drop role,he's black, but the world will
treat him like he's white.
I'll probably have to help myson understand that too.
my name is Christian.
I am 31 and I am a black woman.
(14:15):
I was in middle school when I.
Realized that I was affected bycolor at the time I didn't.
Understand.
I didn't understand what thatfelt like or what that looked
like.
But there is one specificinstance that I can remember,
being at about six or seventhgrade.
So I was probably around 12 or13.
(14:37):
that instance, as I look back, Ican realize that is when I was
actually affected by colorism.
So six or seventh grade.
I remember I would always playoutside.
I was just like an outside kid,riding bikes.
Big tomboy loved doing, all theoutdoor things.
(14:58):
And one summer, I noticed that,I was out in the sun.
I would go swimming.
I was out in the sun a lot andmy skin got very dark I am.
Kind of, I'm just browncomplected, not on a
light-skinned spectrum night onthe darker skin spectrum.
I'm just kind of in the middle.
Honestly.
but during the summer, my skindoes get really dark.
(15:21):
And when I was younger, Iremember noticing that after.
Going swimming.
And I was at my aunt's house,which is, shy the healer.
My aunt is the person who isover this podcast, she actually
ends up being a huge part ofthis memory.
And I remember going into herrestroom and I was in the
(15:43):
bathroom.
There for awhile.
And I'm looking in the mirrorand what I'm doing was I was
scrubbing my face.
I'm using soap and water,washing my face over and over
again.
Oh, man, it kinda makes meemotional thinking about this,
but watching my face over andover again and scrubbing my
face.
Trying to lighten my skin up.
(16:03):
because I did not think thatbeing darker skin was beautiful.
Just based off of the mediainformation.
That was put out there with themedia.
Publicized was, lighter skin orlight complected.
Or more, of.
Characteristics of a whitewoman.
(16:24):
Or even just white teenagers iswhat I saw.
and even just being black,lighter skin women were in men.
Were the ones that weretypically seen as more
beautiful.
And so I'm just scribbling awayTrying to lighten them, my skin
and just, and I remember my auntknocking on the door and she
(16:45):
came in.
And she's like, are you okay?
And I'm like, yeah.
And she asked me what I wasdoing.
And I was like, I'm scrubbing myskin because I'm too dark.
Like, um, um, I'm just too darkin dark is not pretty.
And she stopped me and she likelooked at me really intensely.
(17:05):
And it was like, black isbeautiful.
You are black is beautiful.
Don't ever say that don't everfeel like your skin color, even
if it is darker, whatever it isthat your skin color is not
beautiful because it is.
And I remember that.
I remember, having aconversation with her in her
house.
And her just reminded me ofthat.
(17:26):
And I never forgot that day.
and even when I would have thoseinsecurities come up or even
just, the summers where I getdarker, and even now the summers
where I get darker.
I remind myself like black isbeautiful.
It comes in different shades.
we had different shades ofbrown, black Chan.
(17:47):
Whatever.
And I just always try toremember that.
and so now as an adult, What aretrying to do, because I know how
much that impacted me and I cansee how media plays a huge role
in this.
Although, with social media, yousee more representation with
darker skin, women and men,being the.
(18:08):
Illustration of beauty.
And so that's been really cool,but what I'd still try to do,
cause I still see that colorismcome up, even in our community.
I work a lot with, youth andteenagers and even young adults.
And I try my best to when I seethose conversations come up or
when I seen.
A young girl having insecurityabout her skin tone.
(18:31):
I always just remind them, youare beautiful, you know, like
your curls are beautiful.
Your color is beautiful.
Your features are beautiful.
fuller lips, bigger noses.
like whatever it's beautiful.
So I use that opportunity allthe time.
And then now I'm raising twoyoung.
beautiful boys that are ahundred percent black.
(18:56):
And my husband is very fair skinwith red undertone, some red
hair.
And we have two sons.
one is five or he'll be five.
And a couple of weeks.
And then one is five months and,My oldest son.
he's my complexion.
And then my five month old isbrighter than my husband with
(19:16):
red hair.
in red eyebrows.
And so it's so cool to see how.
genes can play a factor, play arole.
but with me, having two sonsthat are a hundred percent
black, same parents.
But two very different skintones.
And I just always tried toinstill in my four year old.
How handsome he is.
(19:37):
And he is a black boy and hishandsome and his hair is curly
and his skin is beautiful.
And he'll say I'm black.
I love my skin.
I'm black and my mom's black.
My dad is black.
Not.
My brother's black, you know,and just telling him, cause
he'll ask like about his littlebrother he's like his skin is,
(19:57):
is light.
Is he still black?
And I'm like, yes, he's black.
So I'm just teaching him that wecome in different shades, but
they're all beautiful.
And to be proud of what he lookslike and the features that he
has and I will be having thatsame conversation with my
younger son when he realizesthat he's more fair-skinned and
has readier, and just havingthat conversation.
That's one way that I'm tryingto, really instill.
(20:20):
And the next generations tocome.
Just.
Debunking those negativethoughts.
towards our skin color.
And so I just want to encourage.
just everyone in the blackcommunity that you literally are
beautiful are black isbeautiful.
It comes in different shades,different.
(20:42):
Shapes different hair textures.
Different characteristics,different sizes, just
everything.
Like we are.
Just so versatile.
We are so beautiful.
And we are honestly justamazing.
I just want to hype everybodyup, and just remind you that you
are beautiful.
(21:03):
You are made just the way thatGod created you.
And that is perfect.
And if you've ever beennegatively affected by colorism,
it's never too late to loveyourself and see who you truly
are.
Love your color, love, even theexperiences that you've gone
through because they make youwho you are.
and they shape you and that youcan pass on to the next
(21:24):
generations and have themunderstand what it is.
And to be strong through it.
And I be, Negatively affected byit.
Yeah.
Yeah.
Awesome.
So much love to y'all.
As we listened to thosetestimonies.
Some of you were probably forcedto reflect on your own
experience.
(21:44):
One of the main reasons forlistening to the stories of
others is to learn.
The similar challenges that weall face across cultures.
Before I move forward.
Let's go off of the vocabularyof some of the words you will
hear being used the session.
Colorism is defined as.
(22:06):
Differential treatment based onskin color.
It's specially favoritismtowards those with lighter skin
tone and Ms.
Treatment or exclusion of thosewith a darker skin tone.
Classism is defined as bias ordiscrimination based on social
or economic classes.
(22:26):
Examples of classes areupper-class rich or wealthy
people middle-class above thepoverty limit or lower class,
poor and impoverished people.
Colonization.
Is defined as the action andprocess of settling and
establishing control.
Over the indigenous people of anarea.
(22:49):
Examples of colonization isEuropean invasions and
colonizations Africa.
European colonization ofAmericas for the native
Americans, Europeancolonization, forced enslavement
and human trafficking.
Of Africans to the Americas.
(23:09):
Those are all examples ofcolonization.
I promise we will discuss how weare all the same kind of
different or some like to say weare all more alike than
different.
I got that from a really greatmovie.
I watched called same kind ofdifferent as me.
I think it's based on a truestory.
I'm going to start by explaininghow colorism is a cross culture
(23:34):
issue.
Based on my research.
Let's travel to Asia.
Asia and colorism.
At its root colorism and theresult in discrimination and
bias, that is a result ofcolorism has its roots due to
classism in Asia.
Unlike the racist ideology, thatwas a direct result of the
(23:55):
rationalism of slavery byWestern European countries.
Of Portugal, Spain, greatBritain.
Colorism in Asia came from theidea that lower wage workers had
to work in the field and haddarker skin as a result.
Lighter skin people and Asianswe're able to stay out of the
(24:15):
sun and Asia.
There is a deeply rootedcultural notion that.
Associates, dark skin withpoverty and working in the
field.
Whereas pill, skin reflects amore comfortable life.
Out of the sun and therefore ahigher social economic status
and higher class.
This was from an articlepublished by Jessica.
(24:37):
Hawaiian August of 2020.
You heard the testimony of, toQuita and her experience
traveling to China.
Historically China already has anegative view of dark skin in
their own culture.
But based on the lack ofknowledge about other cultures
to see an African-American witheven darker skin was viewed as
(24:58):
animalistic, which resulted indehumanizing an innocent young
woman, such as to Quita.
Let's travel to India.
India and colorism.
Some historians say colorism inIndia was greatly intensified by
colonization of the British.
It was a practice by the Britishrulers to show favor to the
(25:21):
light-skin Indians forgovernment jobs, preferences for
light skin toned.
Over dark when it came tomarriages.
And most of the jobs.
Are still affecting the lives ofhundreds of thousands of
Indians.
This was an article by SamirYessir.
And Jeffrey gentlemen.
(25:41):
And June 28th, 2020.
As we heard radical story andtestimony as an Indian woman and
the struggles her mother wentthrough as a young Indian child.
Faced with the teasing of beingin darker skin, Indian.
Let's travel to Latin America.
(26:02):
Latin America and colorism.
Before the arrival of Europeansin the region of Latin America,
many indigenous people whereMayans.
Then later, both the Spanish andthe Portuguese brought African
slaves to the colonies aslaborers to work.
This caused the creation of AfroLatinos, which are individuals
(26:22):
of Latin American descent whoare also of African ancestry.
Same cycle a favor to thelighter skin, Latinos and
discrimination to darker skinLatinos.
There is an article publishedNovember 4th, 2021 that states
the majority of Latinos say skincolor impacts opportunity in
America.
And shapes daily life.
(26:43):
When you add colorism in class,there are Latin American
politicians like Marco Rubio,who was a Republican Senator in
Florida.
We have to wonder, would youhave made it that far in his
career?
If he had darker skin as anAfro-Latino, if his skin was
darker, he would not pass forwhite.
Can he really fully representthe Latin American culture here
(27:04):
in America with Latin Americaand classism visibly?
If you can pass as white, it isa complete.
Eraser of dark skin in the LatinAmerican culture.
The ratio of dark skin causespeople to question when an Afro
Latino or a dark skin, Hispanicis actually speaking Spanish,
even though Spanish is theirnative language.
(27:29):
Let's travel Africa.
African and colorism.
Due to colonization televisionand media in Africa.
Skin bleaching and skinlightening creams are number one
full product in Africa, mostcommercials and advertising
portrays white or lighter skinwomen and men, most acting jobs
(27:52):
and roles are given to lighterskin, men and women.
So the idea that lighter skin isbeautiful and it also offers
more opportunities in an articlepublished on March 10, 20, 20 by
Lynn and Thomas.
Uh, Somali American activists.
She scored a victory againstAmazon and against colorism.
The beauty, well, project teamedup to convince Amazon to stop
(28:14):
selling skin lightening productsthat contain toxic levels of
mercury.
Africans were going to theextremes of using toxic products
to lighten their skin.
This has been shaped overall bywhite supremacy and institutions
of racial, slavery,colonization, and segregation
class engender.
(28:35):
Let's travel to the UnitedStates of America.
Colorism.
Is due to colonization andslavery.
It started on the plantation.
African women were kept and usedas concubines, which means they
were being used and abused forsexual purposes by their white
enslavers.
This would result in pregnancy,the child will be born as what
(28:58):
they called back then.
meaning with both black andwhite race.
Today, we simply say by racial,oftentimes this child would have
a lighter skin tone, which alsomeans this child is most likely
being slaver or masters'biological child commonly.
Although this child is born intoslavery, this child will receive
privileges that other.
(29:19):
All black flames did not receivethis child was allowed to live
in the big house.
Sometimes when these childrenwill become adults, the master
would allow them to becomeoverseers.
Also known as the enforcers oftheir own enslaved family.
Imagine being the mother to anall black slave child working in
(29:39):
the fields.
And also the mother to abiracial child that has housed
in boss, like privileges.
How do you wrap your mind aroundthat?
However, when mothers realizethat if they're light-skinned
children could possibly pass forwhite and be a free human, like
any mother you want the best foryour child, right?
(30:00):
But this is also where the loveand hate of light and dark skin
colorism started taking placewithin our own community on the
plantation.
The dark black enslaved Negrowas mistreated and only capable
of working in the hot sun in thefield.
Only able to eat what's leftover from the pig, which would
(30:20):
only be pig intestines.
And then there is the light-skinuppity Negro that works inside
the cool house, the big housewith the privileges of working
in the kitchen and eating otherportions of food and sleeping on
the inside.
Instead of out in the slaveshack, they had options.
They either embrace theirso-called good life as a
(30:41):
light-skin relative of theirmaster with the potential to
possibly pass and be free.
Or they have the option to shinetheir dark skin, brothers and
sisters that needed to keepworking in those fields for the
master.
The stress of a mother born intoslavery sexually assaulted
regularly, and then have towatch our children be separated
(31:02):
by color and class no longerUnited.
Hence the term.
United we stand divided.
We fall.
It is safe to say that colorismaffects the whole world.
Not only do people have to worryabout being a person of color.
They also have to worry aboutthe shade.
Of their color.
(31:24):
Then you add in skin color witha kinky hair texture, skin color
with a larger body size skin'scolor with larger lips, skin
color with the larger nose, skincolor with eye color.
I get exhausted.
Just thinking about how deep thelevel of colorism drives us
immediately into judgment andhating our God given features.
(31:47):
Michael Jackson and the wholeJackson family that liked their
skin and decrease the size oftheir nose.
OJ Simpson's dating.
I'm not black.
I'm OJ.
Does the associating himself dueto social class?
Then time magazine, dark, andhis skin on the cover of the
magazine when he was beingcharged with murdering his wife.
(32:08):
Barack Obama skin was darkenedduring the election by Hillary
Clinton's campaign ads with darkand his skin on purpose, knowing
the influence and worldview ofdark skin, blacks.
Back in 1947, the famousphotographer, Gordon parks
captured a photo of a littleblack American girl pointing to
the white doll.
(32:28):
When she was asked to point tothe pretty doll.
This test is known as the dolltest, her young mind was already
led to believe that white andlight are pretty as a, her dark
skin was not.
This test led to schoolintegration, brown vs.
Board of education, demandingracial integration of American
(32:50):
public schools.
I remember in high school,around the year of 1996.
A friend who was dark skinned,black young lady.
Made the comment.
I want my babies to be mixed, sothey have lighter skin and good
hair because I want my kids tobe pretty.
I was instantly triggered.
By my childhood of having amixed race sister.
(33:13):
And the pain that wasunknowingly and unconsciously
inflicted on me.
When grownups was saying thingsto my father, like.
Are those young childrenreferring to my little sister
and I.
This one.
Pointing to, or picking up mylittle sister.
This one is so pretty.
She's so pretty.
Got that good hair too.
(33:35):
Their mind her so much, theynicknamed her sunshine.
They never call me ugly.
They just showed me what prettywas supposed to look like.
And unfortunately it wasn't me.
At age nine.
I knew the definition ofbeautiful and that definition
was light skin and long loosecurly hair, not the tight nappy
(33:57):
curl like mine.
I was teased often about mynappy ball here.
And just recently at the age of43, decided to release myself
from weaves and hair extensions.
I'm now wearing my naturallocks, praising myself for
self-love and overcoming theinsecurities of my skin and hair
(34:20):
texture.
I'm celebrating the wins.
Y'all.
Anyways.
I internalize that since my skinwas darker and my hair nappy
here, I was not the beautifulchild.
She also had privileged withbeing pretty.
They will give her a candy askif they can take her places.
I was not even seen or noticed.
(34:42):
I will be right next to herstaring and admiration, wishing
that I could be adored.
That was the start of my lowself-esteem.
I don't blame any of the adultsin my life.
I've never envy.
My little sister, I alwaysadmired her beauty.
I just hated myself and wantedto change the color of my skin
(35:03):
and the texture of my hair.
I remember hearing commentsabout other little girls, like
she's dark, but at least she gotgood hair.
But at that time, I didn't havewhat classified as good hair.
I didn't even have the geneticjackpot that my little sister
had.
I don't blame my father becausehe didn't even know how it was
(35:23):
affecting me.
He didn't even know he shouldhave corrected the other adults.
He didn't even know that heshould have reminded me that I
was also just as beautiful as mysister.
Colorism was never acknowledged,understood or addressed.
I don't even think colorism wasa word that was spoken back in
the eighties.
(35:43):
After listening to thetestimonies earlier in this
podcast, we are already seeingmindset shifts against colorism
because in the past.
I remember black folk woulddeliver their child, have their
baby and check the color oftheir baby's fingertips.
Just hoping they were not darkbecause of the tips were a lot
darker than the rest of thebaby's body and meant the baby
(36:05):
would be a dark child.
There used to be a brown paperbag rule in the south, meaning
people shouldn't date otherblacks.
If their skin was darker than apaper bag.
There was a one drop rule.
Meaning if you have one drop ofblack blood in you, you are
considered black.
If you were passing as white andgot caught.
(36:26):
You could be murdered.
And anyone else that knew youwere really black will be
murdered.
Also, there are still black maleand female women that are living
in the white world as passersand have completely denied and
erase their true identity andblackness.
Hey, you.
The champion for life changes.
(36:46):
I'm challenging you to be open,to change or internalized
thoughts about light skin anddark skin.
You know, you have been guiltyof judging yourself or others
based upon skin tone when we arereal together, we heal together.
It is time to practice a mind,elevation and shift on our
(37:07):
worldview, relating to people ofcolor.
We must see the beauty of darkskin.
We must see the beauty ofnaturally kinky hair.
We must see the beauty of ourfull lips and why noses.
We must embrace our cultural,natural beauty.
The brainwash and whitewash canno longer separate into bite us
from loving ourselves.
(37:27):
If you are.
An ally for the black community,understand that dark skin does
not mean bad or evil or violent.
There has been a misconceptionthat colorism is someone being
insecure about the color oftheir skin.
The truth is colorism can causeinsecurity.
(37:48):
However, it is a realdiscrimination that can promote
an internalized self hate andinferiority.
Based on our research andknowledge.
We now know.
Colorism is designed.
And systematically structured todivide and conquer in many
different countries, includingthe United States, bringing
(38:09):
awareness and correctingcolorism comments.
We are here to disrupt thesystems of oppression.
As you heard into Quita story,darker humans are sometimes
compared to animals and othercultures also being teased as a
young lady for being darker thanother black American girls.
Or as you heard in Q story, whenhe talks about how as a young
(38:35):
boy, he would hear.
Darker skinned, young blackgirls being talked about and
called names like midnight orburnt biscuit.
As you heard in radical storyand her Indian culture as a
young woman being told to avoidgoing outside with the threat of
becoming darker.
A projection of her mother beingteased for being a dark Indian
(38:58):
girl.
As Christian and Ashley stateand their stories of colorism,
they have young boys, they willteach to love their skin tone
and teach them to navigateconversations and comparisons
relating to family members andall the beautiful genetically
defined shades of skin tones.
We will do better.
(39:18):
We must do better and we have toteach and promote.
The beauty of all skin colors.
Each week.
I promote a book.
And Arthur.
Is that have impacted my lifeand helped me heal by increasing
my knowledge and awareness ofexperiences.
Outside of my own.
Years ago, I read the bookcalled the darkest child by
(39:41):
Dolores Phillips.
And this historical novelDelores Phillips sets the scene
in Georgia in the 1950s.
The story is centered around apoor 13 year old young
African-American girl.
That happened to be her mother'sdarkest child to a mother that
would pass for white.
Because she was the darkest ofher siblings, her mother
(40:02):
mistreated, abused, and sold herdaughter's young 13 year old
body to white men for six.
Reading the injustice is shownin her own home between her
siblings just tugged at myheartstrings so much that even
though the book is full oftrauma and sadness, I could not
stop reading because I wanted toget to the antici.
(40:24):
If she was victorious in herlife.
I won't tell you the end.
You should purchase a book andread it.
The link is in the podcastnotes.
I also want to promote Dr.
Sarah L web.
She has created aself-affirmation book, a
children's coloring book andworkbook, and she has a blog and
website called colorism andhealing.
(40:45):
Dr.
Web addresses, what it reallytakes to in colorism and courage
and honesty by being able todiscuss the controversial issues
relating to colorism, because wehave to be open and honest to
admit that within our own race,we have hurt others mistreated.
The others have been prejudgedto others and sometimes our own
(41:07):
children and family withnegative colorism comments and
remarks, she stays at it takeswhole families and persistent
action over time to make thesechanges.
We can't act like colorismdoesn't exist or that it still
isn't happening in our culturesand communities.
You are now a champion forhealing and change.
(41:30):
For quick recaps ofclarification and understanding.
Listen and listen.
Well, Recap one, understand thatcolorism affects people of all
colors.
All cultures all over the world.
It takes every one of us toacknowledge that it is real.
And to start addressing it inour homes and in public.
(41:52):
It always start with healingyourself.
First, if you are alight-skinned person.
Correct people that use yourlight-skinned as a compliment as
if dark skin peers are not justas beautiful.
If you are dark skin, correctpeople that make comments like
you're pretty for a dark skingirl, or you're pretty to be or
(42:13):
handsome to be a dark skinnedman.
Remind them that all skin colorsare beautiful.
Recap to stop using thefavorable filters that make your
skin color and eyes brighter.
Embrace your skin tone on yoursocial media pages.
I stopped using filters aboutthree years ago, I embrace no
filter.
(42:33):
Please stop using foundationmakeup.
That's lighter than your actualskin color.
We see the color of your neck.
We love the color of your neck.
Recapped three.
Stop stating your preferences inmen or women.
I only gave dark skin.
I only date light skin when itis strictly related to behavior
men.
(42:55):
Our men, women are women.
The color of their skin does notactually determine how they
behave in a relationship.
Stop it stop the stigma thatdark skinned men and women are
bitter insecure and lovable orhateful.
Now this excludes attraction.
Recap for stop comparing yourchildren based on their skin
(43:17):
color.
And don't let others judge ormake comments about your
children based on their skintone hair, texture, or looks.
If they compliment one child,they need to compliment all of
your children, redirect andstudents or young people's
negative comments.
When you hear young adultsnegatively insult other young
adults with comments likeyouthful black, or name-calling
(43:39):
installs like burnt biscuit orblack as tar headaches.
Correct.
And redirect immediately toremind them that their black is
beautiful.
This type of teachable momentcan change a whole generation of
our future humans.
Champions for life change.
This is our time.
This is a way that we cancelebrate black history month by
(44:01):
embracing.
Who we are all over cultures,whether it's black, whether it's
African, whether it'sAfro-Latino, whether you're
Asian.
Whether your.
Black and Asian, whether you're,Indian, whether you're a dark
skin, Indian would have for yourrace.
(44:23):
What ever your skin tonecolorism is real and it takes
us.
And this generation of youngadults to change it.
Before I close.
I want to give a shout out andthanks again to.
The beautiful souls that sharedtheir testimony.
(44:43):
Too.
To Quita.
Radica.
Ashley.
And Christian.
There would've been more, but weran out of time to get those
testimonies in.
But you are truly appreciatedand the work and sacrifices that
you're making in the way thatyou're raising your children and
the way that you're being aneducator and the way that you're
(45:06):
projecting, the sense of beautyon your social media pages.
and the way that you're evenacknowledging and challenging
your own parents' belief abouttheir skin color, those are all
successful ways of fighting forjustice for colorism.
Thank you all again.
(45:27):
You all are champions, and I'mso grateful to have each and
every one of you in my life andyour willingness to participate
in something so personal and sodeep on this level.
You are appreciated Elevate yourmind.
Be open to health and wealth.
Trust the healing process,sometimes healing hurts, but
(45:49):
when completely healed youbecome a stronger.
Wiser and amazing human.
That was heavy.
Let's relax and breathe.
Breathe in love.
Breathe out.
Love.
Breathe in peace.
(46:12):
Breathe out peace.
Breathe in love.
Share love.
Now, share this podcast to helpsomeone you love I enjoy.
interacting with my listeners.
(46:33):
Click the support link in thepodcast notes to donate and
support.
See you next self care sunday
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