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Colorism and Blackthink: A Modern Augmentation of Double Consciousness

Document Type

Book Section

Publication Date

2014

Publication Title

Color Matters: Skin Tone Bias and the Myth of a Postracial America

Abstract

As a result of the history of the black experience in the United States from the early 1600s to the present, two very interesting practices have simultaneously grown and thrived in black America. One practice deals with a strong skin tone preference among blacks for other blacks who are light in skin tone, or “colorism.” Although colorism is practiced worldwide, its origins in the United States are uniquely linked to the way in which black people were introduced into this country. For centuries, enslaved black people came to understand that white and light skin were more valued than dark skin, and the results of this indoctrination persist today. Another practice, also connected to the historical black/white experience unique to the United States, is a practice I call “blackthink.” Blackthink attempts to define what it means to be black and rejects anything that does not fit into that definition. Blacks who do not live as blacks are expected to are viewed as imposters or traitors to blackness and risk symbolic expulsion from the black community. Both practices discriminate based on the color of one’s skin. In combination they pose a curious dichotomy: There is an adoration of light and white skin on the one hand but, on the other hand, practices that purportedly mimic whiteness, or that do not advance blackness, are abhorred.

Keywords

Colorism, Black Experience, Skin Tone Preference, Blackthink, Racial Identity, Internalized Racism, African American History, Social Identity, Cultural Dichotomy, Community Expectations

Publication Citation

Kimberly Jade Norwood, Colorism and Blackthink: A Modern Augmentation of Double Consciousness, in Color Matters: Skin Tone Bias and the Myth of a Postracial America 158-181 (Kimberly Jade Norwood ed., 2014)

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