Photo Credit: Jonathan Moore
While most discussions on race center on the differences between Whites and Blacks, people of all races tend to forget that Blacks remain unyielding in acknowledging prejudices within their own culture.
The divide between Blacks who have lighter and darker skin remains one that too often goes overlooked in the Black community and is unheard of in the White community. Nevertheless, the consequences of “in-house” racism on blacks based upon skin complexion can be felt loud and clear in the lives of Black youth. As if Blacks are not faced with enough racial prejudice and stereotypes, those who have darker complexions are further singled out and seen as inferior to lighter Blacks.
Senior Markell Smith, who is darker-skinned than most Blacks, says black-on-black prejudice geared towards people with darker complexions is a phenomenon unique to the Black community. “White people don’t talk about how white they are,” says Smith.
Of the prejudice that Blacks experience from other Blacks, Smith says, “It makes it seem like we don’t like each other.”
Smith says this prejudice contributes to a hostile atmosphere for darker Blacks and creates lasting negative effects.
Smith admits that his skin color played a central role in his childhood. Growing up, Smith says that he was “verbally abused” by peers and it made him feel down on himself. He recalls an incident in which a classmate loudly joked, “I bet your dad’s sperm is black.”
The joke prompted Smith to laugh along with his classmates, though inside he pondered why his darker skin was something to be made fun of. His childhood was filled with ceaseless jests and joshes from kids whom Smith feels did not know any better.
Smith says he told no one of the verbal abuse he experienced. He felt as if telling an adult would have been “a punk move.” He says, “It was my problem, so I had to deal with it. It wasn’t going to stop, so I had to start talking about them.”
Despite his decision to fight fire with fire, the teasing still hurt Smith. “I had low self-confidence,” he says. “I wished I was light skinned.”
The academic community is well aware of skin color bias in Black culture. Macalester College Associate Professor of Social Psychology Dr. Kendrick Brown, who has done extensive research on the varying nature of racism and bias, has addressed skin tone bias in Black America. “The general trend is a preference for light African-Americans and dislike for dark individuals, though judgments may be shaped by the individual’s own skin tone,” says Brown, by phone. He insists that in the Black community, women with darker skin “must cope with a larger society that says she is not attractive, as well as individuals in her own community who may echo this negative message.”
Senior Torian Salis Magee knows this first-hand. “I’m not a color,” says Salis-Magee, who asserts that her darker complexion does not define her. “I’m Torian.”
Salis-Magee is not alone in her adamancy that “black is beautiful.” “That’s what my family calls me,” she says, “‘Black Beauty.’”
Salis-Magee would be the first, however, to remind someone of a time when her newfound self-confidence was non-existent. “It took a long time to get here,” she says.
Had Salis-Magee been born with lighter skin, her life may have taken a different route. She imagines the advantages she may have had in life, especially in her adolescence. “I think my childhood would have been easier in elementary and middle school,” she says. “I would not have had to deal with the name calling and the bullying.”
The teasing and taunting proved detrimental for Salis-Magee’s self-image and drove her to seek help. Had she not had the support of her mother and her sisters, she says, “I would have ended up killing myself a long time ago.”
She hopes to remind people that while many Blacks with darker skin who are tormented and ridiculed remain silent, “They probably go home and cry and cry and cry.”
Salis-Magee says that the mentality of blacks who use darker skin color as a tactic of abuse is summed up in the words, “Oh, she’ll be fine,” which, she says, couldn’t be further from the truth.
After six years of therapy, Salis-Magee says she is finally resilient in the face of those who find something wrong or “ugly” about people with darker skin.
Skin tone bias is a phenomenon that clearly affects the lives of students at Southfield High School, as staff and faculty can attest. Social worker and Peers Making Peace program advisor Lisa Butler says that she has witnessed the prejudice first-hand. “I still see some of our dark (pigmented) students not feeling good about who they are,” says Butler. She dearly expresses to students that, until they like who they are, “they can spend a lifetime allowing others to define them.”
Butler says that the Black community has come a long way from being uneducated and victimized. Unfortunately, many young people do not recognize the progress made and continue to feel bad about their skin complexion. “We don’t look out for each other; that’s why we’re here today, still struggling,” she says.
Butler emphasizes self-love to students she counsels, and urges Blacks to put a stop to skin tone bias within the Black community. “When you appreciate who you are,” she says, “nothing else matters.”
While Salis-Magee argues that “light vs. dark” prejudice is something that the Black community should rid itself of, fellow senior Smith says that rather than changing the way people look at skin color, Blacks should accept it. “You can’t control what color you are,” he says. “Accept being black.”
Smith says that after he came to terms with the way people treat him because of his darker complexion, the jokes and abuse became less of an issue for him. “It doesn’t make me feel bad because I know myself,” he says. “I’m used to it.”
Although having experienced how harmful stereotypes are, Smith says the jokes not only no longer faze him, but have become his tactic of choice in defending himself against the abuse. He admits that he sometimes finds humor in these jokes aimed at him, especially when he’s never heard them before.
While Smith’s past is proof that the prejudice experienced by Blacks with darker skin is real, he contends that “it’s going to stay here forever. That’s like getting rid of racism,” he says. “You can’t.”
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alis-Magee takes the jokes in stride these days: “I’m comfortable in the skin that I’m in. “It’s too late to turn back now,” she jokes, grinning from ear to ear.
But she envisions a day where people will not be disparaged because they are dark. Instead she hopes that they will learn to love themselves and that others will realize their beauty is not just skin deep.
And to the naysayers that remain? Salis-Magee vows to have the last word: “I’m beautiful because im dark”, she says “How about that?”
