PART I

This series focuses on colorism as experienced by girls and women within the diaspora; specifically those whose locale is result of the Trans-Atlantic Slave Trade and Colonialism. 

First question, what is colorism? 
The New Oxford American Dictionary defines Colorism as, "prejudice or discrimination against individuals with a dark skin tone, typically among people of the same ethnic or racial group."

To me, colorism is saying “she’s pretty for a dark skinned girl”
Colorism is subconsciously showing preferential treatment to lighter skinned individuals
Colorism is the doorman of a club only selecting light skinned women to enter the establishment
Colorism is only including the dark skinned girl because she has light skinned friends in tow
Colorism is asking someone why are you so dark- the statement in itself has a negative undertone
Colorism is light skin being the acceptable or palatable version of Blackness
Colorism is choosing the light skin doll over the Black doll, when you don’t look like the light doll either
Colorism is my medium brown aunt telling me not to choose a dark skin partner, so my children don’t come out too Black 
Colorism is shaming the dark skinned woman for doing it, but giving the light skinned woman a pass
Colorism is treating the dark skinned individual as the ugly duckling                  Colorism is a man saying I don’t like dark skin women                                        Colorism is a dark skin man saying, nah she’s too Black for me                                Colorism is my dark skinned student laughing and saying "Ugh, why is she so dark?" 
Colorism is casting a light skinned person wearing Black(er)face to play the role of a dark skinned person, rather than hiring a dark skinned actress
Colorism is the music industry placing nearly talentless light skinned female rappers in the spotlight- over dozens of truly gifted dark skinned female rappers and lyricists
Colorism is believing dark skinned people are less worthy of respect, dignified treatment
Colorism is believing dark skinned people are less deserving of opportunities

Colorism is real

Colorism is damaging

Colorism is interracial discrimination

Colorism is a topic that for far too long has gone ignored or been reduced to statements like "they just want to play the victim."

When it came time to develop concepts for the images for our book B is for Black Girl, we were very intentional about describing specific looks that we wanted to make sure we’re included in the book. We were intentional about including a range of skin tones. We made sure that dark skin girls and women were well represented in the illustrations. Even though we are light skin women, we are well aware of colorist practices And we did not want our book to be a reflection of those practices. There is generally an overrepresentation of lighter skin women in media, and we refused to add to that. Our goal, was to make sure that every black girl could see herself in our book, and felt proud of the skin that she is in.

This is a Living Blog Post- It will be edited whenever another example of colorism comes to mind. Leave a comment to have your example added to the post *Include your name and location in the comment if your would like to be credited!