Colorism or Colourism to most people would be described as the bias treatment of people of colour based on their skin tone. It is a psychological social construct that dates back to slavery and the colonisation of many nations, developed as a result of conditioning by white colonisers and slave traders that lighter skin was to be associated with a higher social status. The closer to white skin, the higher the perceived social status.

Of course, this psychological conditioning has no real measure of how successful a person is or may become. It has absolutely no bearing in today’s societies on social status since all skin colours and tones have and will continue to attain the same social statuses respectively, based on hard work and work ethic.

Colorism has become an inner community issue. It is not necessarily an issue of race or part of racism because in most cases it is a problem that exists between the same race. It is an issue of colour discrimination typically among the same race or ethnicity. It affects communities in many countries across the globe, mostly where the African diaspora exist. The preferential treatment of people with lighter skin is currently endemic, causing problems of low self-esteem (feeling less than others) and other serious mental health problems including severe anxiety and depression.

Well this is partly because of the deep-rooted psychological conditioning of the masses by the slave masters and the colonisers over many hundreds of years. During these times, segregation was rife and the Jim Crow era in particular caused pivotal racial tension. Whites or Caucasians were seen as the superior human being, while Blacks or African Americans (in the USA) were not regarding as citizens at all. Blacks with features that were more resembling of the Caucasians were treated with less racial discontent. It is also known that those with lighter skin were often given more senior roles in the slave fields. 

In more recent times, the global media have fuelled the colorism fire communicating the perception that the pinnacle of beauty is lighter skin. Media outlets have shown light skinned people in advertisements related to beauty products and many other products to portray the image of light skin being the benchmark for beauty. This has almost exasperated colorism into a global epidemic with many people consuming products to lighten their skin, falling prey to this longstanding oppressive psychological conditioning. The skin lightening industry continues to grow from $8 billion in 2018 to a projected size of $13.7 billion by 2025 (Grand View Research Report, 2019). Products from big brands like L’Oreal and Neutrogena dominate the industry producing ‘Skin Perfect, Anti-Imperfections and Whitening Creams’. 

However, recently market leaders have started to realise the battle of colorism and have opted for different market strategies to target different types of consumers including dark skinned people, adopting a more universal message that beauty applies to everyone, everywhere.

Colorism has resulted from slavery and colonisation around the world. Subsequently the worlds African Diaspora can have different hair types.

Type 1: Straight hair with no natural curls

Type 2: Wavy hair with no complete curls characterised by waves

Type 3: Curly hair with an ‘S’ shaped curl pattern.

Type 4: Kinky hair with a ‘Z’ shaped curl pattern. 

These patterns can consist in different sections of the head of one person. Historically the African has been known to have Type 3 and 4 hair patterns. 

Hair has sometimes been used as a way of discrimination related to colorism, particularly towards darker skinned and type 4 hair types. 

Schools, workplaces and other institutions in Western society have been known to discriminate against students and employees with types 3 & 4 (curly/kinky/afro) hair due to ignorance and lack of awareness of the differing natural hair types. 

This is rapidly changing as more awareness and acceptance of the African diaspora hair types has started to take place around the world. 

It’s simple. Educate, educate and educate some more. Parents and carers from all races, ethnicities, colours and skin tones should educate their children to understand what colorism is, how it derived and how oppressive and problematic it is. The adults need to re-educate themselves to understand that beauty comes in all forms and all skin tones.

We all need to understand the psychology of oppression and colorism and the historical purpose of the social construct. We need to teach and practice self-love and self-care, to demonstrate to others that you can love yourself no matter your skin tone and so others will love and respect you in return. The notion of colour or hues in a skin tone will start to repair itself and be seen as a mere way to identify a person but not their social or economic status.

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