I find it as difficult to blame them as to accept the behavior

Complexion Still Colors Black Perceptions
After More Than 300 Years In The U.S., Blacks Are Still Color-Conscious

By Hazel Trice Edney | SACOBSERVER.COM WIRE SERVICES

WASHINGTON (NNPA) - Atima Omara-Alwala had just left her office at the State Capitol in Richmond, Va. and was on her way to lunch when she heard a voice from a passing car scream, "Blackie!"

It was the kind of insult that she has come to expect but not accept.

A few years earlier, as a sophomore at the University of Virginia in Charlottesville, 40 miles away, she heard some guys in a passing car laugh as one yelled, "Darkie!"

That anyone would stoop to that level of behavior was disappointing enough. But what made these insults doubly painful was that they were uttered by Black men.

"It's not surprising anymore. But it's still somewhat painful," Omara-Alwala admits. "I kind of wince or flinch on the inside. Even when I work in Black communities, I'm always conscious that there might be some reason that I'll be picked on - not because of any fault in my personality - just the fact that I'm this complexion. And, of course, I'm no good if I'm this complexion."

Omara-Alwala's complexion is dark. She was born in Providence, R.I. to parents from Uganda in East Africa.

C. Yvette Taylor, a psychologist who counsels many women of color at the University of Virginia, and has heard many stories similar to Omara-Alwala's, says stereotypes based on color are not unusual.

"Certainly they still exist and they are age old," she says. "And they very likely will always be around. And the ramifications of them are myriad. Lots of people - women and men - struggle with the skin-tone issue."

This is the first of two articles on how one's complexion still colors how many African Americans view themselves and others in their community. Next week's part will focus on a light-skin woman. Hazel Trice Edney is a Washington correspondent for NNPA.

Posted by Prometheus 6 on April 12, 2004 - 9:56pm :: Race and Identity
 
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Doesn't make any sense. There are millions of black-skinned indigenous Black americans living in the USA who go through the same thing as the star of this article ... and our ancestors didn't come from africa at all. I'm brown and BM darker than myself put me down because I'm not light-skinned. So this evilness of hating one's own race is a choice of those in their hearts rather than having to do with any racist way they might have been treated by whites.

As for Atima Omara-Alwala, she isn't any darker than a lot of us. It is a myth that's being perpetuated by this article that only black-skinned people come from africa. Some of the darkest people in the world actually come from Asia, as well. Not to mention the fact that the majority of our indigenous Black american ancestors came from Asia and not from west african slaves.

Also, the psychologist Taylor should reexamine her position. Many indigenous Black americans get their light skin looks for our Native American acestors, not from rape by whites during slavery. The long hair, light skin and green eyes can be traced back to our Native american or Red Indians ancestry ... not european whites. This is also a myth.

Posted by  rosetta321 (not verified) on June 29, 2004 - 6:48pm.

You've read a lot into this little article, Rosetta. It's all about how Black folks are still color-struck. Made no mention of mistreatment by white folks, though if you want to push it historically…

I'm curious, though. You said "black-skinned indigenous Black Americans," and that's an incredible amount of specificity. That would mean you're talking about Amerinds/Native Americans?

Posted by  P6 (not verified) on June 29, 2004 - 7:46pm.

Okay, what you wrote sunk in.

I have to say from a socio-political position it doesn't matter that people as dark as the decendants of Africa can come from the various parts of Asia. What youi've written of your own experiences is in total accord with the article. No one asked if you were a Native American, they did the same check a cop would from three blocks away: Black or white?

It doesn't even matter from a personal perspective: what matters is where you draw the material from which you constructed your identity. If your skin color is a part of that as the article implies, it's a part of it...but it doesn't HAVE to be.

That said, I know of no one perpetuating a myth that only Africa provides dark skinned people.

Posted by  P6 (not verified) on June 29, 2004 - 8:05pm.