Thursday, January 31, 2013
As I was reading through articles trying to find one for this blog, I came across a few sentences talking about a "brown paper bag test". I wondered what that was about, and ended up finding an interesting article about it. This article asks how would we feel if we could only associate with people who were the same color or lighter than a brown paper bag. This idea was used dating back to the slave days and soon after they were freed. People gradually were accepting black slaves as people, but only light dark-skinned people. They would judge people and only accept people if they were dark, but light enough. Many people think this judging idea still exists today.
This seems to sound ridiculous to non-judgmental people like us, but it's a big deal to some. For blacks in the early 1900s, as if being of a different race and culture wasn't difficult enough, if they were a few shades darker than what was "acceptable" they would still be shunned, by people of the opposite race and of their own. There are all sorts of statistics of how darker black people are not as successful as lighter black people because some people still don't find it as "appealing". To be so specific and to compare them to a brown bag really shocked me. I can't imagine looking at someone and thinking "oh, you're a tad too dark for me to talk to you". That's just ridiculous.
http://www.thehilltoponline.com/news/the-legacy-of-the-brown-paper-bag-1.466574#.UQrdKR1baSo
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What an interesting article! I had never heard of the "brown paper bag test" before, however I do know the general idea of colorism. So knowing that, I was wondering, do you think that colorism applies to other races other than black Americans? Have you come across any statistics that society favors fairer skinned white Americans over darker, or tanner white Americans? What are your thoughts on this?
ReplyDeleteThanks for commenting! :) yeah there are all sorts of stats regarding lighter blacks are better and stuff like that. My research hasn't put me to exact numbers, but I have heard of stuff like that. As for other races, that's a really good question! And I'm not quite sure actually. I think that since the black movement happened a while ago, colorism is now the issue for them. But for say Latin Americans, I think that their issue is illegal immigration, not really their skin color. Once that issue is resolved, then I'm sure their color will then become more of a topic. That's just my opinion, but good thoughts! :)
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