User:Meom869/sandbox

This sandbox covers blogs and articles that are discussed in the African American culture. There is a blog that a student from the community college of Philadelphia wrote about in their sociology class. Johnson the student highlighted some important key points about the issue that the black community is having amongst themselves. This may seem like a new phenomenon that is going around, that African Americans are using their skin tone to justify that is better, but this has been going on since the beginning of the slavery era. African Americans who showed a darker skin tone complexion were labeled as field slaves. Field slaves did harder work, but the light skinned black people were labeled as house slaves, and much more favorable. In the media black men speak about a woman looking better red or yellow bone (skin complexions lighter). Black women, who are brown or dark skin, seem to have bleached their skin to fit in with the society. The article also describes how now in the African American community, dark skinned children are looked down upon, meaning black women will choose lighter skin men to have children with and vice versa for a darker skin man. The article is a study that was to examine the role of skin color of light skin and dark skin, pertains to the racial identity development theory and self-esteem. 113 African American college students of various skin colors were part of the study of this experiment. The findings demonstrated the preferred skin color was a medium tone rather than for lighter or darker skin tones. Lighter skin color was positively related to higher levels of racial identity attitudes; in contrast the more satisfied darker skinned individuals were with their own skin toned, the lower their self- esteem and gender differences existed. Overall the study had limitations, because the authors could not figure out the actual desirable skin tone. If said medium is the desirable skin tone, depending on the individual to define the medium or brown may vary.

In the last few decades the controversy of light skin vs. dark skin appeared, but light skinned individuals who are mixed descant, not so much about the skin complexion, but as well as the ethnicity. A study was done by a woman named Pamela Bennett, an assistant professor of sociology. Bennett study was in relation to multiracial people. Any person mixed with white seemed to be much more favorable to another white person than a person who is fully an another race. There were findings of how light skin individual hold a higher standing in this society. Darker skinned men with MBA’s would still get denied at a job, for a light skinned man with only a bachelor’s degree. Smith gives personal examples of how she was told by people of her own race of fitting in. Being white washed, talking less proper, dying your hair an unnatural color, or going tanning or things that Smith peers wanted her to consider doing in order to be part of this black on black hatred community. Millions of dollars have been spent on bleaching products, and how people actually believe being lighter is better. A child who is purely innocent, grows up thinking that a smart child is equivalent to white and ugly is dark. Dumb is associated to black, while good-looking is associated to white. There has been many psychological test and experiments with child development and how it relates to the way kids think about race, but our whole society is constructed around this light skin and dark skin spectacles. This is the beginning of racism all over again. Although, Mexican American women and African American women are surveyed to study the effects of skin color on life outcomes. The physical appearance is very important to women, so when brought up the factor of beauty, light skin women seems to be defined as beauty compared to darker skin women. The data that was collected in the study, point out that light skinned African American women and Mexican American women were better in completing more years in school, received higher annual earnings, women married higher status men. This article goes in depth with the income, martial statues of these women, and as well as their education.

Many people have turned this light skin vs. dark skin racism as a joke. African Americans really see their own “lighter” race people as a threat. These are the stereotypes of light skinned people. Being conceited is a trait, out of style, polite or less ratchet (less ghetto), too soft or emotional, have good hair, are much attractive, can be afro-centric, etc. So these are the stereotypes that are displayed. Most of the stereotypes are become tedious and barely listenable. There has been a celebrity that have been picked on for being too soft or emotional, through their song lyrics which continues in real life amongst communities. Since the rapper/singer drake is light skinned, now all light skinned men are associated with being emotional like drake and vice versa with women. Light skinned men tend to have colored eyes, which are looked at as unique; being unique is beautiful- so that stereotype plays a part as well.