Subject: English

Teacher: Ms.
Edwards
School: Albena Lake-
Hodge
Comprehensive
School
Centre: 020001
Date Submitted: 8th
April 2020

Student: Arisha
Richardson

COLOURISM Candidate number:

020001

COLOURISM ON SOCIAL MEDIA

 TABLE OF CONTENTS
Plan of Investigation…………………..……………………………………………1

Data 1……………………………………………………………………………….2

Data 2 & 3…………………………………………………………………………..5

Written Report……………………………………………………………………...6

Oral Presentation…………………………………………………………………...8

Reflection 1…………………………………………………………………………9

Reflection 2………………………………………………………………………..10

Reflection 3………………………………………………………………………..11

References ………………………………………………………………………..12

Appendix………………………………………………………………………….13
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Plan of Investigation

I chose Colourism in Social Media because I was curious of the different opinions

associated with skin tones shared on interactive sites. I want to be more knowledgeable about

possible encounters I may have in the future.

As a student of English, I will strengthen my critical thinking, reasoning, understanding,

summary, vocabulary and presentation skills. I intend to collect information that best fit my

topic in a form of a letter and videos through YouTube videos and blog posts. I will use language

skills such as cross-referencing, discussion of the authour’s tone and techniques to analyze my

information and gain a better understanding of my topic.

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DATA 1|Dark Girls in Trauma: An Open Letter to Rashida Marie Strober
Published by Blackmillenials on 6th April,2015

Hi Sister,

I pray you’re doing well in your 15 minutes of digital limelight. Like everyone, I read

your Facebook post prominently featured on Bossip. I take serious issue with that barely-there

“article.” With no context, nuance, or consideration, they allowed your violent language to stand

alone.

Oh Sis, don’t get me twisted or confused. I disagree with you wholeheartedly. Your

language was more than offensive or hurtful … it was counterproductive, misdirected, and

violent. Your words were little more than a socio-political impediment — words that not only

cripple the fragile Movement for Black Liberation, but work in stark refutation to it.

But your words come from a place of pain. I call that pain Dark Girl Trauma; the unique

anguish that comes with being blessed with dark, unequivocal skin. The Trauma is a piercing

result of constantly being told that our skin is ugly, unacceptable, and subordinate. From

schoolyard taunts to a lack of cultural representation in media, fashion, business, and other

suffocating institutions smeared in white supremacy, Dark Girl Trauma is the claustrophobic

result of an omnipresent white supremacist system festering in racial and patriarchal inequity.

I’ve suffered from it too. Being called “burnt” and “ugly” by classmates took its toll on

my self esteem. In college, I thought the anti-darkgirl ignorance was behind me; as kids we say

and do stupid things, but then we learn, grow, and come to accept people for who they are
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despite what they look like. I was proven wrong when a drunken white frat boy told me I was

“beautiful, but black as hell.” My Trauma kicked in and had me cowering in anxiety while white

onlookers stared in awkward disbelief. In that moment, in spite of myself, I reverted back to my

childhood, when I wished for passable toffee-colored skin.

I don’t know you, but I’m sure you’ve had experiences quite similar. And I’m sure these

experiences made you the self-proclaimed “Dark Skin Activist” you claim to be.

But Sister-to-Sister, Dark Girl-to-Dark Girl, you’re not breaking down barriers, you’re

only reinforcing them. Your apparent hate for light skin Black women is a principle act in

reaffirming white supremacy. Divide and conquer tactics is not uncommon nor unfamiliar; from

the division of house and field slaves, white supremacy forced us to believe that the shade of our

Black skin is a credible difference.

But it isn’t — we’re all Black. And I implore you to celebrate the magical diversity of

Blackness. Blackness is stronger than one shade. Blackness is a testament to our genetic strength;

taking many adaptive forms, Blackness lives in multiple shades of skin as a mark of cultural

survival and social endurance.

I’m not gonna pretend that I didn’t once hold prejudice against light skin Black women at

one point in time. In those moment, my Dark Girl Trauma made me weak and vulnerable to the

woes of white supremacy. But when I divulged myself in racial justice work, and saw the passion

of Blackness illuminating through skin both lighter and darker than mine, I compelled myself to

denounce the mis-teachings of white supremacy, and unlearn its cruelty.

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I think you’d do better to do the same.

The burden of hate is a heavy one to hold. Hate white supremacy as a network of

socioeconomic institutions dead set on destroying Black communities. Hate racism and how it’s

so embedded in abstract subconsciousness. Hate patriarchy and how it enables gender-based

violence, rape culture, and the mongrelization of Black bodies with relative ease.

But never hate Black people.

Your anger is misdirected. Your horizontal hostility is a time-wasting distraction. But I

know where it comes from. I hear you. I see you. And I love you enough to tell you that your

Dark Girl Trauma is valid, but that actions you take in an attempt to heal it, are wrong.

In Black Love,

Arielle
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DATA 2| Beauty: Is Colorism Still a Problem? | Black Women OWN the Conversation | Oprah

Winfrey Network. (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uaYDd39S97Q&feature=youtu.be)

Published by OWN on August 25, 2015

DATA 3| The Colorism Conversation Continues in Light Girls | Light Girls | Oprah Winfrey

Network. (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_NXK-hJ0kq0&feature=youtu.be)

Published by OWN On January 13, 2015

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Written Report

The topic of Colourism was formed by a group of persons of similar interest. Among our

members, we discussed subtopics for Colourism and then assigned a role to each member based

on their interest on the topic. To research our topic, we compared and narrowed down our data

pieces with methods such as Choose the Best Strategy and Socratic Talk. Socratic Talk helped us

select questions of relevance that we wished to solve. While Choose the Best method, was used

in picking the best pieces to represent our questions. An article, photograph and letter were

selected to answer the following questions:

1. How colourism affects self-esteem?

2. How does colorism affect mental health?

SOAPSTONES procedure was used to analyze the letter and article and layout for the

picture. The SOAPSTONES method focused on the Speaker, Occasion, Audience, Purpose,

Subject, Tone and Style for analyses. While the Layout method required observing the

organization of elements in the photograph to deduce the meaning.

The first data piece explains how the effect of colorism has on self-esteem and mental

health. The authour, Blackmillenials communicates how the degradation of her dark skin by

others, damaged her self-esteem and caused her to have Dark Girl Trauma. Dark Girl Trauma

causes self-hatred which victims project onto light-skins. She overcame her Dark Girl Trauma

by “ denouncing the mis-teachings of white supremacy and unlearning its cruelty while learning

to love her blackness”.

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Societal views on skin tone are influenced by the media. William 2018 explains that the

media contributes to the narrative that dark-skinned women are unattractive, crazy and always

angry while light-skinned women are beautiful and need to be protected at all cost.These

negative stereotypes are damaging to the self-esteem of the dark skin society as it makes them

feel unworthy.

ELLE 2010 demonstrates how the media alters the appearance of black women. By

photoshopping dark-skin women lighter the entertainment industry dictates the standard of black

beauty. As a result, dark-skinned viewers of this magazine will feel unattractive causing their

self-esteem to diminish. Mental health problems occur as a result of their lowered self-esteem

such as depression and self-hatred.

In conclusion, the research allowed the members of our group to be educated on the

effects that colourism has on a person mentally and their self-esteem. The data pieces helped us

to understand how colourism affects a victim's self-esteem, and mentally such as Dark Girl

Trauma, depression and self-hatred, which is usually projected onto lighter skins. Our research

was successful due to the methods used in finding the best data pieces and analyzing our pieces.
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Oral Presentation Plan

Theme: Colourism

Topic: Colourism in Social Media

Genre chosen:

• The article I selected is an extract that focuses on the effects of colourism of both darker

and lighter skin tones.

Sources used:

• Dunlap-Fowler’s article “Social Media and Colourism” was published on Medium on

January 27, 2017.

Use of language in sources

• Whitney Dunlap-Fowler’s article “Social Media and Colourism” used formal language.
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Reflection 1

Before research, I strongly preferred a darker skin tone, which I felt represented beauty

and boldness.

In a letter addressed to a dark skin activist, I learnt about dark girl trauma. It is caused by

the constant degrading of our skin and self-esteem. The authour, Blackmillennials taught me that

to overcome dark girl trauma and you must love your blackness.

Video one is a collage of stories of black females who experienced colourism. I learnt

that social media and society's opinion influence a woman's confidence. They influence how a

black woman should fit into society such as the way they wear their hair, this making it difficult

to love herself and find her identity.

In video two, I learnt that black women were cultured to compare and not to connect. For

example, the self-promotion of #teamlightskin and #teamdarkskin has caused a bigger rift

between the spectrums due to competition.

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Reflection 2

In a letter (Blackmillenials, 2015), the authour seriously explains how Dark Girl Trauma

may affect a person’s perspective. Emotive words that contributed to the arthour’s trauma such

as “burnt”, “ugly” and “beautiful but black as hell” express how they could change a person’s

perspective negatively and “cripple the fragile Movement for Black Liberation”.

OWN (2019) consists of similar anecdotes where darker skin speakers evoke sadness of

how colourism has affected those in the black community. The anecdotes and the repetition of

similar struggles reflect how greatly one can be affected by colourism. It also communicates how

colourism is a topic that needs urgent attention to be resolved.

OWN (2015) also consist of anecdotes where lighter skin speakers evoke sadness of how

they are affected by colourism. The anecdotes and repetition of similar struggles show how

lighter skin tones are just as affected, as the darker skin tones, however privileged they may

seem.
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Reflection 3

The letter taught me that emotive words are very effective in conveying emotions from

past experiences such as pain. They allow the reader to understand the situation and relate to

events that have happened as they capture the attention of the reader. Also, words such as “Dark

Girl Trauma” and “Dark Skin Activist” were added to my vocabulary.

The second piece of data taught me how anecdotes could be used to emphasis a point and

show different factors of that point without causing confusion and losing the reader’s interest.

I discovered in the third piece of data my ignorance towards how colourism affects

lighter skin tones. It was brought to my knowledge the prejudice of discriminating against

someone of lighter colour because of their privileges. It is because they also struggle to feel

accepted due to feeling that they lack blackness and are not apart of the black community.
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References
 Dark girls in trauma: An open letter to Rashida Marie Strober. (2015, April 7). Retrieved

from https://blackmillennialmusings.wordpress.com/2015/04/06/dark-girls-in-trauma-an-

open-letter-to-rashida-marie-strober/

 OWN. (2019, August 25). Beauty: Is Colorism Still a Problem? | Black Women OWN the

Conversation | Oprah Winfrey Network. Retrieved from https://www.youtube.com/watch?

v=uaYDd39S97Q&feature=youtu.be

 OWN. (2015, January 13). The Colorism Conversation Continues in Light Girls | Light Girls

| Oprah Winfrey Network. Retrieved from https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_NXK-

hJ0kq0&feature=youtu.be

 Williams, K (2018, September 18) Colorism in the black community damages self-esteem.

The University Daily Kansan. Retrieved from: https://www.nbcbayarea.com/news/national-

international/colorism-reveals-many-shades-of-prejudice-in-hollywood/5168/
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Appendix

Figure 1.

Figure 2.
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Figure 3.
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Figure 4.
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Figure 5.