Colorism Racism Within the Black Race

My Question: What is colorism and is it a real problem? Is colorism something that is only seen in America, or is it an issue worldwide?

​Colorism, for me, has always meant racism within the black race. An ill distinction made based off of the color of your skin. I knew colorism to be an issue in the Black/African American community-and that is it. For me, colorism has always meant the difference between a black person with a lighter complexion, and a black person with a darker complexion. I knew that with it, came stereotypes and ideas about the way I would live my life or what kind of self-esteem I would have. I know that I am “light skinned” and therefore I must also be conceited, preferred, and privileged relative to my “dark skinned” counterparts. I knew I would be able to go to a good college and get a good job because I was closer to being white than others. But if you were dark skinned, you would have a hard life, opportunities wouldn’t be extended to you, that you were ugly, and would always and forever be a victim of the color complex. It wasn’t just about the tone of your skin though- that could be fixed with a good dollop of Nadinola if you slabbed it on good enough at night. I learned that from my friend “Emmy”, a light-turned-dark skinned girl I used to have sleepovers with. Her mom would send her over with a glass jar of the stuff; how she could stand the chemically stench of it is beyond me. I never even knew she was a dark skinned girl until we ended up at the same middle school. Emmy told me her mother had ran out of the cream and, until she could buy more, she would remain dark.

​But of all the things I knew to be true about colorism, there is one thing I was almost certain of- It is not real. Colorism comes with a bunch of other nonsense. It’s not just about being light or dark. It’s about the texture of your hair, the color of your eyes, if you’re “really” black, or mixed with something else. All of these things get tied into the issue of...