INTRO

RESOURCES

A) BEAUTY

B) JOBS

C) EDUCATION

D) STEREOTYPES

E) SUCCESS

F) CRIMINAL SYSTEM

G) RELATIONSHIPS

H) HISTORY

CONCLUSION

INTRO 

Being a race that fought determinedly for equality and sought for the abolition of prejudice, it is the widespread assumption that African Americans would be the least susceptible to any form of intolerance. However, discrimination has managed to once again rear its ugly head, this time attacking the core of their existence, the color of their skin. While all skin tones and complexions are no doubt beautiful, it is now alarmingly apparent that “light skins” whose skin tones are closer to that of white or European races are receiving preferential treatment in terms of their access to jobs, their perceived levels of

A1

 Black men usually prefer lighter skinned black women over their dark skinned counterparts because characteristics such as long hair and their lighter skin tone.

 Although this is indeed sad, it is something I see on a regular basis, and angers me quite much being dark skinned myself.

A2

Dark skinned black women's hair is considered nappy, tough, hard, and unappealing. Therefore, they wear "weaves" to hide this, which causes them more trauma.

 While some women are afraid to show their true hair, others like me, wear weaves to help induce hair growth or to protect their hair from harsh, ever changing conditions.

A3

Dark skinned women are perceived as having big noses, thick lips, and "fuller figures" which most black men claim to dislike.

 These are simply excuses made to hide the fact that due to underlying reasons, they despise dark skinned women.

A4

When playing with a group of friends at a party, a 10 year old girl was forced into a furnace room, and told she was too black to play with the rest because she was told her blackness would rub off.

 This significantly shows the huge impact this controversial issue has had on the Black community, even now affecting young children.

A5

A young, well known rapper named Yung Berg confessed he dislikes dark skinned women, claiming they are ugly because they go into a pool and come out uglier than before (weave)

 If even so called icons in the black community look disdainfully upon black women, this is an invitation for all to do the same.

A6

More and more skin lightening creams are being produced in an effort to encourage women to lighten the color of their skin.

This leads to women feeling lesser than they are, because they feel a need to change the color of the skin they were born with, due to society's ridiculous standards of beauty.

B1

In a sample of 300 Black adults, darker skinned individuals were 11 times more likely to experience job discrimination. Also 67% of dark skinned blacks reported job discrimination, in comparison to 8.5% of light skinned individuals.

 The prejudice against darker skinned Blacks may be subconscious, but is still quite prevalent, even harming a person's capability for a job.

B2

A study done by the University of Georgia found that dark skinned men face greter prejudice in finding a job.

Whereas women faced greater pressure in beauty, men suffer more in terms of jobs.

B3

 Ph. D. candidate Matthew Harrison tested 250 of his peers on who they though would be the best for a job using almost identical resumes and color adjusted photos to create a lighter and darker skin tone. The darker skinned man had greater credentials, yet the lighter skinned one was significantly preffered.

 Education is no longer enough, appearance has now begun to play a huge role in job selection.

C1

 A young black man posted an article on the upbuilding controversy surrounding light skinned and dark skinned black. One reader's parting response was "You catch on quickly, you must be light skinned/

 Not only is this ridiculous, it is a slap in the face to all dark skinnned individuals, yet never loses its capability to show the ignorance of people nowadays.

C2

In response to the question, "Why are light skinned blacks smarter?" someone states that it is because they have closer ties to European ancestry

This is a brief hint that perhaps the dislike for dark skinned people is a reference to previous slave issues in the past.

D1

A quite frustrated black woman began venting on her blog as to why dark skinned men were being considered sexy when they were nothing but ghetto, uneducated fools who objectify women

This can't be true to all men. Pitting it on dark skins only is way past unfair and unnecessarily judgemental.

D2

It is perceived that the lighter you are, the taller you grow.

This is no doubt a reflection of people's ignoorance to think clearly. For example, Shaquille On'Neal is quite tall as well as quite dark skinned.

D3

Dark skinned black men are believed to be violent, criminals, and quite stupid as well.

There is such a high level of dislike for darker toned blacks, people have created these negative stereotypes in an attempt to validate their claims.

D4

Darker skinned women are considered extremely hostile, loud, unloving, and unforgiving.

Dark skins are targetted in all ways, jobs, education, appearance, and now the one thing they neeed most, intimacy from a partner

D5

A study was done at Tufts University in Massachusets, which showed that both blacks and whites associate intelligence, motivation and attraction to lighter skinned blacks, and being poor or unattractive to dark skinned blacks.

This just acts as further proof in solidifying the existing stereotypes that some people try to claim is nonexistent.

D6

 In the Tufts study, participants were given colour-altered images of light and dark skinned people, and then asked to associate a list of traits with certain pictures. They associated the positive traits with light skins, and negative traits with dark skins.

We have so strongly convinced ourselves that darker skin is bad, that it has now become a subconscious belief as well.

D7

In black sitcoms such as The Game, and black movies such as Why did I Get Married? The darkest black woman is always the loudest, ghettoest, and most disrespectful, and loose characters, while the lighter skinned characters are meek and virtuous.

This acts as another negative stereotypical perception of darker skinned black women.

E1

During a live interview, Harry Reid boldly stated he accepted Barack Obama as a successful Prime Minister because his skin was lighter, and he had non-negro dialect.

 In order to be successful, you must be liked, and appearance plays a big part in this. Society is now liking dark skinned individuals less and less.

E2

In the black music industry, video girls are popular in rap, hip hop, and even R&B videos. However, nowadays it is the current trend to feature straigh haired, light skinned girls as the love interest or object of affection. Dark skinned girls however, get significantly less camera time, other than a few booty shots here and there.

 This is indeed hurtful, but it only further proves the shameful truth that dark skinned women are not considered beautiful, and are objectified.

E3

L'oreal Paris is facing severe allegations which they strongly deny, that they have changed spokesperson Beyonce Knowles' skin color to a lighter shade in a Feria hair ad in order to appeal to a greater audience.

 This is simply further proof that even those in high business consider lighter skin to be more marketable.

E4

Basically all black spokespersons for major companies are lighter skinned (Beyonce, Rihanna, Solange, Chris Brown) We either rarely or never see dark skinned blacks acting as spokespersons, and when they do, it is for something insignificant or requiring no special appeal, such as Mary J. Blige selling cars.

 This is once again proof that lighter skinned blacks are perceived as being more marketable.

E5

 Within the black community, "light skinnned" have been allowed to rise to power, (Barack Obama) the darker skinned blacks have faced greater discrimination, and have also been killed in the past. (Martin Luther King Jr.) Also, they only get their true receptive glory upon their death.

 There just appears to be something about darker skinned people that repel others and causes them to be viewed so negatively. We also realize that people seem to be more willing and receptive to allowing lighter skinned blacks to lead them.

F1

In the May issue of In the May issue of Psychological Science, Professor Jennifer Eberhardt, states that according to a psychology study done at Satanford,convicted murderers who look more stereotypically black - broad noses, thick lips, dark skin, kinky hair - are more than twice as likely to get the death sentence than are fairer skinned black men.

This is a result of the negative stereotypes of darker men as criminals that are perpetuated.

G1

Although he is married to a dark skinned woman, comedian Kevin Hart called dark skinned women broke ass hoes who were too sensitive for his taste, when they responded in outrage.

He was not able to contain his disrespect for dark skins even though his wife was one. This shows people now have free reign to disrespect dark skins and are even more outraged than them, when they become angry.

G2

Most black men tend to fear relationships with dark skinned women because they consider them to be loud/ghetto/stupid, and perceive a relationship with a dark skinned woman to be pure hell.

Again based off the stereotypes, we are given a certain perception of dark skinned women, and act upon it accordingly.

H1

Historically, and in the past, lighter skinned slaves were given preferential treatment over darker skinned blacks. seeing as the lighter slaves had a direct connection to the slavemaster, they were given less stressful and tedious duties inside the house, and out the harsh sun such as cooking, or child rearing.

This is a reflection of the exclusion darker skinned blacks face nowadays. This is nothing but a pattern of preference that has been passed down from slavery days into current society.

CONCLUSION

Light skinned women themselves are quite obnoxious and resentful towards black women who they perceive as simply jealous. However, most possess no qualms in stating the fact that they consider themselves better than dark skinned women by addressing their "flaws" such as big noses, "nappy" hair etc. and even go so far as to say if they were black, they would most definitely kill themselves. This is a real problem that exists in society, one that shouldn't be brushed under the rug as nonsense, but should be addressed.

BIBLIOGRAPHY

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Bleaching+Episode

4. Samuels, A. P. (n.d.). Do light-skinned Black people have an advantage? Yes. They are likely to get hired first and may earn more money http://findarticles.com/p/articles/mi_m1077/is_4_63/ai_n24246405/

5. Klonoff, E. A., & Landrine, H. (n.d.). SpringerLink - Journal Article. SpringerLink Home - Main http://www.springerlink.com/content/r6564n5552gk2055/

6. Why are light skinned blacks smarter than dark skinned blacks? -- USMessage Board - Political Discussion Forum.  (n.d.).http://www.usmessageboard.com/race-relations-

 racism/97894-why-are-light-skinned-blacks-smarter-than-dark-skinned-blacks-6.html

7. why are ugly dark skinned men considered good looking - Topix. (n.d.). http://www.topix.com/forum/afam/TP0S5V4DIAQC735VD

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