RE: My Color Complex

As many of you know, I love movies! At one time, I wanted to be a movie director, but let that dream go to my cousin, Adrienne, who attend UCLA Film School. Well, one of my favorite movies came on the other day; Jungle Fever. I adore Spike Lee and I think he's one of the best directors of our time, having directed over 40 movies, many of them critically-acclaimed, but largely ignored by the mainstream media because the movies were "too black." (Whatever that means.) But I digress.

One of my favorite scenes of the movie is when Gator's wife finds out he's cheated on her with a white woman and has a pow-wow with her fellow sisters. Ladies, we know about those pow wow's don't we? When your man does you wrong, you find out he's cheating or anything of the sort, we call the girls together for a pow wow over Miscato and a Papa John's pizza with The Works and hash it out! What I loved most about this scene is how the women discussed not only race, but the color complex. Spike Lee made it a point to subliminally discuss this hush-hush topic in his movies. I believe he did this deliberately to make all of us uncomfortable-blacks because we HATE to air out our dirty laundry and whites because they either BELIEVE or are totally OBLIVIOUS to the fact that this exists. Nonetheless, at the time, I found it odd how Gator's wife, a mulatto (mixed) woman could say that she had problems accepting her skin color because she was teased because of it. I had never heard of such a thing! I understood the plight of the dark-skinned sisters in the group. To be teased as a child is one thing, but to be teased for something that you have no control over is another, particularly moreso as a female. To be considered only a "friend" and not the "girlfriend" because you're too dark could drive anyone insane! That topic may have been taboo in 1991, but in 2010, it's clear who has the upper hand in the "mainstream of things."

Beyonce and Halle Berry. Both beautiful in their own right, receive more mainstream endorsements than any other African-American females. Though Kelly Rowland, Angela Bassett, Nia Long and Queen Latifah have had endorsements, they are typically for the "Black" line of products such as hair relaxers, Ambi and the Cover Girl "Queen" Collection. Why do you think that is? Is there a reason why most music videos in the past 15 years have had primarily light-skinned, mulatto or other mixed race females primarily as the leads?

Think about it for a minute. What is the mainstream media trying to tell us? You hear many men of many different races lusting over Beyonce, Halle and Rihanna. Do you hear them lusting after Nia Long? (Who in my opinion, is even more beautiful than she was 20 years ago in "Boyz in da Hood." ) No, you don't. And you won't. Because the mainstream media has made us believe that you're not as beautiful if you're not fitting into their standards, which primarily cater to white men. Sure, having "booty" is now becoming mainstream because of Kim Kardashian (I'll talk about her on a later post), J. Lo (I'm gonna get her too) and a host of so-called others. But how many of us know a big booty chick from our neighborhood? We all do! But People magazine isn't going to talk about the big booty chick around the corner. Their gonna waste space on Kim Kardashian and her attention-loving mother, Kris.

In retrospect, I see how I had color complex issues. I had several of my family members that were much lighter than me. My cousin always tells the story of how I called her and her fair-complected mother and brother white and her much darker-skinned father, black because that's what I believed them to be. I also spent every first part of the summer in Baton Rouge, LA. Louisiana has its own history of segregation of the colors and every summer, I experienced it. Though I loved it (and later returned to the city to pursue my degree at Southern University) I wasn't oblivious to the fact that my very fair-skinned cousin got all the attention and I didnt.

It wasn't until I attended grad school and took a "Race and Culture" course that I realized I had a color complex. I would never admit that I would cry myself to sleep at night wishing I was lighter and thicker and prettier. I would never admit that I secretly harbored a resentment towards my lighter friends and family for something that was just as much out of their control as my color was in mine. No, I would never admit that! But I couldn't hide it either. My professor knew. And we had many discussions about not only my hangups on color, but others as well. He suggested I read, "The Color Complex: The Politics of Skin Color Among African-Americans," by Kathy Russel, Midge Wilson, Ph.D. and Ronald E. Hall. (Available on amazon.com used for $1.33-A MUST READ!) Wow! This book spoke to me! I began to understand why I felt the way that I felt and began to explore ways to change my thought process. But what also motivated me to read this book was that I wanted to change the way others felt about the way they looked as well. I knew I wasn't the only one who didn't like the color of her skin or felt it was a curse.

Just like those women in the movie, I had hang-ups about my skin color. And though the mainstream media doesn't want to admit it, they do too. Look at your major news shows. The darkest woman anchor is Al Roker's wife, who is subjected to being broadcasted only on the We channel. We as a people have to realize that the mainstream media is not looking out for our best interest. Hell, sometimes I feel WE aren't looking out for own best interests. They only want to show bafoonery and coonery, like "Frankie and Neffie" instead of quality programming. It is clearly evident that it's going to be up to us (those of us who think it's an issue) to change the way we are shown in the media outlets.

So as Laurence Fishburne so eloquently put it at the end of "School Daze" WAKE UP!!!!!!!

""If race has no history, if it has no worthwhile tradition, it becomes a negligible factor in thought of the world, and it stands in danger of being exterminated." - Dr. Carter G. Woodson