Colorism vs Racism: Should we view them differently?

Picture courtesy of Google

I have heard many black people say that it is different and that it is not the same thing.  Colorism was born from racism to accomplish the same goal of establishing superiority based on a sense power over those deemed inferior solely based on skin tone.  When black people decided to participate in colorism (the idea that the lighter black person is the better black person) it negatively altered how all black people felt about themselves and what they could do for themselves within their own race.  I will never understand a black person participating in this behavior considering the damage inflicted on all of our lives because of racism. 

The idea that colorism is only regional in the United States is laughable.  As if it is so impossible for colorism to majorly exist in more than the much talked about Southern region of the United States and not the others.  And considering the fact that we have allowed our popular culture to shape our views in very destructive ways we should all know that it is everywhere.  Southern people ain't got nothing on America as a whole.

I have seen colorism in all of the regions from many ethnic groups (as designed) and it at times seems unbelievable when you experience it even though you know it exists. Spending the second half of my formative years growing up in Northern Louisiana put me in a position to experience colorism often but not so often that it was able to damage my views on the issue.  It was frustrating to hear older people, boys, girls and even family members discuss the lighter skin/darker skin issue in a way that gave it more importance than it should have had. 

Colorism is something that I hate more than I hate racism because it is coming from not only the people that benefit from racism but it is also coming from the people that experience being negatively affected by racism everyday.  Black people destroying themselves with the very thing that their ancestors fought against is the definition of sad.  Wouldn't they be so proud that their sacrifice has brought about our slow and (at this point) certain destruction? 

We feed the monster, our current societal power structure, with our lives by choosing to support anything or anyone that tries to make this okay.  It is not okay for a person's self-worth to be defined by their skin color and for that skin color to be seen as anything other than God's plan for a beautiful and diverse society.

What do you think?  Is colorism and it's damage different from what racism creates?  Is colorism among black people self-hatred in practice?

At What Cost?

"Destroy the woman, Destroy the people."

Black people have been continually under siege in America since the day our African ancestors set foot on these shores in 1619 and the only difference in the last almost 400 years is our oscillating acceptance of it. There are some who will say that we are in a different time period and the things that our enslaved ancestors went through is not the same life that we lead today-- and in saying that they would be dead wrong!

Our history in this country --really around the world-- due to the horrors of slavery doesn't afford us the same latitude as white people because for centuries our culture and our people have been defined and maligned by them based on white superiority being the ideal. Just think about that for a moment... in order for them to be superior... colonialists went above and beyond to ensure that generation after generation Black people and white people would continue to pass down "white people's truth" of black inferiority to our children! For them to ascend they had to destroy us as a people and they chose the women as their path because if you destroy the woman then you definitely destroy the family.

It is absolutely imperative to our future that Black people stop continuing to make the mistake of seeing ourselves as "the same" as white people in this society!

Black people... subdued into a coma!

A coma... that has to be it! Right? It would explain why so many of us are behaving as if there isn't a hell of a lot of wrong going on in the way that this world operates when it comes to race... there is work to do and truths to be told! There are not enough people speaking out on BS (in any and all arenas) and too many are behaving as if it's okay that Black people and communities are failing-- and silence, deference and denial equals complicity.

The frustration and anger that I feel when I see the lukewarm concern about the negative way too many of us view and treat ourselves and each other, and the negative way we are portrayed en masse is overwhelmingly deplorable. I am a Mom (of a beautiful daughter) and I tend to always think about the world living up to EVERYTHING that it should be and in order for that to happen the "status quo" is NOT sufficient.

Regardless of how much we accomplish individually, love it or hate it, we live in a world that places people in "seemingly" identifiable groups based on the color of one's skin. What exacerbates that aspect "of life" in this world is the fact that a person's worth and potential is still attached to the color of their skin and not the 'content of their character'.

America will forever be soiled with the blood of a people that endured kidnapping, familial separation, rapes, beatings, murders and disenfranchisement [due to a government complicit in Slavery, Black codes, Jim Crow and Redlining] until it does right by the generations of people who were wronged. America's character is currently defined by the destruction of a people who built it and received less than what they should have in return.

For the record: I have no problem with people noticing the color of my deep mocha skin but I have every problem with being treated as less than or invisible because of it!

Truth To Be Told

1. We live in a white paternalistic sociopathic society that unfortunately continues to thrive.

2. Education for the children of America in regards to history-- is whitewashed, hollow and riddled with benign truths and horrendous lies. Why has that never been challenged on a national level? An unabridged and limitless education for our children is but one of the many important steps toward righting the wrongs that have been done and continue to be done.


I'm not finished... just getting started!

To the 30% of You'll That Haven't Died Off...Yet.

I have been telling Black people for a long time that no matter what we do to better this country there are still a good majority of you'll (well I think its actually a smaller portion as more of you racists continue dying off..wooh-hooh) that will always consider the people who physically built this country as perpetual outsiders and yourselves as the rightful inhabitants of these United States of America. After all isn't that why history was "reworked" so that it favored the white race as the best thing to happen to the Americas;-).

That wonderful racist vitriol (you know like the word Ni**er) that always sits perched on the tip of your tongues just waiting for the opportunity to let it roll [leaving way too many of us Black people ready to fight] has me thinking about the quality and longevity of our relationship. I have to be honest and say that it is rather sad that after well over 400 years of us getting to knowing each other so up close and personal that Ni**er is the best that you've got...but hey...a well-rounded education hasn't really been a primary concern for a lot of you.

We are in the 21st century and there is a problem that I do have to make you aware of and that is the fact that we (Black people) aren't going anywhere. You'll have had well over three centuries to work this race based stupid shit out for yourselves but you're still lagging. Are we not trying to be helpful with your process as only we can in showing you what is possible by getting the first Black President elected. Get over it already! You people (If I may borrow one of your expressions) have continued to pass down to your generations the ridiculous idea that because our melanin levels are different that you are better.

I am just going to offer a little friendly advice. You should probably stop raising your clans to be racists-in-training because...well...time is moving on very quickly and soon you will be the minority (oops sorry, I know you'll don't like that word being applied to you) compared to those who actually do have common sense. Oh yeah right...education...education...education hasn't been a very big priority for many of you. So, to those of you that are receptive and want something more from your life (because it is past time) you have to step outside of your comfort zone and take the steps necessary to help yourself by pulling yourself up by your own bootstraps.

Well as long as those straps stay on your boots that is... because we wouldn't want you'll to get hurt out there in these different times and all.