January 30th, 2007
White is right,light all right,black stay back
I spent the week end visiting my wife’s family. I always enjoy Baltimore, we stayed in center city at a hotel just taken over by Shearton Hotels. Our niece Erica just turned 21, I remember when she was born. Happy birthday Eeica! We saw cousins, sisters and our niece Tammy’s husband Shawn is a sports talk show host! I had to throw that in because I was on the air talking about Da Bears.
On Sunday night, I went to the bar to have a beer and a shot and maybe talk some smack about football. Low and behold, My daughter, age 22 and her cousin 21, were having a drink. Now I am into family but not former little girls in a bar. So, I left!
Sunday morning I came accross an article in the New York Times that lead to this post. Skin color can be a dividing factor even within a family but defiantly within a race of people.Going back to the times of slavery in America, light skinned blacks were preferred by the white slavemasters.
The light skinned blacks held their head high in pride as they served tea and cooked in the big house of their owner Isn’t it strange to realize, people actucally owned humans? The owners referred to their light skinned property as house nwords.Us dark skinned blacks who picked cotton in the hot sun were refered to as the field nwords.
For blacks in the states, the black is beautiful movement of the 60’s helped the self esteem of many dark skinned blacks
Light skinned blacks have felt closer to the white man and not as threatening. Even a man as privileged as Colin Powell, provided his thoughts to an interviewers question. The question was something along the lines of; why do you think so many whites are comfortable with you as a black man. General Powell began, first of all I am not that black! General, you got that right.
With that landscape as a back drop, it brings no surprise to black Americans the findings of a study of immigrants.This study linked lighter skin color to higher income. The study futher indicated, the cheif reason light skinned immigrants make more on average than those with darker complexsions appears to be descrimination. Ya Think?
The results of the study done by professor Joni Hersch. The professor of law and economics at Vanderbilt University, studied the results from a goverment survey of 2084 legal imminigrants.
What dose all this mean to blacksinbusiness?For dark skinned people of the US it implies a continuing obstacle.Keep hope alive! It also provides one more reason to calebrate victory as we climb the world of business success! To win in America, we cannot allow anything, including dark pigmentation, seperate us from our dreams. By the way being a house nword, is no longer an elite status. We built this country, it is our duty to be successful! Make it happen!
http://www.owen.vanderbilt.edu/vanderbilt/About/faculty-research/f_profile.cfm?id=204
January 30th, 2007 at 11:45 pm
You are correct we can not allow anything to separate us from our dreams and definitely not the shade of our skin! We also can not allow this issue to separate us from each other. We are all striving and in some cases fighting for the same thing. Stay focused on the goal!
January 30th, 2007 at 11:48 pm
It is fascinating how shallow we are. Malcolm Gladwell has a great chapter in Blink on height and its impact:
http://www.gladwell.com/blink/blink_excerpt2.html
The question begs to be asked, do these preconceptions actually shape our success? If everyone thinks that a tall man leads better, does he have a better chance of being a better leader simply because he’s tall?
If everyone thinks that skin color determines success, do those blacks with dark skin have lower expectations of themselves then light-skinned blacks?
Sheesh… I really thank God every day that I had parents that taught me (despite their upbringing) to value diversity.
January 31st, 2007 at 11:19 am
Doug, your comment is deep regarding expectations. Studies have shown when more is expected more is delivered. In class rooms where teachers call on only boys, the boys perform better. Dark skinned blacks should be careful not to live down to expectations. Light skinned blacks have to be careful not to think their lightness provides a business advantage and not work hard enough to reach their potential
January 31st, 2007 at 1:42 pm
Madena, sound advice, we have to believe we have the drive to reach our goals. We are all God’s children
January 31st, 2007 at 4:13 pm
The reality of this situation is true, but if we as blacks keep this
separation planned obsolesce in our minds we have been conquered be
before we can get started.
January 31st, 2007 at 4:28 pm
CB, true, true, divide and conquer is still an effective way to hold down the progress of black people. This is not an easy topic to discuss and my vantage point is the same as yours, black. I have heard this dynamic is the same in India, Latin communties and certain Asian countries. I hope someone comments from those communties.
January 31st, 2007 at 8:38 pm
this light-skin black snubs you lol
for me at least the trend shifted, there was a time i was attracted to dark man but goodness with maturity (perhaps) i see the “advantages” the blacker the better!