Stan Evans
#JadaPinkettSmith, #WillowSmith and #AdrienneBanfieldNorris also known as Gam (Jada’s mother) returned to their weekly show on #Facebook #RedTableTalk for another real discussion. All three ladies shared their personal experiences with colorism, both as victims and as witnesses to their own family perpetuating the problem.
For those wondering, colorism is a form of discrimination based on skin tone from members of the same race. The light skin and dark skin war that has been going on for centuries within the African-American community still negatively affects the black race as a whole, especially black women.
“I had the opposite in my experience, being picked on for being light-skinned” Jada explained. “Back in the day, you would always hear black people be like ‘I got Indian in me’, still not owning our own blackness and that’s just a result of all the brainwashing that has happened over the years and the perpetuation of white supremacy” says Gam. “Hair was one of the issues growing up for me. It was just a struggle. My cousins and my friends, I would look at her hair and be like ‘I would be so much prettier if my hair wasn’t so kinky or if I had longer hair” Willow explained.
“My grandmother, they were from Barbados and she definitely did not like dark-skinned people. I remember when I was very little, we had neighbors who were very, very dark and she’s want us to play with them”. A true yet sad story.
With all that has transpired, it’s time to end colorism. We as a minority have to accept each other before we can be accepted by others. We can change the narrative.
