I Bring the Voices of My People: A Womanist Vision for Racial Reconciliation (Prophetic Christianity)

by Chanequa Walker-Barnes

Summarizing research on the impact of colorism on Blacks in America, Norwood and Foreman state that, overall, “lighter-skinned [B]lacks are often better educated, have higher occupational status (better jobs, careers, higher incomes), earn more money, have more overall wealth, tend to marry higher on the socioeconomic ladder, and are perceived as being more competent than darker-skinned blacks.”55 The findings of this research document the following disparities among African Americans: Darker-skinned Blacks have lower individual and family income, higher rates of unemployment and poverty, lower educational attainment, and lower occupational prestige than do lighter-skinned Blacks, even when studies control for factors that might account for the differences. For example, most Blacks in leadership roles within corporate and government institutions are light in skin tone, as are most tenured and tenure-track professors at US universities. Light skin is even preferred over academic credentials when it comes to employment interviews and callbacks.56 Skin tone and Afrocentric features (skin color, hair texture, and lip shape/thickness) have been associated with disparate treatment in the criminal justice system for adults, increasing contact with law enforcement, rate of criminal convictions, and sentencing lengths. Darker-skinned Blacks are arrested, incarcerated, and even sentenced to death row at higher rates than lighter-skinned Blacks; they also serve more of their sentence...