Skin Color In America

This problem is called Colorism. Colorism is racial bias, both intra and interracial, based on the tone of one’s skin. This can be as minor as social interactions, and as major as segregation. Colorism is a real and relevant problem; According to Shankar Vedantam, a writer for the New York Times, we have a way of thinking based off of “culture and history,” which tends to subconsciously privilege those who have lighter skinned as opposed to darker skin.

It is interesting to note that, if a white person is lacking whiteness, the society will not point out the flaws of the person. However, if a person of color lacks whiteness, they are automatically put in an imaginary enclosed box, where we (Americans) judge or punish them for not being like us. It could all be because of fear, so our automatic reaction could be to fight back, distance ourselves and start using discriminatory practices against them. As long as Americans hold onto these biases and create this imaginary box for people of color, we are allowing millions of people to be in danger in our name.

“Among African Americans, skin tone is an important physical characteristic that creates divisions in the community and affects the quality of life. Like gender, a person’s skin tone is a visible physical trait that others immediately notice during social interactions and use to form judgments” The Light skin versus Dark skin issue that has been haunting the black community for centuries is deeply rooted from the times of slavery. Because of the influence of white supremacy, mixed race children received better treatment which resulted in the formation of a social stratification within the black community that impacted how they were treated by white people as well as the way they were treated within their own community.

Does it really matter where we are from, how we look, or our race? Well, I believe everyone’s equal no matter what, we were created by the same god and that is all that matters. Although many people think differently for example there were slaves in America from 1619-1863.These people would be treated very badly mainly because of their race and where they came from. Slavery stopped around 1863 right so we would have expected for racism to end after around 100 years later, though now in 2016 we still see racism going on, it might not be as much as 100 years ago but there it’s still going on. For example we see a lot of police attacking African Americans and Latinos. Recently it has been a lot of African Americans being shot by police, in which

Humans are unique in the natural world as we are the only species to self divide our populations into groups based upon physical characteristics, the main one being skin color. As the most advanced spcecies on Earth we have come to have the most convoluted approach to how we perceive people. Our society has become obsessed with classifying our population into groups based upon skin tone or ethnic background. This approach has permeated our lives to such an extent that even the simple act of filling out paperwork asks one to classify themselves as a particular race. In this world of advanced technology and education one must question how we have become controlled by such an abstract thought? How have we allowed our citizens to become reduced to a mere color?

It is evident that no matter how hard we try to avoid it race plays a major role in today’s society. Your race and/or nationality and skin color plays a lot in how you are seen and perceived by the world. The first thing you see when you look at a person is their skin color, which just

Black and White, two words that are immediately recognized as opposites. Black is wicked, white is virtuous. Black is evil, white is holy. Black is dark, white is light. Black represents the devil, white represents God. White is worn at weddings, black is worn at funerals. There is black magic and white magic. There are little white lies and there are blacker than night hearts. There are Black people and there are white people. There are Black Americans and there are White

In America, people of color are expected to be less successful than whites. People of color were originally forced to come to the United States as slaves, and as a result, an attitude that people of color are inferior to whites was created. This attitude led people of color to be trapped in a vicious cycle of poverty and disadvantages. Fighting for survival, kids from families of color were sent to work and support their family instead of investing in their education and future. With no basic education the work opportunities available for these kids while growing up were limited. With those many families remaining at the lower income levels of society, prejudice and racism flourished. In chapter 8, St John introduces Chika Chime, a black immigrant

In 1444 Europeans began to kidnap Africans of all social statuses and began to trade them on the west coast of Africa known at the transatlantic slave trade,which had an impact on the african american community that is still evident today.Colorism has been drilled into the psyche of african americans since

Not just their outside appearance. I was told, that people from certain countries, are not the same. I was told, I should judge people on the content of their character, Not the color of their skin But I don't

The term “pigmentocracy, or colorism is the practice of interracial groups applying a valuation to lighter skin” (https://vtechworks.lib.vt.edu/handle/10919/73702) In India this is informed in various ways including, the caste system, media, and cultural practices. Similar to African-Americans, and light skin versus dark skin debates Indians have to deal with the same theory. The theory that those with the lighter skin, are “superior” to those that are darker. Oftentimes those that are darker are seen as inferior, to those with light skin. The media often shows people of a lighter skin tone than those with more pigmented skin. There are usually more light people, and maybe one or two darker people. This all goes into play with how huge of problem colorism is

Race, skin color, religion, etc, are all just labels given to groups of people but these labels don’t define who we are as people. In the poem I, Too, Sing America by Langston Hughes, he wrote, “Tomorrow, I’ll be at the table. When company comes. Nobody’ll dare Say to me, “Eat in the kitchen.’” This shows that he will no longer be sent to the kitchen because he has grown and become strong to where no one will dare to tell him that he can’t eat at the table. In today’s society people of color are looked down upon when it’s colored people who are some of the most famous American sports players, actors, and role models throughout the country. America doesn’t have a perfect past as well, but it’s recognizing what we were doing wrong that makes our country grow day by day person by

This term refers to the assignment of individuals belonging to mixed race or ethnic groups to subordinate groups. This ideology usually exists in a society where certain groups are considered to be dominant or superior to the others. According to the view of F. James Davis in "Defining Race: Comparative perspectives", hypodescent status refers to the social position of the mix breeds of white and black.

Many people across the world still judge based on color, a recent study showed that when a European American is conversing with an African American they will typically cross their arms or

“Genetic engineering is, at best, a debatable branch of science. For some, it is the wave of the future: a method for perfecting the human genome, discarding flaws from infants before they are born and ensuring they live longer, healthier lives. For others, it is an abomination: a method of circumventing what nature gave you, and wholly unnatural. Which one is right?” (Bird). Naturally, genetics is the scientific study of inherited variations in the DNA strand. This topic sparked curiosity among numerous scientific individuals that they begun a research project on it titled the Human Genome Project. To illustrate, the Human Genome Project worked out the sequence of the three billion chemical ‘letters’ of the human genome, and it produced