Really long read. Not surprising, but disturbing.
Can the Shade of Your Skin Determine Career Success?
By Angela D. Johnson
© 2003 DiversityInc.com
September 08, 2003
"They says if you was white, should be all right,
If you was brown, stick around,
But as you's black, m-mm brother, git back, git back, git back"
These lyrics from a blues tune recorded in 1951 by Big Bill Broonzy reflect the impact of colorism -- bias based on the shade of one's skin -- on American society.
For African Americans, this intraracial discrimination is rooted in slavery, a period when light-skinned mulatto offspring of slave owners were given the more desirable positions on the plantation.
This biased way of thinking continued after slavery with people with skin "lighter than a paper bag" or pale enough to see the blue, spidery network of veins in their wrists gaining admission to exclusive African-American organizations. Today, the overt judgments based on skin color may be gone, but the bias remains, and it's not exclusive to the African-American community.
Fair-skinned South Asian women are often considered more attractive and more likely to marry that their darker-skinned peers. Filipino women gossip about the ultimate skin tone of a newborn (The lighter, the better). The success of
deep-hued Celia Cruz was an exception in the Latino entertainment arena.
Researchers have found that colorism has an influence on myriad aspects of people's lives, including education and income levels. A study by Cedric Herring, a sociology professor at the University of Illinois Chicago, and Verna Keith, an associate sociology professor at Arizona State University in Tempe Ariz., in the early 1990s revealed that, on average, very light-skinned African
Americans attained an additional two years of education, compared with their very dark-skinned counterparts. Family income of very light-skinned African
Americans was more than 50 percent greater than the income of those with dark skin, while personal income was almost 65 percent higher.
Like racism, colorism has infiltrated the offices of corporate America. Sometimes, it manifests itself in the form for verbal harassment.
Last month, the U.S. Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (EEOC) announced a settlement of a color harassment and retaliation lawsuit against Applebee's Neighborhood Bar and Grill, headquartered in Overland Park, Kan. Dwight Burch, a
dark-skinned African-American server at one of the chain's Atlanta restaurants, alleged that he was called derogatory names, such as "porch monkey," "jig-a-boo" and "blackie,"
by his manager, a light-skinned African American. Burch was fired
less than 90 days after the manager arrived at the restaurant.
Applebee's was found in violation of Title VII of the Civil Rights Act of 1964, which protects against discrimination based on skin color as well as race, national origin, sex or religion. Burch was awarded $40,000 in the settlement.
Similar cases have been filed by Latinos.
Jennifer Kaplan, public-affairs specialist for the EEOC, said the commission has witnessed an increased interest in what she describes as appearance bias.
"It fascinates people that someone would allege bias based on color when the person accused is of the same race," said Kaplan.
The number of color discrimination cases filed with the EEOC has nearly doubled since 1995. In 2002, there were 1,382 color-bias charges, up from 700 in 1995. Kaplan said the increase is caused in part by the method the agency uses to collect discrimination data. Kaplan said a greater awareness of color discrimination is prompting data collectors to break out colorism claims from racial-discrimination charges.
The majority of filings in 2002 were in the Northeast (44 percent), followed by the West (21 percent), South (15 percent), Midwest (12.5 percent) and Southwest (7.5 percent). The EEOC was unable to provide case-outcome statistics.
Despite the increase in colorism cases, Kaplan said racial discrimination continues to account for the largest amount of the EEOC's workload, 38 percent. While colorism is sometimes included in racism charges, psychologists contend that colorism is not the same as racism.
"I have a hard time applying the label of racism because that includes a power component," said Kendrick Brown, an assistant professor of psychology at Macalester College in St. Paul, Minn. "It's related to racism, but it's not the same thing."
Work-place discrimination is not the only way colorism is playing out in corporate world. Colorism is impacting a variety of business aspects including marketing messages and casting decisions for television shows.
In India, a television commercial for skin-lightening cream was pulled because women's groups claimed the ads equated fairer skin with beauty and success. The racy telenovelas produced in Latin America rarely feature Latinos with darker skin tones.
"Light skin is associated with more power and privilege in most societies," said Midge Wilson, a professor of psychology at Chicago's Depaul University.
Wilson said that in Italy, higher status is given to fairer-skinned Northern Italians. In Western Europe, a variation of colorism exists in the form of the preference of women with blond hair and blue eyes.
"The biggest difference (with whites) is the colorism is not institutionalized," Wilson said. "You wouldn't find that blonds earn higher wages than brunettes."
Psychologists noted that colorism is not exclusive to intraracial relationships. Whites may view lighter-skinned people of other ethnic or racial groups more favorably. "Probably because most whites believe themselves intellectually superior," said Wilson, who is white, "thus, those who best approximate their features are more likely to be invited into the circle of power."
Given the universal impact of colorism, is there a place for colorism in corporate diversity training?
Brown believes there is, but cautioned that it may take "a little bit more education and preparation" than other areas of diversity training.
"When you talk about (racial-sensitivity training), you're talking about two different groups interacting around a particular issue," said Brown. "When you talk about color bias, you're talking about people in the same group. Folks feel as if they are airing dirty laundry."
"I think people become spectators when it comes to skin-tones issues," Brown added. "It becomes 'That's between them' rather than 'It's an issue that involves the whole company.'"
Discussions, such as the ones conducted during diversity training, may have a positive impact on colorism.
"The more we talk about it * we'll be more likely to be able to eliminate a color caste system in the future or, more realistically, minimize it," Wilson said.
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Sorors and SFs...
...Just b/c I'm Black does not mean that I can't speak correct English 
--I went to High School and College just like you did 
so she didn't offend me, per se. her ignorance/superiority complex based on her lighter complexion did. 
Linear Mode
