Colorism

There is racism, there is discrimination, and there is prejudice, but many often forget the idea of colorism. “Colorism is the discrimination of those with a darker skin tone, typically amongst individuals within the same racial or ethnic group” (Okoro). Colorism is far more serious than other forms of racism as colorism is discrimination that is coming from people with a similar skin color and standard of living; this results in detrimental effects on society and the African-American communities that are subject to colorism. Since black individuals are criticizing each other under this idea of colorism, a belief has emerged that the closer a person is to being white, in terms of skin color, the better they are. The negative effects of colorism can be clearly seen in today’s society, as described by Chika Okoro in
The prejudices of colorism are seen in this compliment, as Okoro is not being called pretty for who she is, but only for her skin color. The effects of colorism continue to be seen in the treatment of blacks in the media, or more specifically on the color of magazines. Okoro declared, “And it doesn’t help that the media continues to place a premium on lighter skin by retouching and photoshopping the skin of actresses of color before putting them on the cover of magazines”. Okoro goes on to provide a number of striking examples of how women of color have been altered to fit in with the media’s, and America’s, definition of beauty. And while women may be getting altered to fit America’s definition of beauty, these alterations do not just exist in the United States, but in the rest of the world as well, bringing the effects of colorism to a global audience. “In India and Asia alone, skin lightening and skin bleaching is a multi-billion dollar