Why is there STILL such fierce competition between light-skin and dark-skin African Americans?

Question

Even in the new millenium, the affects of slavery are still very strong. You still see hatred between those of darker and lighter complexions...we're making it hard on ourselves to be unified by constantly comparing our hair, skin, and features. We gotta quit the slave mentality and start uplifting each other...White people are no longer the enemy...we're our worst judges now.

Our culture has so many things to be proud of: our history, our accomplishments, our leaders, our broad noses and full lips, our never-aging skin...why is it that when a White person is told they look European, it's a compliment but when a Black person is told they look African, it's taken as an insult????

Answer 1

I AGREE WITH YOU 100%......

I HAVE BEEN WONDERING THE VERY SAME THING MYSELF
I am light skin and every time i walked into a room during my school days i was automatically called a "biotch" because of my skin color and it would be from the darker skinned girls...i dont understand it.....our black society is crumbling and majority of them are too ignorant to see it.....

i even hate that on BET all they show during the day is videos, for an hour they have serious issues on "the center", and some kind of gospel talk show on sunday for an hour and thats about it1..i mean non stop videos, videos in the making, top 25 sexiest bodies..etc....i mean seriously can we get some investment shows, some educational shows, for once I would like to see more POSITIVE things on there, not just who got the biggest butt..you know.....

Answer 2

I'm from a mix back ground and I'm lighter skined when I was younger my family members always told me how cute I was and how cute my skin was but I know for a fact that slave mentality is still around. When slavery was still going on it was the lighter skin people that mother's had been raped and the slave master made them in to house slaves.Think if more black people took out the time and looked at our history than as a people alot of things would be different as a race yes we have had a lot of down falls slavery which took black men away from there family's and now we have still not yet pulled together we are still having kids with out Father's but thing's are different now we have other things pulling them away we have African Americans still walking around here blame white people for what happen to us 200 years ago so the problem is not just the complexion it's the way we still view ourselves. If we came together and looked at our history we would be proud of every shade of black but until we look at our history as something we can get past the past will still be presence

Answer 3

I think that because white people are valued in our culture, lighter skinned black people are traditionally less stigmatized by our culture. Thus, this in-fighting is a result of cultural values established by the white majority. It may also go back to being able to "pass" for a white person during civil-rights days. If a black could "pass" for a white, they would be clear of racism and rejection. Darker skinned black people may have insecurities about their skin color which were developed as a result of this cultural stigma, and thus dislike lighter-skinned.

But darker skin is becoming valued by the "high-fasion" culture, with many extremely dark-skinned native Africans and African Americans alike appearing in fashion magazines and on runways.

I also think that lighter skinned blacks may have been a sort of novelty in the past. Since most African countries produce very dark descendants, lighter skin is often the result of race mixing which is an exotic and relatively new concept. The people mentioned in a previous reply (Halle Berry, Alicia Keys) are the result of mixed parentage, and thus are a sort of unique combination of cultures.

Answer 4

I do not experience that type of behavior among blacks, maybe in the early eighties but not recently. I witness whose that embrace what makes them different. I guess it depends on what region you live in. How does an African look? The problem could be the labels we accept for ourselves and how we label one another as well as how we allow others to brand us. Africans beauty varies from the lightest of skin tones to the darkest, hair textures,their facial features can "resemble" that of another "race" whether it be a pointed noses, thin lips etc. I do not reflect the "typical African" according to popular belief and I might be offended by someone saying I look like an African. Does that make me less proud of my African heritage or African American culture? I might get offended if someone say I look like my sister!

Answer 5

i'm a medium complection not fairly dark and doubtless not mild yet I do think of the fact is regrettably ideal real now. I say that as a results of media and all the pictures that are shown. In pratically all the video clips the main significant middle of charm is the sunshine skinned lady jointly as the dark skinned females sit down in the historic past shaking what they have or in simple terms showing it like that lady buffy. a good sort of the ladies that are in the media are mild skinned and via putting them in the leading side has made the time-honored guy assume or comform that mild skinned females are prettyer (Which i don't agree i actually desire i grew to become into dark skinned).

Answer 6

It's true we do judged each and we allow other nationalities to make a fool of us because they look at us and see how we talk about each other and how we call each other black this an that instead of acting like we got sense but if we show each other more love maybe we wouldn't be called fools or ignorant ******* that would also stop some of the stereotyping!!!!

Answer 7

you said it the slave mentality! But i dont think it is as bad as it was before because of afrocentric perspectives becoming more acceptable. However, there is a societal reward for being light skinned, just look at the female cable news personalities, alicia keys, Halle berry and beyonce.

Answer 8

It is so nice to, for once, hear a black person NOT calling a white person the enemy. Thank you for recognizing that there are a lot of problems within the black culture itself!

Answer 9

You make some sense. Lighter skin has always been prized in most cultures.

Answer 10

I dont really know. I think it depends on where you are and how old you are. Jealousy is jealousy though and thats not a race thing. Sometimes people are jealous because you may be prettier than they are etc.