What 'Black' Looks Like
In The News....
Just heard a great interveiw on NPR about Colorism in Latin America.
Audio File
It brought up very interesting things about Afro-Latin people I didn't know. For example, in the Dominican Republic blackness is determined by hair texture and not so much by color. But one thing is universal, no one wants to be called 'black'
Growing up in the time and place that I did. Being black wasn't the big issue. Being dark was. No one wanted to be dark. At the same time, no one wanted to be light. Being too light was just as bad. There was a safe place in the middle, a brown place that was safe for me as a child to sit. And I needed that place, because my cousins were cruel little heffers. I remember thanking God I was brown. My mom was light and my dad was dark, that left me with a color that fell in the middle of the black people spectrum. I have family that didn't.
My cousin Barbara is and was dark. Her younger sister was very light. The fights they would get into would always end up with one being called 'black' fill in the blank or 'yellow' fill in the blank. The daggers they threw were harsh. They would yell..."you black spook!' and "you yellow dog!". I'd sit very still and try to be ignored. That shit hurt and I wasn't even in the fight. 'You're so black you bleed tar' and 'You're so yellow you glow in the dark' Attacks on something you have no control over stays with you.
It's worse for girls. Being light is thought of as fem and dark masculine. Someone's color can determine if you date them or have kids with them. From the interveiw I heard it's very similar in Latin countries with lots of black people. But one thing is different. Since they don't have the black American history of black pride and general mild distain for white culture, being really light is ok.
I feel for the little girls in Cuba or The Dominican Republic or Brazil or any other coutry that has a color class war going on. I imagine they are praying to be lighter and have stright hair, like I was thanking God I was somewhere in the middle. -mel
Just heard a great interveiw on NPR about Colorism in Latin America.
Audio File
It brought up very interesting things about Afro-Latin people I didn't know. For example, in the Dominican Republic blackness is determined by hair texture and not so much by color. But one thing is universal, no one wants to be called 'black'
Growing up in the time and place that I did. Being black wasn't the big issue. Being dark was. No one wanted to be dark. At the same time, no one wanted to be light. Being too light was just as bad. There was a safe place in the middle, a brown place that was safe for me as a child to sit. And I needed that place, because my cousins were cruel little heffers. I remember thanking God I was brown. My mom was light and my dad was dark, that left me with a color that fell in the middle of the black people spectrum. I have family that didn't.
My cousin Barbara is and was dark. Her younger sister was very light. The fights they would get into would always end up with one being called 'black' fill in the blank or 'yellow' fill in the blank. The daggers they threw were harsh. They would yell..."you black spook!' and "you yellow dog!". I'd sit very still and try to be ignored. That shit hurt and I wasn't even in the fight. 'You're so black you bleed tar' and 'You're so yellow you glow in the dark' Attacks on something you have no control over stays with you.
It's worse for girls. Being light is thought of as fem and dark masculine. Someone's color can determine if you date them or have kids with them. From the interveiw I heard it's very similar in Latin countries with lots of black people. But one thing is different. Since they don't have the black American history of black pride and general mild distain for white culture, being really light is ok.
I feel for the little girls in Cuba or The Dominican Republic or Brazil or any other coutry that has a color class war going on. I imagine they are praying to be lighter and have stright hair, like I was thanking God I was somewhere in the middle. -mel
posted by state of our nation at 12:14 PM
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