From AllVoices.com
August 9, 2010
The brown paper bag test.The older folks know what this means. The younger generation may have heard about it. Slavery has done such a systematic degradation of spirit and self confidence, that hundreds of years later, our community was still measuring beauty, intelligence and more importantly, self worth, by the inane shades of a paper bag.
If your skin tone was as light as a brown paper back, you were considered beautiful, acceptable, closer in kind to the pale skin of Caucasians. If dark brown folks are called “minorities” then the light colored folks must be “superior,” so we aspired to be. To measure up.
I grew up on a tiny island in the Caribbean, where most of the population, approximately 95%, were of African descent. Yet the “shades of color” complex, still existed. The darker the skin, the more you were teased and called a myriad of cruel nicknames, “darkie,” “blackie,” “tarbaby,” “baboon.” The lighter brown skin was “attractive,“Cute,”high yellow.” Add soft or long hair to the mix and this combination would be the epitome of beauty.
Fast forward to today and sadly, this psychology still lingers. In the United States, the color complex simmers under the surface in our communities and beyond. We have men who would never date a “dark brown toned” woman. There are even reality shows where the man, (Ochocinco) looks like an African prince but says his preference is European looking women. To give it to you straight, he is still “self-hating.“ The brown paper effect still affects.
Then again some men preferring light skin or Caucasian women stem from being totally ignored in high school. Some sisters have perpetuated the “brown paper bag” effect as teens. I have noticed that some of the boys who are very dark in tone, are completely over-looked and even called names. This can create a complex in the young men, especially at a stage in life when self-esteem and confidence is shaky. It does not excuse the Ochocincos of the world but it may explain some of it.
CNN’s Anderson Cooper recently did a documentary on race and skin tone amongst children. He was shocked by the results. I wasn’t. Most of the children, both African-American and Caucasian American, thought light skin was prettier, smarter, better.
Why was Anderson surprised? We have main stream American media playing out the same stereotypes. I have rarely seen a very dark skinned anchor, host or news correspondent on television, even on CNN, “the most trusted name in news.” Most are “pleasingly” light brown, of ambiguous ethnicity.
So when are we going to free ourselves of this deep rooted self-hate? When are we going to see that beauty, strength, intelligence and confidence abounds within all of us? When are we going to embrace our “multi-shades,” our array of colors as a positive rather than continue to perpetuate the self-defeating stereotypes?
We need to see ourselves as a quilt, where despite being sewn together by different colored fabric and thread, the end results is stunning artistry and history. If we can’t appreciate the sum total of our worth, can we expect others to?
Posted By: Siebra Muhammad
Monday, August 9th 2010 at 5:46PM
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