Have you ever looked around you and noticed how everybody’s skin tone ranges? Have you ever wondered why Africans come in different ranges of skin tones despite being the same? It is human nature to be curious about certain things but it becomes a problem when people with a certain skin tone start to feel superior to others.
Colourism was first used by Alice Walker, an activist and author. She defined colourism as prejudicial or preferential treatment of same-race people based on their colour. The word colourism was more prominent in the early 1980s.
Colourism is a result of racism. Racism is the belief that groups of humans possess different behavioural traits corresponding to inherited attributes and can be divided based on the superiority of one race over another.
In recent times, Colorism has become more eminent in African communities. People who are in the lighter skin tone range tend to have certain benefits and privileges compared to darker-skinned people. You can find these obvious discriminations in reality shows, beauty competitions, and even advertisements for beauty products.
People with darker skin tones are more often than not called degrading names like blackie, Dudu (a Yoruba word for black), monkey, etc. In Africa, lighter-skinned people are often perceived to be more beautiful than darker-skinned people. It is even known that people with a lighter skin shade experience a better and friendlier work experience compared to darker-skinned people.
A recent study was done by the World Health Organization showed that 77 per cent of women in Nigeria use skin whitening cream, making it the world’s largest. The demand for a lighter skin tone due to colourism has led to a booming industry in the market. The skin-whitening industry was valued at US$8.6 billion in 2020 and it is foreseen to reach an alarming amount of US$12.3 billion by 2027. These statistics have proven the evidence of colourism in modern Africa.
In the pursuit of light skin tone, most of these women forget that there are health complications and risks attached to the “whitening cream”. Countries like Ghana and Rwanda have taken a step to stop the epidemic due to the high risk involved.
Colourism in modern Africa has such a massive effect on people that a light skin person is automatically perceived to belong to a higher income class and people with darker skin are perceived to be low-income earners or poor.
It also rears its head in the educational system. Teachers tend to treat light-skinned children as delicate flowers who can’t handle stress because of how they look and treat the darker-skinned children with a tougher hand because their skin can handle it, leading to discrimination in the system.
The term “light-skin privilege” became more popular on social media. It means people with a lighter skin tone will be given the first privilege or opportunity before a dark-skinned person. This so-called privilege is very popular in reality shows and competitions where light people skinned always end up winning even though there are more obvious winners. The privilege can also be seen on beauty advertisement media like billboards. More than average of the models used for beauty products are always light-skinned. At this point, it is perceived as the social standard for good and glowing skin. It is also unfortunate how people change their appearance to conform to these socially constructed stereotypes.
People often make the mistake that colourism in modern Africa only affects dark-skinned people, yes, it might be more prominent compared to the discrimination against light-skinned people. However, in pre-colonial Congo, dark skin was preferred to such an extent that babies were put under the sun to become darker. In some parts of Africa dark skin is seen as more African compared to light skin people which shouldn’t be so as we are from the same race.
The discrimination against light-skinned people is inevident. Light-skinned people are often perceived as weak and incapable of handling tough jobs because of how they look. Light-skinned people always have this need to prove themselves and show that they are more than their appearance. They are seen as privileged people who are nothing but pretty faces. These stereotypes have left many of them second-guessing their identity.
This obvious prejudice is also seen in both the international and national modelling industries. Light-skinned people are not seen as dark enough to be portrayed as Africans. This can be seen in magazine shoots, runways, and campaigns.
They often choose the darkest African to show that they are inclusive in the international modelling industry but also forget that Africa has more than one shade to offer.
There is colourism in Africa. The discrimination against people based on their skin shades affects both sides. Colourism is as evil as racism and ethnicism and needs to be cancelled.
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Written by: Esohe Braimah
The opinions expressed in this article are those of the author.
