Gender Differences Between Light And Dark

To the African American male, a lighter skinned female may be able to bear better-looking children with white features. They are also seen as easier to get along with. The continued success of the light skinned African Americans has created a prejudice against lighter skinned individuals in the culture. Dark skinned males and females are raged because of the fact that they get hired for good jobs. Dark skinned females are mad at lighter skinned females because they are not approached as much as they are. This is a real issue because it is causing bitterness towards one another I the African American culture. The simple fact is that no matter whether one is light skinned or dark skinned, they are still African American. However, because of the features in which a light skinned individual processes, helps them get more ahead, therefore, light skinned African Americans have easier lives than dark skinned African Americans.

According to their website, “Racial stereotypes are automatic and exaggerated mental pictures that we hold about all members of a particular racial group. When we stereotype people based on race, we don’t take into account individual differences. Because our racial stereotypes are so rigid, we tend to ignore or discard any information that is not consistent with the stereotype that we have developed about the racial group” (University Counseling Center 1). America does a great job keeping up the blacks are dangerous racial stereotypes. But the real question is how someone can develop a racial stereotype? According to Notre Dame Counseling Center, “We develop our racial stereotypes in a variety of ways. On a very simple level, it’s human nature to categorize people. It’s our way of making a complex world simpler. From an early age, we learn to place people and objects into categories. However, when we’re very young, we tend to put less of an emphasis on attributing values to these categories. As we grow older and are influenced by parents, peers, and the media, our tendency to label different racial groups as superior/good or inferior/bad increases significantly. Additionally, the less contact we have with a particular racial group, the more likely we are to have negative feelings about the group. Any negative experiences that we have

As a young child, I lived life colorblind, unable to grasp the concept of race or skin color. Growing up in Florida as the only Asian in my elementary school and never being bullied for being different, I assumed everyone was white, including me. But then came that earth-shattering epiphany: I realized I wasn’t white. I started to notice that not every supermarket sold Pocky or bubble tea and that it’s not common to get money in shiny, red envelopes on New Year’s. I realized that not everyone knew how to use chopsticks, that not everyone ate rice with every meal, and that when some people spoke slowly to me, it’s not because they were trying to articulate, but because they thought I didn’t understand English.

Growing up, I knew what my race was but I never knew about my race. I attended a predominately white school throughout my entire life and the only thing that we learned about was slavery and a FEW of the inventions that were contributed by people of the same color. That brought up further questions and concerns about my ancestors and where my people originated from. There was so much racial tension at my high school and I just wanted to get away to a place where I could learn more about myself, my academics, and my people. This is why i decided to attend an HBCU.

In a time where respect and quality of life was determined by factors predetermined and out of the control of any one person skin color ruled all. Based solely on what a person looked like not how they carried themselves or their ideals but their complexion was the basis for societal standing as to whether you were or weren’t important. “The Shroud of Color” by Countee Cullen is about a man who is ashamed of his skin color and how dark it is. This also somewhat describes the feeling of darker-skinned blacks and their outlook on life in regards to their own skin complexion. Much of what I believe today’s dark-skinned individual deals with on a daily basis is what I would consider to be forms of colorism and not as often outright racism. This

Prior to taking this course, I was taught, and therefore was under the impression, that prejudice is a preconceived notion about a group and that racism is essentially the same thing, except that racism also encompasses the idea that the group is lesser. Eduardo Bonilla-Silva states that “for most whites, racism is prejudice; for most people of color, racism is systemic or institutionalized” (Bonilla-Silva, 2010). Quotes like this force me to reflect, both on how I see myself and how others see me. Reading that quote, I felt like I related more to ‘most whites’ because I believed that racism was essentially prejudice for so long. I remember once while doing a cross the line activity, I hesitated before moving when the facilitator said “step forward if you are a person on color.” Technically, yes, my skin is pigmented in a way that would qualify me as a person of color but there is a connotation with that phrase that I felt didn’t relate to me. My first reaction to that phrase is the thought of someone who has struggled, someone who faces racism on a regular basis, someone who is treated differently because of the color of their skin. In my opinion, the more others acknowledge a part of your identity, the more apparent that part of your identity is to you, and I don’t often feel that people acknowledge my identity as an Asian American. I’ve been called a coconut more times than I can count. Brown on the outside but white on the inside. Sure I look brown, but I don’t ‘act

Having grown up in Puerto Rico and being puertorican, my people are multicolored and multi-cultured. Since I come from such a background, where everyone was multi colored, that is my point of view. Difference is not something that stood out to me. (personal interview) Another individual answered that question stating “When I was growing up I attended school with a very diverse crowd where, yes at a lot of times I was the minority, but it never was a time where I had to pay attention to it or that it was brought to my attention because everyone just saw personality instead of color” (personal interview) Like I discussed earlier, I never saw any race to be greater that the other. I never had a problem with any race, but as to speak for the other races, I cant. I can remember one time when I was in school a kid spit at me and told me I couldn’t be by him because my skin was dirty. I remember going home and scrubbing my arms until the almost bled because I was trying to get the ‘dirt’ off of my skin. I soon learned that I couldn’t change my skin color and that no matter what anybody had to say, I am great and no race is greater than the

Growing up as a kid, I was not concerned about the complexion of my skin, let alone the complexion of my family and friends. In my family, some members have really fair colored skin that would make you question if they’re white, while others are a very dark “black” complexion. So once I got in high school when Twitter, Facebook, and other social media sites became popular my eyes started to open to a new form of ignorance. If you’re active on social media then you’ve definitely seen tweets and Facebook statuses referring to the “Team Light Skin vs. Team Dark Skin” controversy in the black community, especially pertaining to and among females. Most comments are on the lines of “Light skin is the best skin”, “Oh you’re cute for a dark skin girl”, or “She’s light skin, so she has to be stuck up”. The black community refers to the two skin tones as if they’re two different races and one is better than the other. To sum up this behavior in one word, I would have to use colorism. Colorism is defined as prejudice or discrimination based on the relative lightness or darkness of the skin; which usually occurs within one’s own ethnic group (Dark Girls 2012). If a female is light skinned or of lighter skin complexion, she’s seen as prettier and conceited. On the other hand, a dark-skinned female is seen as being ugly, dirty and probably lacks self-respect. But in the eyes of different ethnic groups, especially Caucasians, we are all seen as Black or African-American.

Stereotype can be defined as “a widely held but fixed and oversimplified image or idea of a particular type of person or thing”. Seemingly, stereotyping different races or even genders have become the norm. Society in itself likes to classify, label anything that is even remotely considered different. It is as if society just sits there and picks apart an individual whether it be a characteristic or information just to get a glimpse of what that person is all about. Whilst stereotyping may seem normal it affects a large amount of people especially African Americans.

When I was five years of age, that was the start of my racial awareness; yet, it was communicated through knowledge. At the time, me and my white classmate were the special case that knew the responses to every one of the inquiries my teacher asked us in class. The defining moment that prompted my revelation that I was dark and that a significant number of my schoolmates were white. In that issue, my white classmates trusted his answers were right, notwithstanding when we had similar answers. Race awareness is the understanding of how a racially conscious person is aware of their physical characteristics such as history, culture and traditions etc. In the poem, “Incident” by Countee Cullen, the eight year old speaker became racially aware towards one incident after not being racially conscious about his identity. Because of the incident, the discovery of racial consciousness became apparent to the eight year old speaker because of how he views his identity differently.

I sometimes felt “too black” for the white kids and “ too white for the black kids. My black peers perceiving my abundance of white friends as “ selling out “,wanting to be white, or that i thought i was too good to be with them. But the disadvantage of being that “token black friend “ in the group i was automatically considered the connoisseur of all things black , like why Black people can use the N-word and white people can’t , or how weaves work , or if black people get sunburn. And at times i felt forced to view things a certain way in order to be true to my race. An example being the shooting of black men, Yes i do believe that some of the cases are racially motivated but I also sometime think it's just a jerk with a major comlex who has the go ahead to kill.But sadly, when you’re black- ish , you can’t just be a person with controversial ideas.Those these insecurities and fears consumed me for so long , i began to realize as i grew older, that I am more than my race , that the friends i choose are based of character not color, that I can y can express views , That I am not Black-ish , I am just black and proud to be part of such a growing and historical

A family member once told me never judge a book by its cover. If you open the book and see what is inside instead of overlooking it, you might find it interesting after all. This quote by my family member can easily be tied to “The Myth of the Latin Women: I just met a Girl Named Maria” by Judith Ortiz Cofer, and “Just walk on By: Black Men and Public Spaces” by Brent Staples. Cofer, talks about how she was stereotyped for being a Latin woman in American culture. Then Staples, talks about how he was discriminated for being a tall, black man that worked as a journalist in a predominantly white field. Both of these authors, were being put in categories based on their appearance. People assumed they were a certain way because she was Hispanic and because he was African American. Modern society is quick to judge people based on their appearance; mainly on attributes of race and gender, eventually affecting the person’s outlook on life. People can often be treated and judged in a less than an equal manner. Before they even get to know the true nature of a person, they are judged based on race. Additionally, a female may be overlooked for a certain job and the job is then given to a male counterpart, based solely on gender. Lastly, people will see the world in a different perspective because of the exposure of stereotypes. Being judgmental towards ethnicity and gender will keep us

Have you ever heard someone say that the Irish are all drunks, or African-Americans are always late, or women are bad drivers? These are types of stereotypes: commonly held ideas about specific groups of people. Have you ever wondered why we stereotype others this way? What makes up these stereotypes? And where does it come from? All these questions formulate into one main idea and that is a prejudice opinions, which I have wondered for a long time. These opinions greatly affect the image of others such as African American people. As you could see in our history class that they were slaves. Because of that we considered them as the lowest class in our society. As you could see the story by BRENT STAPLES, “Black man in public space” which the author was stereotype as a scary black man. Nowadays we see that people were stereotype African American in a negative way, as lowest and scariest class.

What was one of your earliest experiences concerning race? Describe the experience, how you felt, and how the experience was handled.

For some reason though, my friend would always choose the light-skinned girls. Now, this would not be a problem because everyone (including myself) has a preference, but what made this extremely unsettling is what they would say when dark-skinned girls would walked pass. “She’s too dark”, “She would not look right next to me”, or “She’s really ugly” were the comment that were said. This would always confuse the hell out of me because there was nothing wrong with these girls; in fact, some were cute. The only thing that differed from these girls and the ones they picked out was that their skin color. This was around ten years ago (when I was twelve), and nothing changed since then. For some reason dark-skinned black women are always treated s some kind of hideous creature undeserving of respect or love. Their demeanor and the atmosphere surrounding them is judge by their skin color. From the days of negritude, to the brown paper bag, to the “savage dark-skinned woman”, there seems to be this agenda to tear down the image of the dark-skinned black woman. There is this image of dark-skinned black women being this aggressive, attitude fuel women always looking to “start up something”, while light-skinned women are placed on this pedestal of beauty and as a trophy to many black men; more submissive and soft-spoken than dark-skinned women. A couple years ago, my mother told me of a time her and her sister went to a blockbuster to get movies. When my mother went up to the register to complete her transaction, the clerk (who was black) ignored her and instead rung up the thing my aunt had instead. Even though my mother was the register first, she was overlooked for my aunt because she was dark-skinned and my aunt was light-skinned. Actions like this is what hurt our people the most, not the assault we face at the hands of white