Customer Reviews

The Color Complex: The Politics of Skin Color Among African Americans

5 star:		(22)
4 star:		(3)
3 star:		(2)
2 star:		(2)
1 star:		(3)

 

 

I first read "The Color Complex" as a college student in 1996. As a dark-skinned Black male, this book brought to light the lion's share of all of the ostracism, ridicule, and occasional bullying that I experienced as a child. It also made me realize that a large segment of the Black community still does not want to acknowledge (let alone deal with) the fact that Black intra-racial color discrimination is still alive and well. Never under-estimate the power of denial.

It is very hypocritical that many Black "leaders (?)" prefer to always point the finger at White America for all of its sins, yet refuse to challenge us as Black folks to take a good, hard look at ourselves and how we treat each other. Bravo to the authors for "airing our dirty laundry" in a way that forces much needed and long overdue Black American community introspection.

This book will make some uncomfortable, but that's the point! Just like "Losing the Race" by John McWhorter, this books represents a much-needed wake-up call for Black Americans.

This book brings out of the closet a subtle yet important issue facing the African American community. I recommend it but give it 4 stars because of several weaknesses. Foremost, the authors do not provide a compelling political analysis of colorism, which I believe stems from the structure of race relations (white priviledge supported by U.S. institutions). Instead, they (unintentionally?) imply that humans have a species-wide tendency to favor light skin tone when they discuss similar color biases is several other selective populations.

Secondly, the composition and prose could have been a bit more polished.

The classic 1960's book BLACK RAGE touches on this and related issues. I would recommend that. Also, Itabari Njeri has a nice article on colorism in the Gerald Early's book LURE AND LOATHING.

I picked this book up, just for the sake of reading. I could NOT put this book down. As a graduate student who works full-time I don't have a lot of time to read for pleasure, but I read this book in 3 days! I was amazed about the depths of this issue, although I consider myself to be pretty in tune with Black issues I was shocked to read some of the things people say and believe b/c of skin tones. Or let me rephrase that the things people STILL say and beleive about complexion.

There were some extremely gut wrenching candid points made. For example, I was not aware that people in today's "modern" times were still "white-washing" their families or that people still engaged in "passing". The whole section on the importance of complexion and dating was wonderful. This book is very straight forward, easy to read, and candid.

I Learned that being a medium complexion gal, I often missed these extreme but common occurances expereinced by the two extremes. There was also, a tease of information about other races love-hate relationship with skin tone (mainly Asian and Latinos). Beautiful place to start to get your mind thinking.
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I think every person regardless of race should read this book, especially those in the helping professions (i.e. teachers, social workers, mental health counselors, psychologists, ect.). It provides candid insight to a problem that many even Black Americans don't see.

EXCELLENT! This is a book that one cannot put down. The issue of color discrimmination is rampant within the communities of color be it black, hispanic, etc. Although I cannot say if I have suffered intraracial color bias, I know it exists. When I look at Ebony Magazine, Jet, etc. I feel that these publications have a fetish for light skinned people! I know of light skinned blacks that absolutley will not marry or get involved with anyone dark skinned or one that does not have "european" features. i have worked with African Americans that only allowed their daughters to date white boys! For fear of having children with dark skin and "bad" hair. This book tells the truth about the role of skin tone ,hair texture and self hatred in the black community.

Free, at last!

Free, at last!

How painful is psychological bondage? I could tell you, but I'd rather thank three courageous people for tackling a verboten subject that others would rather pretend doesn't exist. Intraracial discrimination is alive and well.

I think the most hypocrital aspect of "us" is our constant complaining about unfair treatment from whites when we continue to foster "colorism". Physician, heal thyself!

I'm indebted to each of them. My prior success as an entrepreneur was hard fought to accomplish. A childhood discriminatory experience caused by one of my own kind could have ruined any chance I had to become positively motivated. Now, as an author and publisher, I'm able to create children's fiction that I only dreamed about before reading "The Color Complex". "Rosa Lee" by Leon Dash was the catalyst that led me to researching the subject of color. Later, when I found "The Color Complex", I stopped looking. It was perfect...... all my nagging questions were answered. My painful situation in the fourth grade was not a figment of my imagination. Within an instant, the boulder I carried on my shoulders began to drop. Free at last!

In the interest of brevity, I'll conclude by saying...... take off your rose colored glasses! For some, the book first conjures thoughts of "airing dirty laundry". No... quite the opposite for those who admit the truth. It was enlightening! Ask yourself if you're willing to make a concerted effort to loosen the grip of bias and prejudice within our race? I am. Reality dictates that the condition will not perish, but we can certainly try to lessen its' sting.

I sincerely wish the authors continued success in their future endeavors!!

I am not afraid to look the reality of colorism in the eye and acknowledge that it does exist within the black community. It is my greatest hope and dream that someday the dark skinned black and the light skinned black will be seen as the one family in the future. I want so much to love the lightskinned sister and brother as my own reflection and not be divided from them or made to feel that one is treated better than the other, but sadly, that day is not here and this book bravely and powerfully illustrates that point to the fullest.

I am a medium brown colored woman, my mother was very dark skinned and I have witnessed the evils of skin color prejudice all my life. In most situations, it was Black Men who were prejudiced against myself and the women around me beccause of our coloring. These men felt no shame or limit in their racist intra-family prejudice and measured their entire lives by how many light skinned or white women they could attain and how light brite their children could come out. It's everywhere and anyone who denies it is both a fool and a liar.

That is why I highly recommend THE BLACKER THE BERRY by Wallace Thurman. There is no truer portrait of the self-hatred among our people than the one extolled in this book, and what makes it even sadder is that this book was written in the 1920's. So that only shows how deep this kind of evil runs.

Lately, I have become very interested in this subject and I have searched for other books that explore this subject with intelligence, honest, beauty and wisdom and I have found several that I consider to be classics on the subject of Colorism.

(1) MARITA GOLDEN'S book "Don't Play In the Sun" is definitely the most modern up to date book of the bunch. It expertly weaves the story of her life experiences in the 1960's Black Power movement with the current struggles of women like Serena Williams and India Arie to find their way in the world, even in the midst of being shunned and ignored by the black community itself. The book's analysis of the Hollywood casting system and the "Mulatto Follies" of BET and MTV is priceless.

(2) "The Bluest Eye" by TONI MORRISON is by far the most riveting and painful book that I have read on this subject of colorism. I believe that her book, more than any mother, gets to the psychological and historical root cause of the problem and exposes the mode in which we pass the problem on generation to generation. The destruction of an innocent black girl named Pecola Breedlove will leave you heartbroken and shocked as you see the bold naked truth unfold right before your eyes. You can't ignore this book, because the story being told is the one that you are all too familiar with no matter what color you are.

(3) "Flesh and the Devil" by African novelist KOLA BOOF is another deeply powerful book that examines colorism, but not out in the open. This book is unique in that it focuses on a very enchanting love story between a Black Prince and Princess and follows their reincarnations through history as they struggle to find their way back to each other. Through detailed moments in black history, both in Africa and the United States, the provocative author highlights the way that black people originally viewed their beauty and humanity and then juxtuposes it against the way they see themselves now in the modern world. The result is nothing less than devastating. I love this book so much, because the storytelling is so rich and the depth is so sweeping and grand. Anyone who loves good writing and is proud to be descended from the Black race will find themselves literally changed forever by the powerful images depicted in this very poetically moving story.

(4) "The Color Complex"--VARIOUS AUTHORS, is a very simple, straight forward analysis from a sociological point of view. Much research and statistical facts are used to illustrate that our communities are infested with these issues.

(5) "The Darkest Child" by Dolores Philips is another great novel that shows us the poor blacks who live under the poverty line ingesting these complex social hierarchies based on color and how they not only expose their children to them, but force the entire community to live by the "color code". Everybody is used to it from slavery and the system goes on and on unchallenged. In this book, Tangy Mae, the darkest of 10 children by the white-looking mother Rozelle, struggles to find her dignity and confidence in the midst of her evil light skinned mother inflicting one horrid abuse on top of the other. One thing I will say for the evil white-looking mother, Rozelle, is that she treated all of her children hiddeously and with contempt, from the whitest to the blackest. But she killed the child who was born looking like Tangy Mae and that spoke volumnes. This book is a very real metaphor for what goes on. Very real.

An excelent book for anyone to get an insitful introduction to the issues of most whites and blacks. As an African American I have even learned more about myself. I enjoyed reading this book so much I wish I could read it again for the first time and then ten times more. I am in search of more books with a read like this.

I am a dark-skinned woman born in the US of nigerian parents. I was diggin this book the whole way through... The author is a somewhat light-skinned african american and her coathors/ advisors are a white woman and an african american man so it gives you a well-rounded perspective of the issue of color. The book breaks it down issue by issue as you can see in the Table of Contents that you can view here on Amazon.com. It makes it clear to the reader exactly *how* color became an issue and *why* it remains such an issue today in this so called "modern" world.

Color among those of the african diaspora is an issue because of the presence of world domination by the europeans. Color therefore = class and people view us either positively or negatively because of our color. People will assume how *good* you've had it in life based not only on your ethnic background (like say, japanese or korean vs. any african) but also on the color within that background. Being closer to white generally means people will assume you've had it *better* in life. Aesthetically, people may assume you have better facial features, better hair texture, within the african diaspora. Just look at the leaders in the african american community - they have historically been very light/very mixed with white. They have been allowed to move up. Similarly many female costars to black males have been very light/very mixed with white. Test yourself: what did *YOU* think of me when I wrote that I am a dark-skinned woman directly from africa? What do you envision and how does that make you feel?

For me it is all about self luv and seeing myself as a blessed child of God...

peace&blessings

In the book The Color Complex, the reader has his/her perception altered so that they not only envision, but can't escape the horror of imprisonment of slavery, inferiority, racism, and most of all skin color. This book is excellent for every race including blacks. The authors take us into the world of blacks, from the light-skinned Mulatto's to the very dark-skinned blacks. It is empathetic while very academic simultaneously. In turn hopefully the reader will become empathetic rather than sympathetic.

It does not allow any race to escape into ignorance nor innocense as it brings to our attention that we all stereotype and judge people by their appearance. It gets inside of the black world where the lighter skinned blacks are preferred over the darker skinned. This is brought to our attention as we learn that most `black' entertainers were and are still in fact mixed. Examples include Halle Berry who has her mother's white features. Learn that by merely 'preferring' a certain race as a mate, neighbor, or employee can have catastrophic effects on that person and society.

Travel through the years into the present day, where myths, politics, the media, workplace, and even love is not the same for those of us that are non-white. It also speaks about prejudice on other minority races. From the days of Jim Crow Law and why we are still practicing it today. It shows the unfairness throughout history. It brings to light the ever increasing need for acceptance and possible reduction of the importance of race.

It makes clear why crime, low quality education, and low-self-esteem still exist in many blacks world today. The cultures seen as `uncultured' cultivated in fear of assimilation and therefore low status. It also sheds light on the profit being made from other's insecurities such as black women's obsession with having long straight hair in an attempt to possibly conform to beauty standards. There is so much self-loathing involved in this trend for many black women. Extreme examples mentioned are Michael Jackson.

Learn of the privileges that whites don't even know exist for them, it shows the every battle for a place to fit into for many minorities. It gets into detail about the many times in which America exploited blacks for their own material and emotional gain. (Slave masters raping black slave women for their pleasure) Get stuck in a world that is full of beautiful colors while all it sees in you is your dark `ugly' skin and the longing to be equal. If you manage to shed this skin, you will find yourself uncomfortable and guilt ridden while taking pride in a country that exploited and still continues to hurt an entire race of people.

Excellent read! Very well-written and well documented. This book was clearly and thoroughly written and researched, unlike what one of the reviewers below said, which was very incorrect. The very first chapter of the book details the origins of the color complex from the 16th to the 18th centuries and after that has still gone on to exist till this very day. It mentions how this whole color conscious thing started because of whites better treatment of those that that were racially mixed, called mulattos, than those who were pure Black, and illustrations of this such as the dark-skinned blacks being made to work in the hot and boiling sun in the fields while the mulattos, were black mixed with white, got the easier chores inside the house like merely cooking and cleaning. Because of this, mulattos developed the "superior complex" to the dark-skinned ones, similar to that of whites' view over Blacks. This book was well researched and documented, indeed.

This is the same thing that exists today. You see it all around you, but no one talks about it. No one talks about it because they all know it is true, but just like the authors of the books said, there are many Blacks angry of our "dirty laundry being aired". I am glad that they decided to write about this issue because it is the truth, whether people don't want to hear it or accept it. THE TRUTH IS THE TRUTH. It just happens that there are many of us that are in denial and don't want to own up to what they know deep inside is the truth. But like my mom said, "The truth doth offend much", as the old saying goes, as evidenced by the anger, resentment, and disapproval of bringing this subject to light.

Everything was good from the beginning to the end. These are things that I have seen growing up as a dark-skinned person, which I know numerous other dark-skinned individuals can attest to, with the light-skinned ones being treated better than everyone else simply because of the fair complexion and the long hair. Now, no black man (and many times women too) is going to admit it, but they know that light-skinned women with long hair is what they prefer just because it is closer to white. No book has to document this. It is a fact known simply by observation because you learn so much just from observation. And, though, whites are the perpetrators, it is our OWN BLACK PEOPLE that carry this type of unfair and biased treatment toward dark-skinned people.

The book ended with examples of celebrities like Michael Jackson and unknown individuals in high-profile occupations who have passed and tried to pass as white just for acceptance in society, approval, and survival. It did mention that even though people might criticize Jackson, "if given the opportunity and money then they would so the same thing"-a statement that made a good point. Even the same men that were the so-called "civil rights leaders" criticizing those for bleaching the skin and straightening the hair were posed with a good question by Made C.J. Walker's great,great granddaughter that they, themselves, most of the time preferred those mixed and mulatto women with fair skin and long hair and "fine features". And as mentioned, look at the women on television and in music videos, especially-the vast majority are very light-skinned women with long hair. This is no coincidence. These women are deliberately chosen because they are the desired apple and trophy of men who are color struck, and they fulfill their psychological desire for white or close to it like light females. THIS BOOK SPOKE THE TRUTH, THE WHOLE TRUTH, AND NOTHING BUT THE TRUTH!

I enjoyed this book very much. It only took me 2 weeks to read it, which was how good it was. Very clearly and honestly covered. People just don't want to admit it because they damn well know that it's the truth. This issue is very prevalent in our community in both subtle and open ways.