Do you believe there is real racism within the black community (Intra-racism)? If yes, what can we do about? If no, how can we dispel this belief?

Bert’s Response

Color Me Good

Bert Reece

We come in all colors, shades and hues
We even come with our very own points of views.
We can be different in every kind of way
It’s our differences that make us so unique;
Our differences paint pictures of great beauties and diversities.
Blacks and browns, tans and creams
Even whites, yes white we can be.
We can blend into a crowd and you won’t even know that we are there.
We can stand out in a crowd and you can’t help but notice that we are there.
If by all of this we are so special and unique
Then why do we hate one another?
Why do we take away our own strength?
I might be brown and lighter than some,
But in that same brown skin I am darker than another one.
Some call our hate towards one another intra-racism or colorism.
I call it ignorantism
We really don’t know the beauty that we possess.
Because if we did we would criticize it far less.
Some say color me bad
But I say Color Me Good
Because God made black and black is good.

Since the times of slavery, blacks have been pitted against one another; the house slave versus the field slave and the lighter skinned slave versus the darker skinned slave.  It was a very successful tactic used by oppressors of that day.  It was so successful that we still fall prey to it today.  We still have the mindsets of the house slave versus the field slave.  Over the years we have gone from using the brown paper bag test to receive admittance into certain places to attributing the type of person we are to the texture of our hair.  We also have some that hate who they are so much that because of their fare skin are able to “pass.”  These that pass look white even though they are black.  They live under the radar of the white culture pretending to be who they are not. 

This tactic divided a nation; a black nation.  The slave owners knew that if they set slaves up to police their own kind, then slave owners only had to worry about half of the slaves instead of all of the slaves.  Since that time we have been divided.  Members of my family fill the entire color spectrum.  They range from the very dark to the very light.  When I look at us I don’t see color, I see possibility.  That is what we all should see.  We are a people of great strength, talent and brains. 

I remember the Spike Lee movie, School Daze, which dealt with this very topic.  At the end of the movie I remember the person screaming the words “WAKE UP!!!”  I can’t say it any better than that.  

Anthony’s Response 

Yes I do believe there is intra-racism within our own people.  If you look back in time during slavery we had each other’s backs.  There were no differing “social” classes within the slave community.  There was, however, a community of “skin” class; dark skin and light skin.  You could also use the terms house slave and field slave.  Society, over time, has shown and perpetuated the images that white is pure and innocent while black is dark and evil.  Sadly, then and now, many of us have grown to believe this horrible lie.  You have some young people who do not like themselves because they are too dark or too light.  Some of us even go as far as to dislike others simply because they might be lighter skinned or they speak correct English.  We say they are acting white.  Is that right?  No.  On the opposite end of the spectrum, we see a dark skinned person and think they are “ghetto.”  Is that right? No.  We have to learn to support each other as a people. We need to teach our youth that we as BLACK AMERICANS come in many different colors.  This is one of the many things that make our people so unique.  

We must be truthful in answering the following two questions: 1) Do we really support each other? If not, why?  2) Will we help each other?  If not, why?  I have been working since I was 16-years old.  I have seen a lot of racism, including intra-racism, in every job I have held.  I have seen lighter skinned people who did not deserve it, be promoted over darker skinned people who was much more qualified.  To make matters worse, I have also seen those who have been undeservingly elevated, treat those beneath them as if they were meaningless.  It was not until they saw how much THEY needed those that they mistreated that they started to act as if they cared.  At this point it became hard to trust this person because you knew they were only using you to elevate themselves even more.

 

We must learn how to uplift, support, and teach our youth that being black is not a curse.  We need to teach them that they came from Kings and Queens and no matter how dark or how light their skin is we are still BLACK and BLACK is BEAUTIFUL.

Rhonda’s Response 

“One of the prices that we pay for integration was the disintegration of the black community.” Ed Smith

The African Proverb “it takes a village to raise a child” was a saying that represented the foundation and principles of black communities. Prior to integration, black communities supported one another in business, education, community efforts as well as empowered one another to be their best and to strive to reach their desired goals. However, Ed Smith’s quote, “one of the prices that we pay for integration was the disintegration of the black community”, depicts the state of the black community today. The disintegration of the black community, I believe, has created real intra-racism within the black community. The black community has intra racism regarding skin color (light versus black) and progressive blacks versus those who are not. Whether we can do anything to solve this issue is up to the actions of people in the black community. The actions of black people who made the conscience decision to march against Jim Crow to make a better America for blacks as a whole demonstrated how actions can change a community. Personally I believe we won’t see a change until the rights of blacks are threatened again like the times of Jim Crow. 

The skin color (light versus dark) intra racism runs rapid within the black community. This is one of the intra racism’s that is displayed outwardly and inwardly. It is one of the main racisms that will cause some blacks to not interact with one another. I believe this racism was stemmed from the guiles of slavery where light skin blacks were considered “house slaves” and dark skin blacks were “field slaves”. This propaganda from slavery has had a detrimental impact on the black community. The only way to fix this is for blacks to acknowledge that we were mistreated and used as property to build America and make a conscience effort to move forward with gusto in order to make sure that history does not repeat itself. 

The intra racism of progressive blacks versus those who are not is a continuous issue within the black community. Progressive blacks many times may be labeled as those who have furthered their education and work in professional jobs. Those who are considered not to be progressive are many times denoted as those with small town goals to stay where they are and do not desire to move beyond their current circumstance. This ideology is not different from the assertions made by mothers who decide to stay at home versus those who desire to work. Until the black community can learn to respect each other in all facets of their life and success; this issue will continue in the black community. 

All in all, I do believe there is intra racism today. I witness it daily and the attitude of blacks on dealing with intra racism has to change if we as a race want to move forward and be an impact as those who fought during the Civil Rights Movement. We will not solve the racism’s we as blacks face daily from other races if we don’t acknowledge the intra racism and fight to change our actions to mitigate this within the black community. This will enable us to band together as a unit to defeat systems that initially did not include us. We have to get back to creating strong foundations where we exhibit the African proverb “it takes a village to raise a child” because once we do this the black community will be stronger and will enable us to use our strength of numbers to make laws and rules that will work in our favor.