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Skin Colorism Research Paper

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Discrimination based on skin color, or colorism, is a form of prejudice or discrimination in which human beings are treated differently based on their skin color. The abundance of colorism is a result of the global prevalence of the term used to describe societies in which wealth and social status are influenced by skin color. This form of prejudice often results in reduced opportunities for those who are discriminated against on the basis of skin color. Colorism can be found specifically in parts of Africa, Asia, Latin America, and the United States.
African American journalist Jill Nelson quoted that "to be both prettiest and black was impossible”
It is often said that first impression is the last impression similarly when we meet someone …show more content…

Historically being fair was seen as a sign of power, wealth, education and social class. Our society is conditioned to believe that beauty is only skin deep. We ourselves are such big hypocrites as we usually say that main beauty is on inside and not on outside but we ourselves forget this notion when we mistreat or discriminate people based on their skin tone. We only see their skin color and nothing beyond that we do not care for the person’s personality. Such beliefs have been passed down through generations, Children who are exposed to such prejudices and stereotypes learn from an early that being fair skinned means beautiful and that beauty is only skin deep.
Colorism is a social prejudice and nothing more but we have made it a form of defining people, the hierarchy of beauty for black women is different from the hierarchy for white women. For white women, it 's about size, shape and thinness but for black women it 's all of those things, but also the shape of one 's nose and lips, the texture of your hair, their skin color and all those other things which are bound up within how 'womanly ' or not you …show more content…

Jennifer Hudson, Halle Berry, Oprah Winfrey, Morgan Freeman, Hattie Mc Daniel, Steve Mc Queen, Denzel Washington, Octavia Spencer are some of the internationally recognized Oscar winning celebrities who have inspired thousands of black people through their part of fame, They are who they are today because of their hard work, talent and motivation and did not let the their skin tones affect their performance and perseverance and have today proven these social norms wrong that beauty is off only skin

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Alexander raises questions against the idea of colorblindness, she argues that, “The colorblindness ideal is premised on the notion that we, as a society, can never be trusted to see race and treat each other fairly or with genuine compassion.” She writes that the idea of colorblindness makes issues like mass incarceration in which race plays a hefty role nearly invisible. I also support Alexander in her argument that the idea of colorblindness has made society blind to racial discrimination. Race is something that an individual uses to identify themselves and by saying that you’re a being colorblind is also imposing that you do not care about that individual 's culture and their cultural history. “King recognized that it was this indifference

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After all, colorism has its roots in slavery. Colorism have been sowed in the black community and white America for centuries. Planted to racial miscegenation between the enslaved African woman and the white slave-owners, their offspring was obviously lighter. Considering

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The literal meaning behind Beauty is “a combination of qualities, such as shape, color, or form, that pleases the aesthetic senses, especially the sight.” Most people view the features that white people obtain as the general thing you need to be beautiful. Morrison and Lamar emphasize how African American view themselves when it comes to beauty. However, Lamar hails African American to see the beauty they’ve they been blinded to see “Beauty is what you make it, I used to be so mistaken / By different shades of faces” (Complexion (A Zulu Love))

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A study indicates that dark-skinned African Americans face a distinct disadvantage when applying for jobs. Matthew Harrison, a doctoral student at UGA undertook the first significant study of "colorism" in the workplace. He found that a light-skinned black male can have only a bachelor's degree and typical work experience and still be preferred over a dark-skinned black male with an M.B.A. and past managerial positions, simply because expectations of the light-skinned black male are much higher, and he doesn't appear as “menacing' as the darker-skinned male applicant.” This finding is possibly due to the common belief that fair-skinned blacks probably have more similarities with whites than do dark-skinned blacks, which in turn makes whites feel more comfortable around them. (Harrison

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Colorism is the new racism I remember it was a Monday morning sitting in the metro train trying to go to my internship, and a Caucasian boy tapped me on the shoulder and said I was pretty for a dark girl. Colorism in the African American community in the United States is the worst kind of discrimination because it allows prejudice to happen within races and has sadly become so prominent that it has replaced racism as the new popular form of bigotry. Colorism is an offshoot of racism, and it is defined as discrimination based on skin tone, not race. Colorism exists in all ethnicities, generally favoring lighter shades over dark shades.

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Colorism is a way to discriminate against others who have a darker skin tone among people who are in the same race or ethical group. Colorism has been around for countless years and has affected numerous people by forcing them to change themselves just to be able to fit in with the rest of society’s standards. Colorism and racism are different from each other because racism involves two people that come from different background races but have identical skin colors. Meanwhile colorism involves two people of the same race but with different skin colors. Colorism has been making people feel ashamed about their skin color and people buying skin care products to make their skin look lighter and not that many people know how it affects a person

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