Being Black in White America is a second full-time job. Every day we are confronted with scenarios where we are asked to deny our blackness for the comfortability of everyone else. There is a second consciousness where I have to consider if I am allowed to feel this way because I am afraid for its misinterpretation. While writing this article, I had to reassert my right to express myself without the fear of being called the “angry” black girl. This is a valid part of the black experience. Black people have to give themselves permission to express themselves without feeling as though they are mimicking stereotypes. And for those of us who reject conformality and boldly own our black heritage, we are viewed as brave; and that is a damn shame. It is incredible that deciding to grow out or wear my natural hair is seen as daring. Or being made fun of if I want to rock fun colored lipsticks like almost everyone my age does. Being told my skin is too dark to do the things everyone else does eliminates my ability to be carefree. Primarily, it is the idea that accepting my God given features is considered out of the ordinary and a risk. Fundamentally, it exposes the harsh reality that society expects me to try my best to align myself with its image of beauty, standard vernacular, and their unseasoned foods. Being unapologetically black is a retraining, that comes with self-acceptance.
There are plenty of instances where I find myself having to unwillingly defend the phenomenon of racism. And even if it is my perception, white people are not entitled to define racism when they have never suffered the ramifications. There has never been an enforced institution, anywhere on this planet, where they have faced discrimination based on the color of their skin. I define race as an entire group of people categorized by physical traits directly linked to their genetics and ancestry. For example, my big lips reflect that I am genetically black because my ancestors were black. America, “can we stop talking about race?” Black Girl, “Sure, as soon as you're ready to discuss white on white crime, similarly to the way y’all talk about black on black crime. Or at least acknowledge that the “black on black crime” term should not exist. The racism that African American’s experienced from the beginning of slavery has left the black community vulnerable and as impressionable as children. This impact has been recurring throughout generations. It can easily be pinpointed to our modern day colorism. And without calling it colorism, millennials have coined the term “light skin vs. dark skin.”
At the surface, the memes, jokes, and clapbacks are funny. However, the underlining message reeks of the extension of slavery where the goal was to separate us which outlived the brown paper bag era. Light Skin Vs. Dark Skin dates back as early as 1712 in the Colony of Virginia on the banks of the James River and Willie Lynch. Willie Lynch strategically implements ways to destroy the tightly unified Black man and woman. Black unity has always been feared. Back then, it was fear that the slaves would revolt. Now the fear stems from the possibility of black people uniting to seek revenge. Willie Lynch wrote an entire book of his detailed plans to maintain control of the slaves physically and mentally for 300 years or more if executed correctly. And Newsflash! It worked!
The Lynch plan consisted of:
“Crossbreeding Niggers, meaning taking so many drops of good white blood and putting them into as many nigger women as possible, varying the drops by the various tone that you want, and then letting them breed with each other until another circle of color appears as you desire. Put the niggers and the horse in a breeding pot, mix some asses and some good white blood and what do you get? You got multiple of colors of ass backward, unusual niggers, running, tied to backward ass long-headed mules, the one productive of itself, the other sterile, (The one Constant, the other dying, we keep the nigger constant for we may replace the mules for another tool) both mule and nigger tied to each other, neither knowing where the other came from and neither productive for itself, nor without each other.”
In addition to implementing colorism, he suggested destroying the mother language of Black people while limiting the understanding of the English language by making it inaccessible.
This ideology and its implication of superiority worked so well that as colorism continues to happen in the black community, there is no need for the daily enforcements from the white community. We are so well trained that we can implement the idea that a variation of skin color makes one better than the other all on our own. I can live in an all black community, go to an all black school, with all black teachers and still be considered “ugly” because my skin variation is darker. I could work with a “light-skin” co-worker who gets a promotion and another black employee would attribute her success as luck, because she was “lucky” she was born with lighter skin.
The paradox is that team “dark skin’s” struggle is being too black while team “light skin” struggles to be black enough. Meanwhile, White America still treat us all as black. Dark Skin people are stereotyped as ugly, illiterate, loud, and ghetto. We are considered the most undesirable color on the black spectrum. Yet we discredit light skin people, stereotype them as soft, having good hair, claim that they have an easier life, and that they are conceited. Instead of exerting our energy into just being, and accepting who we are (we do not have that privilege) historically we were actively trying our best to dispel these stereotypes even if it meant getting someone of a lighter skin to give you lighter babies in order to eliminate your blackness. History deemed that skin color could prove someone as less than human. In the fight to negate stereotypes, we are asserting that we are human. First to ourselves and then to the rest of society.
