Beyonce, colorism,
and why all of this
needs to end
by Ernest Owens
Yes, the Super Bowl was on fire. As
one who is very critical of halftime show
performances, I cannot deny that Beyoncé
brought the energy and attention. All of
this led to her releasing her tour dates for
the Mrs. Carter Show. As excited as I was
to actually buy these tickets, something
turned me off. The poster.
If you haven’t seen the photographs
for Beyonce’s new world tour, you
probably wouldn’t even recognize her.
You will see an image of what looks like a
Victorian white woman in the Elizabethan
era. Her (prosthetic) blonde hair puffed
and extended to reveal a face that is
almost as white as snow. Lips red and
her skin powdered. This is not the same
bronze Beyonce that I saw rocking the
stage in an all female band with her darker
Destiny’s Child counterparts. I was only
left with memories of previous patterns
that the multi-Grammy award winning artist had done in previous years in
regards to her skin. And I asked myself the
question: why, Bey?
Let’s not act like this is something
new. Over the years, it seems as though
Beyonce has gotten lighter as she has
gotten older. No, this is not genetics and
let’s not pretend her skin color in her first
Destiny’s Child album cover matches
that of her latest album. Whether it is that
highly controversial Revlon advertisement
or her own album cover art, Beyonce has
consistently been called out on alterations
done to her pigments.
What does this say about our society
for black women? It tells me that, an
independent, confident and successful
woman of color still struggles to have the
confidence to fully embrace the skin she
is in. If one of the most powerful women in
entertainment feels she has to lighten her
skin for projection, what does that say for
the rest of us?
Believe it or not, colorism, the stigma
associated with skin complexion, has
been an ill that has not yet been dissolved
by the black community. What was first
given to us by slave masters in separating
the house slaves from the field ones, has
now taken place in how we objectify our
women and each other.
This is pretty problematic in many
ways. It’s first of all self-loathing and
unnecessary for today’s times. The fact
that our nation had an African-American
first lady with a complexion that isn’t
on the lighter side of the spectrum, nor
does it try to be, shows a compelling
advancement in appreciation for all
women of color in many ways.
Furthermore, the only reason why
such stigma in our country continues is
contributed to our own behavior that is shaped by the influential people of
color around us. It devastated me when
I saw that Sammy Sosa had lightened his
skin. As successful as he was in a field
that was not necessarily fixated on male
skin complexion, it saddened me to see
him do it. In many ways, it even made
me reflect back on the transition of the
late great Michael Jackson and what
explanations he had for such a more pale
white appearance.
And why does all of this matter?
Because I grew up hearing stories of
young dark black girls getting their faces
scrubbed with skin lightening soaps out
of their free will. Tales of young women
being abandoned by their mothers
because they were too dark.
If this is the reality that had more
implications back in the early 20th
century than it does now, please stop
it. Stop trying to explain why you are
dating the ebony skin girl. Stop making
it seem exceptional that a girl of a
darker complexion is actually attractive.
Celebrities, stop putting extraneous
powders and lighteners on your skin:
we all know what you used to look like
and we still love you. And people of
color: let’s not continue to perpetuate an
oppressive cycle of self-loathing of our
appearance and heritage. If this can be
accomplished, then perhaps even in our
own race we can truly make our lives not
be judged by the color of our skin but by
the content of our character.
(adapted from www.huffingtonpost.com, 14/02/2013)
The pronoun “it” in the phrase “nor does
it try to be”, bold faced, in paragraph 6
refers to:
