Homepage AmonHotepRasta TimesRootsWomen
Rasta Speaks
TrinicenterHistorical ArchiveScienceRootsie Roots




Responses to: No Colorless Rasta Movement
The names of respondents have been withheld so focus can remain on the views from those of different racial types that we were able to verify.

Response from a Light-Skinned Mixed Woman

We can all agree that different people experience different things in the face of White Supremacy. An Asian will experience something different then an Afrikan, and so on.

The Willy Lynch/Apartheid system designed, developed and maintained by this White Supremist System/Order affects ALL PEOPLE OF COLOR. Now, I suppose we can get our "melanin measuring stick" and speak on who gets oppressed more then the next...but what is the point? Like sistah SoulJah once said, rather then point guns at each other, let us unite and point it at our COMMON OPPRESSOR.

So the "colored" get to be maids in South Afrika as opposed to the "Black". Should we then extend our support to the "Black" brothah/sistah, and reject the "colored" BECAUSE WHITE SUPREMACY HAS SEPERATED THE TWO?

Should we let Willy Lynch not only DEFINE US, but in turn have us squabbling over who gets more degrees of oppression then the next? Only a fool would deny the preferential treatment afforded to lighter skinned Afrikans. So now what? Because my beloved dark skinned sistah gets followed by 2 people in a store, and my light skinned sistah/brothah gets followed by only one....somehow this absolves the lighter skinned Afrikan from racism? Because the darker skinned sistah may have been raped 5 times a week, and the light skinned sistah 3 times a week, all of a sudden the light skinned sistah "doesn't overstand or experience racism"?

Do you sight how ridiculous this sound? Do you sight how even focusing on such a thing IS a direct result of WHITE SUPREMACY?

I find the squabbling over shades of brown to be simply... DESTRUCTIVE TO THE AFRIKAN COLLECTIVE.

Response from a White Woman

I have been pondering all these days why the original point of Diop which Ayinde expanded upon has caused such a reaction. As a white person, I can easily see the point that the degree to which a person is white they receive privilege.

I see that this puts biracial people in a position where they feel they have to defend their blackness. What I have yet to see, which I think would be most helpful to all, is for light-skinned people to tell us what that experience has been like for them, both in the black and white communities.

What sort of privileges do they experience in the black community?

If we look at rap videos with all those light-skinned girls dancing around the black mc, surely that tells us something? At the very least the media tells us that the Black who is most acceptable to Whites is the light-skinned one. But what about among other blacks? Do Blacks also buy into this stereotype, even unconsciously?

And what then are the implications for Black leadership? Should not those who have received the full force of the injustice be the ones ALL would seek to elevate the most in order to restore an earthly balance?

Response from a Black Woman

As a child growing up, I was surrounded by the feeling that lighter was better, that if the kink in my hair could relax just a teensy weensy bit, I would be more beautiful and maybe just maybe people would rush to play with my hair. We definitely show favour to blacks of lighter hue because whether we realize it or not WE ARE CONDITIONED TO HAVE A STANDARED OF BEAUTY THAT GLORIFIES LIGHTNESS AND ALL THE OTHER CHARACTERISTICS THAT COME WITH IT.

How do we address this? How do light-skinned Africans view themselves within this quagmire of colour consciousness, when truth seems to be determined by the perceiver and not the perceived?

All these are questions that must be addressed, but without the element of defensiveness and deliberate misunderstanding and misinterpretation that has marked the reasoning thus far. We must legitimately engage this question with honesty and integrity for any good to be gained from it.

Response from a Light-Skinned Man

I agree that blacks are discriminated against continually but from INI experience in life I have noticed that the darker people of INI race get the worst of it(In My Family, School, Work, and even in church). Like I said in INI post all are effected by racism at different degrees, especially when ones play into this complexion barrier.

Example, I am a light skinned brother with long locks, and INI appearance shows the opposition that I am in some way connected to INI roots, therefore I am discriminated against more than a light skinned brother/sister who chooses to play into this game of light is better. You see brother I experience racism first hand in INI workplace.

Example before I had locks and spoke INI mind freely the so called superiors on my job felt that he is brainwashed, therefore they came out of their mouths with racist comments, as if I was like the rest of the submissive brothers and sisters. But once I manifested INI true self and begin to stand as the true King that I am that is where the discrimination started.

So yes we all are effected, but if light/skinned and play into that light is the only beauty foolishness, you will still be affected by racism, but not as much as a dark or light brother/sister who stands up for who they truly are.

Response from a Black Woman

We the dark-skinned African people feel that the disadvantage of our domination and exploitation by the lighter skinned people of this world should cease to be perpetuated! No one is "expressly" saying that the lightest elements of the "Black" Race should not be part of the scheme or plan to save Blacks worldwide from the European, Arab or Asian domination. Informed and concerned dark-skinned Africans are just rightfully and PROPRELY emphasizing the Fact that THERE IS ALSO AN INTERNAL AND SILENT CONFLICT BEING WAGED FOR THE ULTIMATE EXTERMINATION OF THE REAL DARKER AFRICAN PEOPLE. In countries where dark-skinned Blacks outnumber whites, Asians or Arabs, the MAJORITY of the lightest mulattos subsequently and skillfully use the numerical potency of darker black men and women for their own social and economical advantages. Most of the time these turncoats are as dishonest and prejudicial as the European, Arab and Asian oppressors. SUCH IS A GREAT PROBLEM that the enlightened and self-respecting dark-skinned Afrikans seek to solve to save the Black Race... also form itself.
The pale faces as near whites can think about Racial Oppression but that doesn't mean by any means that they are really experiencing Racial Oppression. They experience it INDIRECTLY by relatives and friends as Rootswoman frankly testified, but they do not experience it DIRECTLY like we the dark-skinned African men and women do. We do not need to think about it, we are BEING oppressed period! The near as whites of this world are separated form Racial Oppression, yet they expect we the dark-skinned African people to exhibit an overabundance of consideration and obedience to them. Too many times they continue to consider themselves as BETTER caste, on the basis of color result from The Willy Lynch Mis-Education. Even committed pale faces "Black" warriors exhibit at times a palpable superiority complex. (Not that I'm pointing the finger at you Rootswoman, but you know this Truth very well....)

Dark African men and women deal DIRECTELY with the Hostility of Exploitation. ONLY THE DARK-SKINNED AFRICAN MEN AND WOMEN AND BROWN SKINNED MULLATOS WHO ARE DEEPLY AND SINCERELY HATED AND KEPT DOWN BY A JALOUS AND PREJUDICED WORLD UNDERSTAND AND FULLY REALIZE THIS GREAT INTERNAL AND SILENT CONFLIT.

The very lightest, men and women of our race, as well as men and women of other races should believe in the rightful demands of dark African people for a social and political leadership of our own to the extent that it will finally promote our own ideals, improvement and Civilization. Are such demands so offensive? I believe not! We the educated and self-loving darker African men and women will not yield our sovereignty to those who do not understand or experience our oppression. As the History of this world demonstrated, lighter skinned leadership usually benefits lighter skinned own privileged caste! Consequently the self-respecting dark-skinned African men and women demand Purity and Integrity within the Black Race, as we cannot pass of as whites AND WE WILL NOT!!

Articles:

  1. No Colorless Rasta Movement
    August 18, 2003 - By Ayinde
  2. New Dimension To 'Supremacy In Black Movements'
    August 25, 2003 - By Ayanna
  3. Black Supremacy Is Racism?
    September 04 2003 - By Ayanna
  4. Black Movements and Leadership
    September 15, 2003 - By Ayinde
  5. Some responses to: No Colorless Rasta Movement

The archived threads for this reasoning:
Related Threads:



Rasta Speaks Reasonings

Homepage | RootsWomen | Rasta Times | Forums

Copyright © 2003-2007 RastaSpeaks.com
Rasta Speaks