As we bear witness to the desperate and futile attempts to bury and, therefore, eradicate our Black American history, my mind has been here, there, and everywhere. It’s laughable and unbearable; the pernicious psychological warfare relentlessly waged against us since our first footsteps on this soil—our soil.
There’s so much to consider, but let’s start here:
My stance is that white plantation owners covertly planted seeds of jealousy, inferiority, and division among enslaved women, often by how they awarded favor (if you will) to lighter-skinned Black women versus darker-skinned Black women, sexually and otherwise. A disturbingly sinister tactic intended to not only ingrain in us the “significance” of being chosen to be the object of a man’s desire, but also to ensure that an invisible power dynamic would dwell in the shadows among Black women of every shade. Their hope was that, without unity, we would never see progress.
From that idea, I began to wonder if this strategy inadvertently lent itself to the observation that Black men generally tend to think that lighter-skinned Black women are more attractive by virtue of complexion alone. Think about it: If the enslaved Black man, who secretly exalted White plantation owners as a monolith, witnessed the segregation of and perceived hierarchy among enslaved women, the lesson that Black women should be objectified and their worth categorized by shade was delivered quietly and subliminally. Their hope was that our descendants’ inherent reverence for Black women of every hue would be lost and forever forgotten.
And don’t get me started on the proactive and intentional dismantling of the Black family. On second thought, get me started.
But first, let me know if I’ve lost you.
Love,
- O