For my project, I will be looking further at articles regarding colorism.  I will be investigating colorism as it relates to job selection and other relations. Other people have done intense studies on this topic, so I will be reading those and analyzing them. This is a very interesting topic and look forward to further my investigation.

                               

http://www.theroot.com/buzz/olympian-ignored-because-colorism


This article talks about the fame discrepancy between two Olympic athletes.  Lolo Jones (left) has lighter skin than Dawn Harper (right). Obviously.  But what isn't as obvious is why Jones seems to be getting more love and publicity.  Publicity people think that Jones is more beautiful than Harper.  Why? It seems to be because her skin is lighter.  Harper is also lacking in endorsements. It seems that companies think that people will want to look at Jones on ads and billboards more than Harper.  I think this is ridiculous.  It should only matter who is the better athlete that decides how much publicity she gets.  If Jones is in fact a better athlete than Harper, then fine.  But I don't think this is the case.  Harper is being discriminated against.  Also in the article, it mentions that a credential for a commercial is "friendly, but not too dark".  Companies think we think that dark skinned people are not to be trusted and therefore shouldn't be in commercials.  In today's society, you would think that people could look past skin color and try to treat everyone equally.  Wouldn't that be nice.

This article I found is quite interesting. It is about a woman in Virginia who is fighting colorism, but not without controversy.  In her church and workshops, she uses the paper bag test (as described in previous post).  She gauges people by their color and give lighter skinned people rewards, while shoving the darker skinned people to the back of the class.  She herself is dark skinned.  People obviously think this is wrong, which it is, but she is just highlighting what is going on all around us.  She used it as an example of how people treat others.  Everyone seems to do their own "paper bag test".  She is just making obvious what people do, and trying to make people aware of colorism in our society.  I think it is an interesting idea.

http://wtvr.com/2012/12/10/richmond-woman-fights-colorism-within-african-american-community/