THREAD: the erasure of DARKER SKINNED women in america

if you dont understand the connection between white supremacy and colorism, i suggest researching before getting into this thread. we are specifically going to tackle brownskin vs. darker skin & how white supremacy impacts the dynamic

lets take it from the top shall we? colorism is prejudice & discrimination of darker complexions WITHIN the same race (often black & poc). it seeps into interpersonal relationships & is systemic

its why darkskinned folk face harsher sentences, receive harsher backlash, & are rarely represented in the media. when they are, negative stereotypes/connotations are placed on them

colorism is the reason why institutions like hollywood cast lightskinned/ racially ambiguous women to play roles meant for unambiguous Black women. they figure black representation is black representation right? wrong.

if we understand colorism contributes to the erasure of unambiguous Black women. then where does that leave brownskinned Black women in the conversation? or Black women who aren’t on the darkest end of the spectrum?

some may consider the distinction between brownskinned & darkskinned pointless bc since they’re not light.....they’re dark. duh. both exist on the dark spectrum right?

i would argue the distinction is important. why? bc in the same way lightskinned women have become the poster image of “Black” in american media, it can easily be said brownskinned ppl can be the poster image of darkskinned in american media thereby contributing to the erasure-

-of UNDENIABLY darkskinned folk & they have! when we look at classic Black american films most of the lead women roles were given to actresses who were either light or just the “right” shade of chocolate (brown) it is why we (hollywood) consider actresses like-

-ryan destiny or tichina arnold as darkskin. dont get me wrong, they’re still dark but nearly compared to the lupitas & danai’s of the world

it is only NOW that we’re seeing darker skinned women get roles in hollywood & media representation. before they wouldve been over looked, not even considered!

its important to note that darker skinned women have found success in the modeling industry, but even that is rare & it is evident that they are still heavily rejected in acting roles/other forms of media

so when we talk about brownskinned being considered darkskinned...it’s actually important to note the distinction. sometimes it doesnt come from a place of rejecting ones darkness or blackness. sometimes...its calling a spade a spade-

shades of darkness exist & they’re beautiful. we want to see our DARKER skinned counterparts at the forefront in the media. we want to see them represented. so if that means categorizing brownskin as brownskin and not darkskin- then so be it. END OF THREAD

DISCLAIMER: shouldve said this in the beginning but this thread isnt to discredit the colorism brownskin ppl face. they absolutely do (i have) & it affects them as well.