I was just reading this article: Dark Girls Documentary Exposes Self-Hatred in Black Community, and had to write.
The article was shared in a professional group for African-Americans in the HR field, and another reader wondered whether the thinking described might have any impact on hiring decisions. This was my response.
I would suspect that it [the thinking mentioned in the article] does factor in to hiring decisions but the real problem is not that others have issues with us, but rather that we continue to have issues with ourselves. That is the greater problem. Discrimination will likely continue to exist for some time to come, but what does that really matter when we are doing all the hard work (and it is hard work) of inflicting psychic wounds on ourselves and each other?
I've heard all manner of comment about my skin. As you can see from the photo, it ain't exactly light, but in the inimitable words of India.Arie, "I am not my hair, I am not this skin". In Trinidad, I might hear that I'm nice looking for a darkie, because to some I suppose 'dark' and 'lovely' are mutually exclusive terms. I didn't learn it that way. I've heard that I could use 'a little milk in my coffee' (a West Indian expression akin to talking about 'having a little lightness') for some time now. My response? "I take my coffee black" and a smile.
The only defense against attempts to inflict these kinds of wounds is education. I am not ashamed or afraid to stand in the world as I am because I'm pretty sure I bring something to the table that no one else can. I bring me. This is what we must teach our children and in many cases, it is what we must teach ourselves.
As the article notes, non-Black folk tan, some to the point of orangeness and rubbery skin (a whole other story entirely!) while we bemoan our drops of brown. Isn't there enough on the planet to worry about without adding this tripe?
India.Arie sings 'I am not my hair'
The article was shared in a professional group for African-Americans in the HR field, and another reader wondered whether the thinking described might have any impact on hiring decisions. This was my response.
I would suspect that it [the thinking mentioned in the article] does factor in to hiring decisions but the real problem is not that others have issues with us, but rather that we continue to have issues with ourselves. That is the greater problem. Discrimination will likely continue to exist for some time to come, but what does that really matter when we are doing all the hard work (and it is hard work) of inflicting psychic wounds on ourselves and each other?
I've heard all manner of comment about my skin. As you can see from the photo, it ain't exactly light, but in the inimitable words of India.Arie, "I am not my hair, I am not this skin". In Trinidad, I might hear that I'm nice looking for a darkie, because to some I suppose 'dark' and 'lovely' are mutually exclusive terms. I didn't learn it that way. I've heard that I could use 'a little milk in my coffee' (a West Indian expression akin to talking about 'having a little lightness') for some time now. My response? "I take my coffee black" and a smile.
The only defense against attempts to inflict these kinds of wounds is education. I am not ashamed or afraid to stand in the world as I am because I'm pretty sure I bring something to the table that no one else can. I bring me. This is what we must teach our children and in many cases, it is what we must teach ourselves.
As the article notes, non-Black folk tan, some to the point of orangeness and rubbery skin (a whole other story entirely!) while we bemoan our drops of brown. Isn't there enough on the planet to worry about without adding this tripe?
India.Arie sings 'I am not my hair'
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