"Go Back to Africa"

It is evident that, when comparing African Americans and Africans, there is a slight difference in DNA. This is clearly seen through physical characteristics, including the varying hair textures and skin colors that are seen in these individuals. 

Photo Courtesy of Soul Travel Multimedia

During the Atlantic slave trade, “nearly 400,000 Africans [were brought] over to the colonies and, later, the United States.” Furthermore, the slaves who were women were typically raped by their white slave master, essentially creating what are now considered African-American babies. Such behavior was typical for many slave homes, thus it eventually led to a mass creation of a new race in our society. 

Why does this matter? It is quite common to hear whites telling blacks to “go back to Africa,” which is honestly nothing more than a racist, ignorant statement. Think about that. Go back to Africa? Does that imply that I previously lived in Africa or that I belong there because of the color of my skin?

Just last March, at a Donald Trump protest, a white man screamed “go back to Africa” to a black women.

There are honestly two major problems that I have with this statement: it demonstrates that the person saying it is extremely dense, and that he or she is not aware of the fact that the majority of us in America do not actually originate from here.

I know that many of you already know this, but I figured I put it out there: we all originated from Africa. That’s right, “all living human beings are descendents of a small, innovative and ambitious set of people on the African continent.” Therefore, when I hear that Africans and blacks are the only ones associated with this continent, I cannot believe the stupidity. Not only are we all from Africa, but we are all NOT from America. Unless you are Native American, you are not able to call America your true homeland. 

Conveniently, our society likes to forget that the vast majority of blacks in this country are descended from people who were brutally ripped from their homeland and forced to be here. Moreover, whites saying this somehow believe themselves to be the 'natives' while thinking blacks are guests, or even intruders. 

Photo Courtesy of Buzzle

It will be immensely difficult to end the discrimination and prejudice against African Americans that has been instilled in so many institutions. I hope that you all have enjoyed my passion blog, Black Reality. I personally find it beneficial to sometimes step back and try to understand life in other people’s perspectives, and that was my main objective in centralizing on the idea of how it feels to be African American.

In all honesty, I was nervous to write about this topic because talking about racial issues in our society can be uncomfortable. Despite this truth, I hope that one day race is more openly discussed, and I would love to see interracial friendships and relationships become more normalized, especially here at Penn State. 

A Different Kind of Civil War

Courtesy of African American Lectionary

Look at the picture above. Which doll would you choose? According to the Doll Study done in the 1940s, you would most likely choose the lighter colored doll. Why is this true? What makes lighter skin more preferential over darker skin?

Skin color has always been a major factor in the discussion of beauty. In fact, America has come to admire the eurocentric look, defining it as the standard of attractiveness. Eurocentric  features usually include white or light skin, a narrow nose, blonde or brown long straight hair, and thin lips. 

According to “Brotherman: The Odyssey of Black Men in America - an Anthology,” darker slaves were often forced to work in the slave fields and received no privileges, placing light skinned blacks at a higher ranking than their black counterparts. 

Obviously the racism against African Americans, centered about their “colored” skin, has been something instilled in our society; it may even be a reaction to this desire for lighter skin. Not only is this present among blacks and whites, but in the African-American community there has generally been more of a preference for lighter-skinned individuals. The media has showcased this a multitude of times; in movies, TV shows, magazines, makeup campaigns, and even songs. Honestly, even I been subjected to this as I find myself avoiding the sun in the summer, hiding myself from the possibly of tanning. 

Spike Lee, a famous filmmaker, exposed this debacle in the movie School Daze, in which light and dark skinned individuals, attending a historically black university, had several conflicts with each other.  A notable scene from the movie involves the opposing groups of light skinned versus dark skinned women as they argued in a hair salon about which group has “good” hair. 

Magazines will often employ a skin lightening technique on Photoshop that can lighten the skin color of the person on the cover, which is often incorporated in photos of darker celebrities or models. 

Courtesy of Become Gorgeous

Even contouring and highlighting, highly used makeup techniques, are frequently used to manipulate the color and dynamics of the face. 

Courtesy of YouTube

Rappers have also spoken on this topic; Feel this Way, a song by Consequence and John Legend, contain the lyrics: "light skin is the right skin," which offended many members of the African-American community.

 

You may be wondering: why is this a problem? Is it even wrong to emphasize light-skinned individuals over dark-skinned? For one, a controversy like this can make darker-skinned individuals feel more insecure within their own skin. This discrimination has often lead to skin bleaching and disputes among lighter and darker skinned people over social media:

Courtesy of Twitter

Funny enough, this same kind elevated image of light skin color is known to be true in an assortment of different cultures, most notably in the caste system set in India. The lighter a person is, the more power that person holds, while the darker they are makes them more prone to living a harder life. 

Have any of you found yourself naturally preferring lighter skinned people or objects over darker ones?