Internal racism is based on ignorance and low self esteem. Its when a person is discriminatory against THERE OWN RACE. This is very common in the black race. Most black people whether they admit it or not view beauty in a girl as being light skinned, light eyes, straight hair..basically the farther she is from actually looking black the more beautiful she is. I'll never forget the time when I was over my friends house we were both very cute little girls and were playing "wedding". I did not want to be the groom but I ALWAYS was!! One day I asked her why I had to always be the groom and NEVER the bride. She said because I was darker than her. I was sad for about 5 minutes then began to play again. We are still close friends and she is so embarrassed whenever I bring it up. Now looking back on it I try to wonder where she got her reasoning from and who or what was teaching her these things.
Even more common is most black people refuse to ever want to be 100% black . Most will say they are mixed with some type of Indian, white, Spanish, etc. This is really sad however internal or internalized racism is often unconscious. And a lot of the way African Americans think in this country comes from the music, Rap music in particular. A great example of a Rap artist who relentlessly lashes out at his own race is Lil Wayne. I'm not saying he is the only one for all you Lil Wayne fanatics out there SO RELAX. I'm just using him as an example. So anyway he knowingly reinforces stereotypes that long hindered blacks, and also teaches young black males that a thuggish stance is the proper response to a presumptively racist society. His music retards black success. But anyway back to what I was saying despite his own skin complexion, his mom's skin complexion, and his very own daughter's skin complex, relentlessly instills in his listener's mind that women are only beautiful if they are lighter skinned and have "European like" hair. A good example of this is in his song "Right Above" Wayne says.. "Beautiful Black woman, I bet that bi%*# would look BETTER red.".. For those of you who don't know what was meant by this the term red is short for red bone which refers to a female with lighter skin. SO basically what he meant by this is that all black females would look better if they were lighter skinned. It boggles my mind that all in 10 words he called black females out of their name and discriminated against them!! There are many many MANY more examples I could give about him and his internal racism. He can certainly have his own opinion and preference but WHY PUT OTHERS DOWN? Its almost as if he hates himself actually.
In conclusion internal racism AND rap music is the epitome of what is wrong with the minds of millions, blacks look to degrading drug addict entertainers as if there God and believe EVERYTHING they say. Truthfully most rap artist are demoralizing the minds of youth. Its a subtle form of brain washing if you ask me. Thanks for your time . Be sure to comment this one. =)
I am commenting on this blog because many of the things you stated are true! BUT for me its true and its not even coming from Lil Wayne, it USED to come from my own family!
ReplyDeleteMy mother is very very dark with dreadlocks down her back. My father is a curly haired man of mixed race (full blooded native american, german and black) The result of them is of course: ME!
Growing up I was the lighter one of the family, the child with "good" hair, that just somehow looked different from the rest of my many cousins. And yes they would pick on me calling me curly sue or referring to me as "white girl". Because of that i would tell people that in my next life i would be darker and have straight hair! Over the years tho i have accepted my curls and my color realizing finally that hey, this is what god gave me and i cant do anything about it.
As far as Lil Wayne goes and the other rappers too: they are allowed to have a preference but at the end of the day, those who are black, have a black mother OR father that they love dearly and hey lets be honest, the garbage music they are putting out there sells millions of records!!!
I have seen a few cases with internal racism. When i was younger around 13 i use to think lighter skin makes you prettier. Where i am from that how it is. There are product out there like skin bleching creams and soaps that i see people of colour use to get their skin lighter and i think that is ridiculous. People that use those types of products seems to think that it solve thier image problems and how people see them.
ReplyDeleteLot of black females wherever they come from think that being lighter make them pretty and they think that if you have a light skin, you can be more consider in society like white people or any other race with lot of chance in the sociaty. Another reason why they want to have a light skin is that men especially Black men are more likely to be attractive to black females with light skin then Black females with dark skin. I think that being skinny is not a bad thing for black female because it is healthy and common in all races.
ReplyDeletethis is interesting to me because truth be told I was one of those people who when finding a girl attractive I would typically gravitate towards light skin girls. I cant say that my point of view or preference was a direct result of the music I listened too. I would agree that music does have the power to shape our selection process in women but I wont say that music is the sole reason why men select lighter women. I would say I still love my "lightbrights" but as I got a little older I started seeing darker girls that now have me like "WOW" Also take into account that they say opposites attract lol
ReplyDeleteWow, this blog really hits home for me. I am actually dark skinned and have dealt with such discriminations my whole entire life... It's so ironic how darker complexions are made the minority of the minority... We are definitely considered the lesser valued in our race. Even when complements are given, they're still based upon our color for an example" she's pretty to be dark skin" or when someone calls us "chocolate" !!!! I want to regurgitate in my mouth whenever I hear that. It's so unfair the way we label each other. Lil Wayne needs to be reprimanded for the way he discredits us as women.
ReplyDeleteOur perception of society is divergent.
ReplyDeleteAmerica is full of variety types of people and America is all about diversity.
I believe music is a common ground that people of all color can relate to.
Despite of the stereotypical remarks that are portrayed in society, people of all religions, nationalities or shades of color shouldn’t be ashamed of themselves.
We need to accept what we are and learn to accept others as they are.
Words have so much power if you let them, and people often abuse the ability of being rich or famous for example rappers. They will say whatever they think is cool amongst society or will get recognized although they don’t demonstrate the appropriate message for all people.
Great post!! I think a black woman of any skin tone is beautiful. Why should ones with a darker tone feel ugly or undesirable!? I personally think people with a deep pigment are unique and very beautiful. I had a friend in high school, who's skin tone was incredibly dark, but it just made her even more gorgeous because not everyone looked like her. making it better, she was proud of it. i wish more girls who had a darker tone would be proud of their beauty. everyone is beautiful, why should we have to feel insignificant if we aren't what society tells us to be?
ReplyDeleteIt's sad that this happens within our own race. My parents are from Haiti and people have the idea that all Haitians are dark skin. I would say my complexion is caramel. In school whenever I told people that I was Haitian they would ask me if I was mixed which had me confused because I didn't understand how people was so closed minded. No matter what shade of color you are; your beautiful. Great Blog!
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