Racism Issue in "The Bluest Eye"

Dark-skinned African-American women carry a heavy burden when it comes to racial acceptance and they endure interracial and intraracial racism, which leads to problems with self-esteem and difficulties embracing their ethnic identity.

Introduction:

The issue of skin color is still a big issue within the black race because in the times of slavery black people were treated differently according to their skin color. The roots of this kind of bigotry run deep throughout the country. African Americans see colorism all the time in the media and their workplace.

This way of thinking began in the time of slavery and since then skin color has been used as a means of division and special treatment within the black community. It’s common knowledge that slave masters separated their slaves in order to control them and reduce chances of an uprising. The house slaves were usually light- complexioned and were more likely to receive the special favor of doing work inside the house instead of out in the hot sun.

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Slaves with darker skin were usually stuck with backbreaking work in the fields. As a result, this discrimination among light and dark complexioned African Americans has caused division and debate that still exists today. Colourism has its historical roots in the European colonialism. After that the color caste system was reinforced through various laws. After the civil war the divisions were based on differences on skin colour, hair texture, and physical appearance.” (St. Jean, Yanick, Feagin, Joe R. Double Burden Black Women and Everyday Racism, page 13).

Even in Black churches there were discrimination. In 1870, the colored Methodist Episcopal Church broke up from the African Methodist Episcopal Church. Unfortunately, it still happens. In a recent interview Mathew Knowles (Beyonce father who is dark skinned ) suggested that some black people enjoy greater fame if they are lighter. Furthermore, he admits that he was attracted to Beyonce’s mother because she looked white. It is very sad how Black women are discriminated by their own race. The number of Black male celebrities married to dark-skinned women is very small. For instance look at Tiger Woods, David Justice, Charles Tillman, Hank Baskett, Nmandi Asomugha, singer Seal and Rodney Peete (They all married white, or very light-skinned women).

When I googled celebrities that married dark-skinned women, the only names that came up was David Bowie and David Otunga. “There is some ample evidence that great social status is ascribed to Black women with lighter skin shade in the US. Black women with lighter skin shade are more likely to be married. About 20% of light skinned that have a child have never been married, while the number of unwed women of dark tones jumped to 38% (St. Jean, Yanick, Feagin, Joe R. Double Burden Black Women and Everyday Racism, page 17). Some Black celebrities like Raven Simony and Devyn Abdullah go as far as denying their African-American heritage. Devyn Abdullah said in a recent interview in the Wendy Williams show “I do not really consider myself as a black model. I know what my ethnicity is, but I am fair-skinned and I feel like I have an international look.”

In the book The Bluest Eye, Tony Morrison depicts the poignant story of 11-year-old , dark-skinned African-American girl named Pecola. Pecola lives a life of poverty and discrimination. Discriminated by adults and her peers alike, she longs for blue eyes because she thinks it will bring her social acceptance and happiness. “It had occurred to Pecola some time ago that if her eyes, those eyes that held the pictures, and knew the sights—if those eyes of hers were different, that is to say, beautiful, she herself would be different.” (Morrison, Tony The Bluest Eye page 46) This quote is significant because it shows Pecola’s problem with self-acceptance and the idealization of whiteness. She thinks that if she had blue eyes, not only would she appear beautiful, but she would escape painful things, like her parents fighting. She had come to believe the racist point of view that black people were inferior and ugly. Throughout the book Toni Morrison’s showcases the disadvantages dark-skinned African-Americans have, and privileges people with lighter skin have.“ We were sinking under the wisdom, accuracy and relevance of Maureen’s last words. If she was cute - and if anything could be believed, she was - than we were lesser. Nicer, brighter, but still lesser… What was the secret? What did we lack? Why was it important?” (Morrison, Tony. The Bluest Eye page 74)

This quote is said about Claudia and Frieda after leaving Pecola and Maureen. After meeting Maureen, a lighter-skinned girl at school who everyone admired and strived to be like. In the movie The Color Purple based on the book of the same title by Alice Walker, the protagonist is a dark-skinned African-American woman named Celie who has self-acceptance problems due to her skin color. The book and the movie show the negative aspects of racism. Is is true? Is there a colourism culture? According to the article published on November 03, 2013 by Kele Okereke “Why Are There So Few Black Female Stars With Darker Skin?” there is indeed a culture of colourism, and whiteness is viewed as a desired trait by whites and blacks. He points although there are very successful dark-skinned male actors like Denzel Washington, Samuel Jackson and Morgan Freeman and Will Smith that is not the case with female actresses.

According to Okereke:“There is an undeniable scarcity of black female actors in film and television. Of the female actors that we see, it's even rarer to see one of a darker skin tone. It is a worrying trend throughout the media in which the dark-skinned black woman seems almost non-existent. We rarely see her dancing in R&B videos: she has been replaced as the love interest by her light-skinned or white sisters. We do not even see her in the faces of our black female pop stars. Take Rihanna, Beyonce and Nicki Minaj, all light-skinned with European features and blond weaves. Even in the world of fashion, the image of the black woman has been all but erased from the catwalk. As Naomi Campbell recently said, opportunities for black models seem scarce.” When looking at the top best selling women’s magazine we realize they have mainly light skinned females like Rihanna, , Meghan Markle, Beyonce, Abdah Lipita, Halle Berry, Jesse Thompson, Elise Neal and Natasha Emanuel( They are very light skinned, or mixed ethnicity like Meghan Markle).

There is also a documentary called Dark Girls, released in 2011 by film-makers Bill Duke and D Channsin that talks about the issues of colourism. In the documentary, dark-skinned black women shared the feelings of rejection and marginalization. In one of its most significant segments they ask children to select a black or white doll (even the black children favoured the white doll). “It's not just a theoretical issue. A Villanova University study of more than 12,000 African American women imprisoned in North Carolina found that lighter-skinned black women get treated with more leniency and typically received considerably much shorter sentences when compared with the sentences given to the dark-skinned. (https://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2013/nov/03/few-black-female-stars-darker-skinned).

The biggest proof of colourism is that is whitening creams are a big seller in the US, Asia, and Africa, despite the risks associated with its use. “Burns, permanent damage, scars, infections, and cancer are just some of the risks of whitening creams. The products often contain dangerous chemicals, which have been banned in several countries. Despite this, American and European skin care manufacturers are set to earn $10 billion by 2015 from sales of the products.”(http://www.takepart.com/article/2015/01/23/beauty-companies-are-making-bank-selling-skin-lighteners-around-globe)

Undoubtedly, the media portrayals of African-Americans contribute to public perceptions of black people and affect deeply the self-esteem of dark-skinned girls. When teenagers see dark-skinned girls depicted in blue-collar occupations, such as a house cleaner, a cook, while light skinned girls like Halle Berry and Beyonce are musicians and entertainers, it makes them want to be lighter. It makes whiteness a desirable trait because lighter skinned girls have privileges when compared to darker ones.