Unmasking AI: My Mission to Protect What Is Human in a World of Machines

by Joy Buolamwini

Stepping beyond a colonial past does not decolonize the mind. White supremacy as a cultural instrument, like the white gaze, defines who is worthy of attention and what is considered beautiful or desirable. Colorism is a stepchild of white supremacy that is seldom discussed. Colorism operates by assigning high social value and economic status based literally on the color of someone’s skin so that even if two people are grouped in the same race, the person with lighter skin is treated more favorably. We can see this in Hollywood and Bollywood. India with its vast diversity of skin types has an entertainment and beauty industry that elevates light-skinned actors and actresses. Women are judged on their beauty, and the standard of beauty is predicated on proximity to fair skin. Beyond beauty, lighter skin is also associated with having more intelligence in societies touched by white supremacy. Hollywood has long favored white actors, and when it began to open up slightly, lead roles for diverse cast members also skewed to the lighter hue. This is not to say that at the time I was doing this research there were no dark-skinned individuals who had gained fame or were positioned as intelligent. But the fact that they were the exception and not the norm is the point.