Colorism: Alive and sadly kicking

There’s an old Blues song by Big Bill Bronzy: ‘Black, Brown and White; written back in the ‘Jim Crow’ days when the colour of one's skin could get you lynched. In it Bronzy sings: If you’re white, you’re all right, if you're brown, stick around, but if you’re Black, oh brother, get back, get back. It seems in spite of all the race equality we’ve gained since ‘Jim Crow’ racial prejudice in regards the shade of colour you are still matters one way or another.

Recently, David Cameron renewed the issue on the national stage when addressing inequality of opportunity, more specifically racial inequality, within the UK.

In his speech, Cameron stated:

I want us to end discrimination in particularly when we see “white-sounding" names are nearly twice as likely to get a job interview as those with "ethnic sounding names."

But it’s not just ‘ethnic’ names that are discriminated against new research has shone a spotlight on today’s discrimination on the shade of colour you are.

True Blue Inclusion, an advising group for executives and business leaders for the purpose of promoting inclusion and diversity through research, counselling, coaching and consulting, put together a research effort to identify racial inequalities and skin prejudice in the job application process.

They identified the growing presence of colorism, discrimination based on skin tone, with individuals and groups who have darker skin tones (regardless of race or ethnicity) experiencing greater levels of discrimination.

Colorism therefore has had a resulting impact in the workplace, creating a skin tone gradient hierarchy. In this hierarchy, those with lighter skin are preferable than those with darker.

This has led to greater hiring rates, higher retention and more frequent promotions for those with lighter skin. True Blue Inclusion collected this data through interviews with corporate executives, researchers, academics and had their findings backed by media and legal cases.

There findings suggest that Colorism is everywhere; that your status shifts on any given day based upon your group settings; a persons identity and labels are intrinsically linked to the colour of their skin.

Even though this issue is rarely discussed in these terms we know the issue is all pervading not least because skin whitening products, are the best selling cosmetic products in Africa, Asia and China.

There research further shows that the youth are far more aware of the issues surrounding colorism than their elders are. Thus, to decrease colorism in the work place there must be a serious effort at both political and senior business levels to both understand what’s going on and have a plan to eradicate it

True Blue Inclusion would like a global discussion no ‘Colorism’, and seek your views on it.

www.trueblue inclusion.com

Cassie Rodgers