Sorority sponsors forum on colorism in society

By Rebecca Legel

Published Feb. 1, 2008

Campus community members came together Thursday night to discuss how skin color leads to discrimination within minority communities.

Sigma Lambda Gamma sorority’s forum “All Is Fair in Love and War: A Dialogue on Colorism in Communities of Color” drew 10 people to Jesse Wrench Auditorium in Memorial Union.

According to slides that outlined the discussion, “Colorism is a form of discrimination in which people are accorded differing social status and treatment based on skin tone within their own race.”

The term is generally used to describe people of color discriminating within their own racial groups.

Felicia Hollis, vice president of chapter operations, led the discussion focusing on the issue of colorism with sorority members Jessica Kohl and Chantee Smith.

“We wanted to discuss an issue that is not talked about a lot here at MU,” Hollis said. “In the planning stages we made a list of controversial issues and chose among them to decide the best topic for discussion.”

Topics of discussion that were considered included abortion and homosexuality in communities of color, but colorism won the bid.

“Colorism is a personal issue,” Sigma Lambda Gamma President Monica Blackstock said. “It happens, but nobody talks about it. I personally hope that the event will bring some of these issues to the front.”

To break the ice, Hollis placed two pictures of women next to each other on a projected screen and asked participants to give their opinions on which woman was prettier. She chose women because colorism has been shown to affect women most, Hollis said.

Other topics included the history of colorism dating back to the time of slavery, class divisions based on skin tone in black, Indian and Asian communities, how colorism is portrayed through the media and how these issues affect self-esteem.

The general consensus was skin tone can affect self-esteem regardless of whether a person is darker or lighter skinned.

“You really have to embrace it (your skin tone) or go with what everyone else thinks,” Hollis said. “I’m one of those who really embrace it.”

But embracing skin color is not easy for many people, especially, for example, when mass media portray light-skinned black women as the most attractive, according to the presentation.

Kohl asked what the attendees thought could be done about this problem.

“We need to get out of the box,” senior Melissa Chapman said. “We can’t keep asking people, ‘What are you?’ based on their skin color. We have to think differently.”

Attendee Diamond Scott offered her hopes for the future.

“My grandpa told me that in the future things will get so mixed up nobody will care about skin color,” Scott said. “Hopefully his dream will come true.”

Although people might say they do not see or judge based on color, issues such as colorism are still relevant in modern society, the presentation stated. The presentation showed at least three Facebook.com group pages related to skin color within groups of one race.

Hollis said it is probably more apparent on Facebook because it is a non-confrontational atmosphere. In person, people are less likely to admit their biases.

“People don’t want to talk about it,” Hollis said. “It’s kind of like dirty laundry. If I tried to sit down and talk to someone about it, I would hit a brick wall.”

Sigma Lambda Gamma is a multicultural, Latina-based sorority. They will sponsor an informational recruitment meeting at 7 p.m. Monday in Memorial Union South 234.