I am livid. Recently in my hometown of Rochester, New York, a local restaurant, Venu hosted what they described as a "fun" promotion. They had a contest to see who was s*xier "red bone" or dark women. JK Productions Owner Oliver Brown described this competition held on a Sunday night as a "great way to get people to come in. That's all I had to hear.
He went on to say: That at the end of the day it is all about us having fun with younger crowd." Talk about not bringing up old painful feelings. I thought we were past the "field" and "house" Negro stage. Apparently, I am wrong.
Quick history moment for those under 30 reading my blog. Light skinned blacks were regulated to working in the house. Often times, House Negroes were the master's illegitimate children or master's mistresses. Thus the lighter skin color.
Field Negroes basically worked the hot fields for hours and were viewed as inferior and were more valued for their brawn as opposed to their brains.
I remember years ago watching an episode of Frank's Place and one of the characters had to explain to Frank (actor Tin Reid) about the "Paper Bag" test. If a black person was the same color or lighter than the paper bag, they were acceptable in New Orleans. If not, you treated them a different way.
In the 90s, the tables began to turn and dark-skinned black men were in style. The days of " good hair" were past us, I thought. s*xiness was no longer reserved for only one type of black man. Actors Idris Elba and Morris Chestnut were just a few darker-skinned brothers women were now wooing over.
Racism in our OWN community is bad enough. We've been taught to expect it from people who don't like us. I've heard stories about my school's Delta Sigma Theta Sorority chapter hosting a slave auction. I've read stories on this site about Sigma Gamma Rho's hazing incident in California.
People, its 2010 and we are still talking about comparing skin tones? The roots of slavery are STILL affecting our mindset. It's time to wake up, leave the shackles behind, educate our selves, and move on.
Posted By: Marsha Jones
Thursday, November 11th 2010 at 8:15PM
You can also
click
here to view all posts by this author...
