0:00:05.428,0:00:06.664
I'm Black.

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Ever since I can remember,[br]this is how I describe myself.

0:00:11.063,0:00:14.749
Now, describing myself as Black[br]was never something I did with hate.

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I was one of those kids[br]that had to think about race

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because when you grow up[br]with a white Jesus,

0:00:20.322,0:00:23.334
you will have some questions[br]as to why he doesn't look like you.

0:00:23.746,0:00:25.437
My mother was the first person

0:00:25.437,0:00:27.993
to really shape my views[br]on race and diversity.

0:00:28.271,0:00:30.123
Her explanation was simple:

0:00:30.123,0:00:33.054
there are people who are Black,[br]White, Asian, etcetera,

0:00:33.214,0:00:35.781
and although we all look different,[br]we're all the same.

0:00:35.781,0:00:36.933
And that was that.

0:00:37.758,0:00:41.123
I was in sixth grade when I found out[br]that I wasn't just Black -

0:00:41.123,0:00:43.195
I was, in fact, brown-skinned,

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so in the middle[br]of the Black color spectrum.

0:00:45.653,0:00:47.842
The term brown-skinned is a relative one.

0:00:47.844,0:00:49.207
Compared to whom?

0:00:49.232,0:00:52.837
No one knows because it's all made up[br]and varies from person to person.

0:00:52.837,0:00:56.622
And yet, there's a very clear[br]understanding amongst most people

0:00:56.622,0:00:59.950
that Drake is light-skinned[br]and Lupita Nyong'o is dark-skinned.

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I thought, "That's plausible."

0:01:02.576,0:01:05.416
There are people light-skinned,[br]brown-skinned, dark-skinned.

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And in my Brooklyn middle school[br]full of Black people,

0:01:07.937,0:01:10.707
I thought there was no divide[br]between said shades of Black.

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I mean, everyone hung out with everyone,[br]and everyone was generally respected,

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even if there was the occasional,[br]"Yo, you mad dark."

0:01:19.014,0:01:21.004
Basically, there were other things

0:01:21.029,0:01:24.733
that we, as kids, focused on[br]that determined our social stratification.

0:01:26.187,0:01:29.752
Then I went to high school,[br]and I began to notice a couple of things.

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I realized that the world around me

0:01:32.202,0:01:35.100
was a little biased towards people[br]with lighter skin.

0:01:35.671,0:01:39.928
I realized girls with lighter skin[br]got more likes and comments on Instagram.

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And that guys I liked[br]only went after certain kind of girls.

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I also realized that darker people

0:01:46.220,0:01:49.868
were not being represented in the TV shows[br]and movies that I was watching.

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And if they were,

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they were the ghetto[br]all-up-in-your-face like this,

0:01:53.615,0:01:55.206
secondary character.

0:01:55.739,0:01:58.709
However, the effects colorism[br]had on me at the time

0:01:58.709,0:02:01.341
were things I thought[br]I could avoid and even counter

0:02:01.373,0:02:03.963
by not giving it my energy[br]and living my life.

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And so I did.

0:02:05.447,0:02:06.832
And for a while, it worked

0:02:06.832,0:02:10.901
because I managed to convince myself -[br]if I can separate myself from the problem,

0:02:10.901,0:02:11.943
I could avoid it.

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That all changed when I got to college.

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Because here, amongst all the college boys[br]and college pressures,

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I learned a lot about myself[br]and a lot more about the world around me.

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For the first time,[br]I no longer had the safety net

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of having people[br]who thought exactly like me.

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For the first time, the spectrum[br]of brown wasn't a spectrum.

0:02:31.592,0:02:32.847
It was a dichotomy.

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You were either light-skin or dark-skin.

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I was considered dark skin,

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and people didn't see[br]that as a good thing.

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I mean, of course, no one said to me,

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"Amaya, you're dark-skinned,[br]so you're ugly."

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But there were plenty of microaggressions[br]that made it very clear.

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You know, the whole:

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"It's not that dark-skinned[br]girls are ugly.

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I just have a preference[br]for lighter girls."

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It was here that I realized[br]that colorism is alive and well,

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and people don't like to talk about it.

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So what is colorism anyways?

0:03:04.299,0:03:06.158
Although this is not a new phenomenon -

0:03:06.158,0:03:10.282
it was finally coined in 1982[br]by Alice Walker, who defined it

0:03:10.282,0:03:14.894
as prejudicial or preferential treatment[br]of same-race people based solely on color.

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The key term here is same-race people,

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which makes it just a little [br]bit different than plain racism.

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It's kind of like this:

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if America was a tree,[br]and its roots were racism,

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colorism would be like a leaf

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stemming off of the branch[br]that's Eurocentrism.

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This is because since Europeans[br]came into contact with Africans,

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they believed that they[br]were the better race.

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And this whole idea that light[br]was better than dark -

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because white was better than Black -

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never really went away.

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And this is bad

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because this means that not only[br]do darker Black people

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have to deal with racism from white people[br]and people who aren't Black,

0:03:53.571,0:03:57.265
they also have to deal[br]with harsher treatment from other Blacks

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because they're darker[br]than a brown paper bag.

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There are so many reasons[br]this phenomenon is problematic.

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However, for the sake of time,[br]I'll only share a few.

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Colorism creates a stereotype[br]about what acceptable Blackness is.

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It creates a model Black, if you will,

0:04:13.061,0:04:17.069
and colorism pits Black people[br]against each other,

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which is what the white man wants.

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So understand that light-skinned people[br]are not to blame for colorism.

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They can't help the way they were born.

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However, light-skinned[br]privilege does exist

0:04:29.093,0:04:31.940
because along with these views[br]and notions and stereotypes

0:04:31.965,0:04:34.939
of what acceptable Blackness[br]is come negative views

0:04:34.964,0:04:36.533
and notions and stereotypes

0:04:36.558,0:04:39.788
of people who do not fit[br]into this "whitist" Black box.

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These stereotypes include:[br]being less educated, more ghetto, uglier

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and, overall, less proper[br]than their lighter-skinned counterparts.

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And this is seen[br]everywhere throughout time.

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It's seen in minstrel shows

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where white men would dress up[br]as a dark caricatures

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and look almost idiotic[br]to make fun of Black people.

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It's still seen in television today

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where dark characters[br]are used as tools by writers

0:05:03.440,0:05:05.145
to contrast light characters,

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so that the lighter characters[br]seem more vulnerable and soft.

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For example, Penny Proud[br]from the Proud family

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and her best friend, Dijonay Jones,

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with their eight brothers and sisters[br]and a hard-to-pronounce name.

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Or Pam and Gina from the Fox show Martin.

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It's also in critically[br]acclaimed literature.

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For example, Toni Morrison's[br]"The Bluest Eye,"

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where the main character,[br]Pecola Breedlove,

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was told over and over again

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that because she was dark,[br]she was not pretty.

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And she internalized that,

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and that made her[br]hate light-skinned people.

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The reason why this is so problematic

0:05:38.430,0:05:42.168
is because darker people[br]will go to drastic lengths

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to become this model Black

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to receive the privileges[br]associated with it.

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This is why Caribbean people[br]bleach their skin.

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This is why women tell their children,

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"Don't go outside for too long[br]or you'll get too dark."

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And this is why some dark men,[br]and women, in fact,

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find the lightest person they can[br]to marry and have children with,

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so that their children[br]aren't dark like they are.

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This percolates the self-hatred[br]and pits Black people against each other.

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Another thing to understand -

0:06:13.883,0:06:16.055
pitting Black people against each other -

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not a new phenomenon.

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It was used during slavery[br]from white people to divide and conquer.

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White people do it now[br]for the same reason.

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If you get Black people to hate each other

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for something so natural and biological[br]as the color of their skin,

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it's less likely[br]that they'll come together,

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which means it's less work[br]you need to do to stay in power.

0:06:34.909,0:06:38.346
This phenomenon is shown best[br]in Spike Lee's movie "School Daze"

0:06:38.346,0:06:41.049
where one highlight[br]of the movie is a musical scene

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where light-skinned and dark-skinned women[br]spew insults at each other, including:

0:06:45.030,0:06:47.406
jigaboo, nappy-headed and wannabe.

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White people will also use this[br]to excuse their racist intentions

0:06:53.150,0:06:54.150
or notions.

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By giving these model Blacks[br]special privileges

0:06:57.162,0:06:59.172
and helping them rise to the top,

0:06:59.319,0:07:02.834
they can hold these model Blacks[br]over the rest of the race, saying,

0:07:02.834,0:07:04.962
"The system isn't the reason[br]you're failing.

0:07:04.962,0:07:06.089
Look at these people:

0:07:06.089,0:07:08.728
They're succeeding.[br]You're the reason you're not.

0:07:08.728,0:07:10.519
These model Blacks ...

0:07:11.527,0:07:12.964
are succeeding."

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And the craziest part is ...

0:07:15.580,0:07:18.911
this isn't even a phenomenon[br]only seen in the Black community.

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Communities such as the Asian,[br]South Asian and Latinx communities

0:07:22.676,0:07:24.367
experience the same thing.

0:07:24.684,0:07:27.565
Colorism in these communities[br]takes many different forms.

0:07:27.914,0:07:29.866
Whether it's a Chinese laundry commercial

0:07:29.866,0:07:32.657
featuring a dark man[br]going into a washer machine

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to become a lighter, more Chinese person

0:07:36.370,0:07:38.220
or Filipino people being told

0:07:38.220,0:07:40.549
that they're at the bottom[br]of the Asian totem pole

0:07:40.549,0:07:42.174
because they're dark.

0:07:42.698,0:07:45.231
In Bollywood, there's[br]been an outcry in recent years

0:07:45.231,0:07:48.986
because Bollywood movies[br]use too small of a range of skin tones

0:07:48.986,0:07:51.828
to represent the entire Indian population.

0:07:52.177,0:07:53.177
As a result,

0:07:53.177,0:07:56.902
some people have started countermovements[br]to counter this harmful propaganda,

0:07:56.902,0:08:00.324
such as Nandita Das and her[br]"Why Dark Is Beautiful" campaign.

0:08:00.719,0:08:05.250
Latinx stars such as Amara La Negra[br]receive significant backlash

0:08:05.250,0:08:08.704
over trying to break the mold[br]of what mainstream Latinx stars look like,

0:08:08.828,0:08:11.955
including hyper-scrutinization[br]over her hair and skin,

0:08:12.380,0:08:16.749
being accused of Blackface[br]and not even being considered Latina.

0:08:17.845,0:08:20.633
So because this is something[br]that affects so many people,

0:08:20.633,0:08:23.436
you'd think it's something[br]that more people spoke up about.

0:08:23.436,0:08:27.364
And yes, there's been increased interest[br]in the whole colorism thing.

0:08:27.364,0:08:30.509
However, the reason it's not as loud

0:08:30.509,0:08:33.533
as it could be is because people[br]think it's natural.

0:08:33.533,0:08:35.822
They've never been exposed[br]to anything different.

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It's what they grew up on.

0:08:37.427,0:08:40.583
And even if you did grow up[br]in a household like I did

0:08:40.631,0:08:41.696
where you were taught

0:08:41.696,0:08:44.168
that your Black's beautiful[br]or your brown's beautiful

0:08:44.168,0:08:47.738
and that your dark skin was great[br]and your hair's also great,

0:08:47.738,0:08:49.719
once you walk out that door,

0:08:49.744,0:08:52.530
you will feel all[br]of the effects of colorism.

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Period.

0:08:54.444,0:08:56.616
So what was the point[br]of me telling you this?

0:08:56.904,0:08:58.968
Well, I believe the famous quote goes,

0:08:58.983,0:09:02.264
"The first step to recovery[br]is admitting that you have a problem."

0:09:02.398,0:09:05.246
And yes, there are a lot[br]of problems out there - er, Trump.

0:09:05.421,0:09:09.775
However, the reason they're being fixed[br]is because there are people out there

0:09:09.775,0:09:12.177
who are working tirelessly[br]to get the public

0:09:12.177,0:09:15.326
to acknowledge that there's something[br]that needs to be fixed.

0:09:15.517,0:09:16.987
And this is one of them.

0:09:17.123,0:09:19.539
I don't have one[br]particular solution to colorism

0:09:19.539,0:09:23.546
because I'm one girl,[br]and I've had only one experience.

0:09:23.571,0:09:25.758
However, I do want to stress something.

0:09:26.173,0:09:28.713
Once America and the rest[br]of the world, really,

0:09:28.993,0:09:31.573
recognize that colorism isn't natural,

0:09:31.573,0:09:34.928
and that instead it's been instilled[br]in our minds for generations

0:09:34.933,0:09:36.356
that lighter is better,

0:09:36.400,0:09:39.413
then we as humans can start[br]the decolorization process.

0:09:39.696,0:09:43.208
We need to kick this to the curb[br]and leave it in our past

0:09:43.373,0:09:46.656
because do we really want[br]our time on Earth to look like this?

0:09:47.001,0:09:48.084
Thank you.

0:09:48.084,0:09:51.084
(Applause)