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Light-Dark skin what is beautiful?

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Light Skin Vs. Dark Skin: Breaking the Mental Chains

By Akira X Roberson | Last updated: May 19, 2014 - 12:02:19 PM

What's your opinion on this article?

People often think that stereotypes are made by another race and their view of the race they are labeling. But what most don't think about are the labeling and divisive stereotypes that are used within a race; such as stereotypes often used in the Black community.

This type of division in a race can be poisoning and indirectly divisive.

Stereotypes such as Light Skin Vs. Dark Skin within the Black community are cancerous, dangerous, and shape how we view ourselves and our people. Fortunately, we can solve this problem by teaching and mentally reshaping how we've been trained to think and behave.

This stereotyping is seen as joking and not serious, at least that's what is thought.

It is also rare that anyone questions where Light Skin Vs. Dark Skin originated. "It just exists, and it is somewhat passed on. ... Even young children use these jokes and labels." But the question stands where did it get its beginning and how was it enforced?

Light Skin Vs. Dark Skin emerges at least as early as 1712 in the Colony of Virginia on the banks of the James River and Willie Lynch. Willie Lynch spoke of ways to break apart the tightly unified Black man and woman. The unity between the slaves led to revolts. They killed their owners and those families and often ran away. Considering this, Willie Lynch devised a plan that would control the slaves physically and mentally for 300 years or more if executed correctly.

The Lynch plan consisted of:

"Crossbreeding Niggers mean taking so many drops of good white blood and putting them into as many nigger women as possible, varying the drops by the various tone that you want, and then letting them breed with each other until another circle of color appears as you desire. What this means is this; Put the niggers and the horse in breeding pot, mix some asses and some good white blood and what do you get? You got multiple of colors of ass backward, unusual niggers, running, tied to backward ass long-headed mules, the one productive of itself, the other sterile, (The one Constant, the other dying, we keep the nigger constant for we may replace the mules for another tool) both mule and nigger tied to each other, neither knowing where the other came from and neither productive for itself, nor without each other."

Furthermore, he suggested destroying the mother language of Black people, and he wanted to limit the understanding of the English language.

"Being a fool is one of the Basic ingredients of any incidents to the maintenance of the Slavery System," said Lynch.

By making us foolish, small differences like color shade could be used to break our unity-thus creating light skin verses dark skin. Willie Lynch's plan ultimately was to take the small differences between Blacks and make them bigger. Lastly, he has to use a method to instill these differences among Blacks.

Additionally, Willie Lynch had principles for breaking apart unified Black people and turning them into foolish slaves. He used fear as one of the mentally bonding chains. He suggested taking the strongest Black male, tying his arms and legs to two horses, lighting him on fire and making the horses run into two different directions. He would then make the pregnant women, children, and slaves watch to instill this fear. He would then take another strong Black male and whip him to near death, but not enough to kill him. The pregnant women would pass this fear off on to their offspring and the children would have this image engraved in their brains. It was breaking the strong image of the Black male; making the woman independent of him. The male children would be made strong physically but weak mentally.

This process aided in allowing differences to become problematic; those differences have created a rift within the Black race.

Such differences and inequalities also manifest in the work place, the criminal justice system, socioeconomic status, and education. "According to research by Arthur Goldsmith, Darrick Hamilton, and William Darity, employers tend to prefer light-skinned Black employees over dark skinned black employees," noted one source.

"Similarly, research by Jennifer Eberhardt, Paul Davies, Valeries Purdie-Vaughns, and Sheri Lynn Johnson demonstrates that 'blacker-looking' African American males are more likely to receive the death penalty compared to their lighter-skinned counterparts for comparable capital crimes," noted other experts.

These inequalities have shown up in socioeconomic status, and education. For example, "Light skin attains a higher socioeconomic status in its own right, through greater education and workforce mobility," according to research on Colorism.

This "anti-Black" bias is evident in beauty standards and has caused self-hatred within the Black race. Beauty is measured by how White one looks. During an experiment in 2010, three psychologists found Black children chose a White doll and associated the White doll with good characteristics over the Black doll. Also the Black doll was associated with bad characteristics. The age group was 4 to 5 and 9 to 10; at such ages how do they know that Black is ugly? What images have they been shown that would make them believe that Black is beautiful?

"Studies show that non-whites tend to embrace the beauty standards prevalent in most societies, which grant a higher desirability to lighter skin than to darker skin," noted an author on Colorism. Why is that?

It has also come into the light, that Black celebrities are bleaching themselves. Some of the most notable Black celebrities accused of bleaching are Sammy Sosa, Rihanna, Beyoncé, and many others who are not famous use dangerous skin bleaching creams.

But why, what and who have convinced them that their skin wasn't beautiful when it was brown? Unbeknownst to them this self-hatred has been indirectly affecting them.

There is a solution to this Light Skinned-Dark Skinned problem and the issues that come with it.

The solution to this problem is simple: Educate Black children at an early age about history and how race mixing was used as a weapon of mind control. Once they understand this, all the other issues such as self-hatred and the divisions are erased. This is the only way to ensure these mental chains are broken. Light Skin Vs. Dark Skin was created through a process. So education has to reverse that process. This teaching will have to be instilled into young children at an early age all the way into adulthood.

Once these teachings have been correctly executed, the process that Willie Lynch instilled in the Black race will be broken completely. There will be a new enlightenment in the Black community and there will be more progress as a race. Self-hatred will be a thing of the past. The inequalities that exist because of divisions made by our ignorance will be no more. The Black race will be unified and strong like it once was before our enslavement.

(Akira X Roberson of Muhammad Mosque No. 28 in St. Louis, Mo., is a member of the Nation of Islam's Vanguard Class and attends Francis Howell North high school. She will graduate this year. This commentary is adapted from an essay she was required to write and present as a senior. "I chose to write my essay on Light Skin Vs. Dark Skin: Breaking the Mental Chains. I chose this topic because I've dealt with being labeled light skinned from a very young age up until now. Now that I'm older I see it a lot more, and it's mostly from Black people of course. The school that I go to is somewhat diverse, but predominately White and interracial. That being said, there is a great number of Light Skin Vs. Dark Skin stereotypes. So I knew I had to try really hard to get this message of where this label came from and what it has done to our people. My overall grade on the paper was a 91 percent-one of the best grades in the class," she said.)

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Light Skin Vs. Dark Skin: Breaking the Mental Chains

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By Akira X Roberson | Last updated: May 19, 2014 - 12:02:19 PM What's your opinion on this article? People often think that stereotypes are made by another race and their view of the race they are labeling.

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Willie Lynch letter: The Making of a Slave

By FinalCall.com News | Last updated: May 22, 2009 - 12:45:37 PM

What's your opinion on this article?

This speech was said to have been delivered by Willie Lynch on the bank of the James River in the colony of Virginia in 1712. Lynch was a British slave owner in the West Indies. He was invited to the colony of Virginia in 1712 to teach his methods to slave owners there.

[beginning of the Willie Lynch Letter]

Greetings,

Gentlemen. I greet you here on the bank of the James River in the year of our Lord one thousand seven hundred and twelve. First, I shall thank you, the gentlemen of the Colony of Virginia, for bringing me here. I am here to help you solve some of your problems with slaves. Your invitation reached me on my modest plantation in the West Indies, where I have experimented with some of the newest, and still the oldest, methods for control of slaves. Ancient Rome would envy us if my program is implemented. As our boat sailed south on the James River, named for our illustrious King, whose version of the Bible we cherish, I saw enough to know that your problem is not unique. While Rome used cords of wood as crosses for standing human bodies along its highways in great numbers, you are here using the tree and the rope on occasions. I caught the whiff of a dead slave hanging from a tree, a couple miles back. You are not only losing valuable stock by hangings, you are having uprisings, slaves are running away, your crops are sometimes left in the fields too long for maximum profit, you suffer occasional fires, your animals are killed. Gentlemen, you know what your problems are; I do not need to elaborate. I am not here to enumerate your problems, I am here to introduce you to a method of solving them. In my bag here, I HAVE A FULL PROOF METHOD FOR CONTROLLING YOUR BLACK SLAVES. I guarantee every one of you that, if installed correctly, IT WILL CONTROL THE SLAVES FOR AT LEAST 300 HUNDREDS YEARS. My method is simple. Any member of your family or your overseer can use it. I HAVE OUTLINED A NUMBER OF DIFFERENCES AMONG THE SLAVES; AND I TAKE THESE DIFFERENCES AND MAKE THEM BIGGER. I USE FEAR, DISTRUST AND ENVY FOR CONTROL PURPOSES. These methods have worked on my modest plantation in the West Indies and it will work throughout the South. Take this simple little list of differences and think about them. On top of my list is "AGE," but it's there only because it starts with an "a." The second is "COLOR" or shade. There is INTELLIGENCE, SIZE, SEX, SIZES OF PLANTATIONS, STATUS on plantations, ATTITUDE of owners, whether the slaves live in the valley, on a hill, East, West, North, South, have fine hair, course hair, or is tall or short. Now that you have a list of differences, I shall give you an outline of action, but before that, I shall assure you that DISTRUST IS STRONGER THAN TRUST AND ENVY STRONGER THAN ADULATION, RESPECT OR ADMIRATION. The Black slaves after receiving this indoctrination shall carry on and will become self-refueling and self-generating for HUNDREDS of years, maybe THOUSANDS. Don't forget, you must pitch the OLD black male vs. the YOUNG black male, and the YOUNG black male against the OLD black male. You must use the DARK skin slaves vs. the LIGHT skin slaves, and the LIGHT skin slaves vs. the DARK skin slaves. You must use the FEMALE vs. the MALE, and the MALE vs. the FEMALE. You must also have white servants and overseers [who] distrust all Blacks. But it is NECESSARY THAT YOUR SLAVES TRUST AND DEPEND ON US. THEY MUST LOVE, RESPECT AND TRUST ONLY US. Gentlemen, these kits are your keys to control. Use them. Have your wives and children use them, never miss an opportunity. IF USED INTENSELY FOR ONE YEAR, THE SLAVES THEMSELVES WILL REMAIN PERPETUALLY DISTRUSTFUL. Thank you gentlemen."
LET'S MAKE A SLAVE
It was the interest and business of slave holders to study human nature, and the slave nature in particular, with a view to practical results. I and many of them attained astonishing proficiency in this direction. They had to deal not with earth, wood and stone, but with men and, by every regard, they had for their own safety and prosperity they needed to know the material on which they were to work, conscious of the injustice and wrong they were every hour perpetuating and knowing what they themselves would do. Were they the victims of such wrongs? They were constantly looking for the first signs of the dreaded retribution. They watched therefore with skilled and practiced eyes, and learned to read with great accuracy, the state of mind and heart of the slave, through his sable face. Unusual sobriety, apparent abstractions, sullenness and indifference indeed, any mood out of the common was afforded ground for suspicion and inquiry. Frederick Douglas LET'S MAKE A SLAVE is a study of the scientific process of man-breaking and slave-making. It describes the rationale and results of the Anglo Saxons' ideas and methods of insuring the master/slave relationship. LET'S MAKE A SLAVE "The Original and Development of a Social Being Called 'The Negro.' " Let us make a slave. What do we need? First of all, we need a black nigger man, a pregnant nigger woman and her baby nigger boy. Second, we will use the same basic principle that we use in breaking a horse, combined with some more sustaining factors. What we do with horses is that we break them from one form of life to another; that is, we reduce them from their natural state in nature. Whereas nature provides them with the natural capacity to take care of their offspring, we break that natural string of independence from them and thereby create a dependency status, so that we may be able to get from them useful production for our business and pleasure.
CARDINAL PRINCIPLES FOR MAKING A NEGRO
For fear that our future generations may not understand the principles of breaking both of the beast together, the nigger and the horse. We understand that short range planning economics results in periodic economic chaos; so that to avoid turmoil in the economy, it requires us to have breadth and depth in long range comprehensive planning, articulating both skill sharp perceptions. We lay down the following principles for long range comprehensive economic planning. Both horse and niggers [are] no good to the economy in the wild or natural state. Both must be BROKEN and TIED together for orderly production. For orderly future, special and particular attention must be paid to the FEMALE and the YOUNGEST offspring. Both must be CROSSBRED to produce a variety and division of labor. Both must be taught to respond to a peculiar new LANGUAGE. Psychological and physical instruction of CONTAINMENT must be created for both. We hold the six cardinal principles as truth to be self-evident, based upon following the discourse concerning the economics of breaking and tying the horse and the nigger together, all inclusive of the six principles laid down above. NOTE: Neither principle alone will suffice for good economics. All principles must be employed for orderly good of the nation. Accordingly, both a wild horse and a wild or natur[al] nigger is dangerous even if captured, for they will have the tendency to seek their customary freedom and, in doing so, might kill you in your sleep. You cannot rest. They sleep while you are awake, and are awake while you are asleep. They are DANGEROUS near the family house and it requires too much labor to watch them away from the house. Above all, you cannot get them to work in this natural state. Hence, both the horse and the nigger must be broken; that is breaking them from one form of mental life to another. KEEP THE BODY, TAKE THE MIND! In other words, break the will to resist. Now the breaking process is the same for both the horse and the nigger, only slightly varying in degrees. But, as we said before, there is an art in long range economic planning. YOU MUST KEEP YOUR EYE AND THOUGHTS ON THE FEMALE and the OFFSPRING of the horse and the nigger. A brief discourse in offspring development will shed light on the key to sound economic principles. Pay little attention to the generation of original breaking, but CONCENTRATE ON FUTURE GENERATION. Therefore, if you break the FEMALE mother, she will BREAK the offspring in its early years of development; and when the offspring is old enough to work, she will deliver it up to you, for her normal female protective tendencies will have been lost in the original breaking process. For example, take the case of the wild stud horse, a female horse and an already infant horse and compare the breaking process with two captured nigger males in their natural state, a pregnant nigger woman with her infant offspring. Take the stud horse, break him for limited containment. Completely break the female horse until she becomes very gentle, whereas you or anybody can ride her in her comfort. Breed the mare and the stud until you have the desired offspring. Then, you can turn the stud to freedom until you need him again. Train the female horse whereby she will eat out of your hand, and she will in turn train the infant horse to eat out of your hand, also. When it comes to breaking the uncivilized nigger, use the same process, but vary the degree and step up the pressure, so as to do a complete reversal of the mind. Take the meanest and most restless nigger, strip him of his clothes in front of the remaining male niggers, the female, and the nigger infant, tar and feather him, tie each leg to a different horse faced in opposite directions, set him afire and beat both horses to pull him apart in front of the remaining niggers. The next step is to take a bullwhip and beat the remaining nigger males to the point of death, in front of the female and the infant. Don't kill him, but PUT THE FEAR OF GOD IN HIM, for he can be useful for future breeding.
THE BREAKING PROCESS OF THE AFRICAN WOMAN
Take the female and run a series of tests on her to see if she will submit to your desires willingly. Test her in every way, because she is the most important factor for good economics. If she shows any sign of resistance in submitting completely to your will, do not hesitate to use the bullwhip on her to extract that last bit of [b----] out of her. Take care not to kill her, for in doing so, you spoil good economics. When in complete submission, she will train her offsprings in the early years to submit to labor when they become of age. Understanding is the best thing. Therefore, we shall go deeper into this area of the subject matter concerning what we have produced here in this breaking process of the female nigger. We have reversed the relationship; in her natural uncivilized state, she would have a strong dependency on the uncivilized nigger male, and she would have a limited protective tendency toward her independent male offspring and would raise male offsprings to be dependent like her. Nature had provided for this type of balance. We reversed nature by burning and pulling a civilized nigger apart and bullwhipping the other to the point of death, all in her presence. By her being left alone, unprotected, with the MALE IMAGE DESTROYED, the ordeal caused her to move from her psychologically dependent state to a frozen, independent state. In this frozen, psychological state of independence, she will raise her MALE and female offspring in reversed roles. For FEAR of the young male's life, she will psychologically train him to be MENTALLY WEAK and DEPENDENT, but PHYSICALLY STRONG. Because she has become psychologically independent, she will train her FEMALE offsprings to be psychologically independent. What have you got? You've got the nigger WOMAN OUT FRONT AND THE nigger MAN BEHIND AND SCARED. This is a perfect situation of sound sleep and economics. Before the breaking process, we had to be alertly on guard at all times. Now, we can sleep soundly, for out of frozen fear his woman stands guard for us. He cannot get past her early slave-molding process. He is a good tool, now ready to be tied to the horse at a tender age. By the time a nigger boy reaches the age of sixteen, he is soundly broken in and ready for a long life of sound and efficient work and the reproduction of a unit of good labor force. Continually through the breaking of uncivilized savage niggers, by throwing the nigger female savage into a frozen psychological state of independence, by killing the protective male image, and by creating a submissive dependent mind of the nigger male slave, we have created an orbiting cycle that turns on its own axis forever, unless a phenomenon occurs and re-shifts the position of the male and female slaves. We show what we mean by example. Take the case of the two economic slave units and examine them close.
THE NEGRO MARRIAGE
We breed two nigger males with two nigger females. Then, we take the nigger male away from them and keep them moving and working. Say one nigger female bears a nigger female and the other bears a nigger male; both nigger females-being without influence of the nigger male image, frozen with a independent psychology-will raise their offspring into reverse positions. The one with the female offspring will teach her to be like herself, independent and negotiable (we negotiate with her, through her, by her, negotiates her at will). The one with the nigger male offspring, she being frozen subconscious fear for his life, will raise him to be mentally dependent and weak, but physically strong; in other words, body over mind. Now, in a few years when these two offsprings become fertile for early reproduction, we will mate and breed them and continue the cycle. That is good, sound and long range comprehensive planning.
WARNING: POSSIBLE INTERLOPING NEGATIVES
Earlier, we talked about the non-economic good of the horse and the nigger in their wild or natural state; we talked out the principle of breaking and tying them together for orderly production. Furthermore, we talked about paying particular attention to the female savage and her offspring for orderly future planning, then more recently we stated that, by reversing the positions of the male and female savages, we created an orbiting cycle that turns on its own axis forever unless a phenomenon occurred and reshifts positions of the male and female savages. Our experts warned us about the possibility of this phenomenon occurring, for they say that the mind has a strong drive to correct and re-correct itself over a period of time if it can touch some substantial original historical base; and they advised us that the best way to deal with the phenomenon is to shave off the brute's mental history and create a multiplicity of phenomena of illusions, so that each illusion will twirl in its own orbit, something similar to floating balls in a vacuum. This creation of multiplicity of phenomena of illusions entails the principle of crossbreeding the nigger and the horse as we stated above, the purpose of which is to create a diversified division of labor; thereby creating different levels of labor and different values of illusion at each connecting level of labor. The results of which is the severance of the points of original beginnings for each sphere illusion. Since we feel that the subject matter may get more complicated as we proceed in laying down our economic plan concerning the purpose, reason and effect of crossbreeding horses and niggers, we shall lay down the following definition terms for future generations. Orbiting cycle means a thing turning in a given path. Axis means upon which or around which a body turns. Phenomenon means something beyond ordinary conception and inspires awe and wonder. Multiplicity means a great number. Means a globe. Crossbreeding a horse means taking a horse and breeding it with an ass and you get a dumb, backward, ass long-headed mule that is not reproductive nor productive by itself. Crossbreeding niggers mean taking so many drops of good white blood and putting them into as many nigger women as possible, varying the drops by the various tone that you want, and then letting them breed with each other until another circle of color appears as you desire. What this means is this: Put the niggers and the horse in a breeding pot, mix some asses and some good white blood and what do you get? You got a multiplicity of colors of ass backward, unusual niggers, running, tied to backward ass long-headed mules, the one productive of itself, the other sterile. (The one constant, the other dying, we keep the nigger constant for we may replace the mules for another tool) both mule and nigger tied to each other, neither knowing where the other came from and neither productive for itself, nor without each other.
CONTROLLED LANGUAGE
Crossbreeding completed, for further severance from their original beginning, WE MUST COMPLETELY ANNIHILATE THE MOTHER TONGUE of both the new nigger and the new mule, and institute a new language that involves the new life's work of both. You know language is a peculiar institution. It leads to the heart of a people. The more a foreigner knows about the language of another country the more he is able to move through all levels of that society. Therefore, if the foreigner is an enemy of the country, to the extent that he knows the body of the language, to that extent is the country vulnerable to attack or invasion of a foreign culture. For example, if you take a slave, if you teach him all about your language, he will know all your secrets, and he is then no more a slave, for you can't fool him any longer, and BEING A FOOL IS ONE OF THE BASIC INGREDIENTS OF ANY INCIDENTS TO THE MAINTENANCE OF THE SLAVERY SYSTEM. For example, if you told a slave that he must perform in getting out "our crops" and he knows the language well, he would know that "our crops" didn't mean "our crops" and the slavery system would break down, for he would relate on the basis of what "our crops" really meant. So you have to be careful in setting up the new language; for the slaves would soon be in your house, talking to you as "man to man" and that is death to our economic system. In addition, the definitions of words or terms are only a minute part of the process. Values are created and transported by communication through the body of the language. A total society has many interconnected value systems. All the values in the society have bridges of language to connect them for orderly working in the society. But for these language bridges, these many value systems would sharply clash and cause internal strife or civil war, the degree of the conflict being determined by the magnitude of the issues or relative opposing strength in whatever form. For example, if you put a slave in a hog pen and train him to live there and incorporate in him to value it as a way of life completely, the biggest problem you would have out of him is that he would worry you about provisions to keep the hog pen clean, or the same hog pen and make a slip and incorporate something in his language whereby he comes to value a house more than he does his hog pen, you got a problem. He will soon be in your house.
Additional Note: "Henty Berry, speaking in the Virginia House of Delegates in 1832, described the situation as it existed in many parts of the South at this time: "We have, as far as possible, closed every avenue by which light may enter their (the slaves) minds. If we could extinguish the capacity to see the light, our work would be complete; they would then be on a level with the beasts of the field and we should be safe. I am not certain that we would not do it, if we could find out the process and that on the plea of necessity." From Brown America, The story of a New Race by Edwin R. Embree. 1931 The Viking Press. Related links:
Frederick Douglass Narrative ..Life as a slave in America (Virginia.edu)

Historical Document: The 1865 Mississippi Black Code (GMU.edu)

Neo-slavery in the American South (FCN, 07-27-2010)

The Cotton Pickin' Truth: Still on the Plantation (FCN, 07-13-2010)
The Disappearing Black Community: How We Can Get It Back
The Movement for Reparations and the Need to Repair our People
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Willie Lynch letter: The Making of a Slave

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By FinalCall.com News | Last updated: May 22, 2009 - 12:45:37 PM What's your opinion on this article? This speech was said to have been delivered by Willie Lynch on the bank of the James River in the colony of Virginia in 1712. Lynch was a British slave owner in the West Indies.

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Light Skin vs. Dark skin: Are we at Race War with OURSELVES?

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So, I came across a very compelling article the other day on the web. It was entitled, "10 Unnacceptable cycles Black People have to change." I will make sure to have the link will be posted below. The title immediately grabbed my attention, I had to see what this was all about!

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The idea that light skin is "better" than dark skin is something that has pervaded the psyche of certain cultures for a long time and for people of color, this color complex plays out in numerous ways everyday. From backhanded compliments like "you're pretty for a dark girl" to preferential treatment to lighter skinned siblings to cliques in school that seem to form along skintone lines. All of these situations point to internalized racism that we call colorism.

Oprah and Iyanla Vanzant will be tackling the topic of colorism on tonight's episode of Lifeclass. A live audience composed of women of various hues surrounds the media mogul and the lover of beloveds in this new episode. The clip shows tearful moments, hugs and a round of triumphant applause as the women delve into the often painful light skin/dark skin conversations.

Dissecting an issue as complicated and layered as colorism can be a daunting task, especially when people are so emotionally invested in the topic. I have personally witnessed a conversation about how to classify Kerry Washington's complexion, delve into complete insanity, hurt feelings and damn near blows. Surely, the people in that argument did not care deeply about Washington's skin tone, but they felt a personal connection to the basic issue of how one's skin tone is viewed and the personal and professional impacts of that perception.

We've seen colorism discussed head-on in various forms, like the Bill Duke-directed documentary and in that now famous Jiggaboo vs Wannabes scene in School Daze. But are these public conversations ever constructive? Do they ever help to elevate consciousness or do they only serve to momentarily rile up extreme emotions and boost ratings?

Has a conversation or film/television ever significantly changed your views on colorsim? Do tell.
Follow Demetria Irwin on Twitter at @Love_Is_Dope and connect with her on Facebook.

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Oprah and Iyanla Vanzant Tackle the Light Skin/Dark Skin Issue

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The idea that light skin is "better" than dark skin is something that has pervaded the psyche of certain cultures for a long time and for people of color, this color complex plays out in numerous ways everyday. From backhanded compliments like "you're pretty for ...