Colorism in African American Women - Research Paper Example

Indeed, colorism is an issue that should be extremely discouraged within various people. This essay explores deeply and widely on colorism, specifically colorism with respect to African American women, drawing references from various movies including the film question of color and other relevant sources. The film, ‘A question of color unearths almost everything about color discrimination among African American women. Discrimination by color is not an issue that began just recently. A general study of American history reveals that discrimination against color has lived and thrived ever since African immigrants invaded America either by the slave trade or any other means and the movie depicts just that.

The film, a question of color, actually more of a documentary, begins with a sequence in which a group of black men and women of different complexions. From high yellow and blue-black to chocolate, right from the start this movie depicts color consciousness among the black people. Somebody could be forgiven to think that is a course for color equity among the people, that all citizens belonging to various racial origins are entitled to equal opportunities. As the film progresses, prevalence is seen to be made to the people whose looks come closest to European standards of attractiveness and tend to fare much better than the people who look more African or black to be precise.

The film also explores the tensions generated by colorism, is actually an internalized expression of white racism, leaving everyone else feeling terribly insecure. The dark skinned women are prompted to feel less desirable mates and also tend not to do so well financially, or economically in general (Felder 284). The economic issue brings a whole new issue regarding colorism with the African American women. The only reason that can effectively explain why the African American women are not financially endowed like their white counterparts is because they may not be as better educated as the white to secure jobs, even then, the education background of these women is only questionable because perhaps they did not get enough equal opportunities to access quality education.

Conclusions can be conclusively drawn that the dark skinned women do not get enough employment opportunities as the white skinned are entitled to. The film states that the only moment in the history of America when the white-oriented consciousness among the dark skinned seemed to be falling apart was in 1962, when the black conscious movement made many people adopt the afro hair style. With their slogan, black is beautiful, they achieved considerable success even though it lasted for a short period.

Either way, the afro hair style success was not received well by some the white skinned women as is evidenced when a Ms. Sandler, a news anchor, almost risks losing her job just for wearing the afro hair style introduced by the black conscious movement to work (Sinclair 654). Besides the instances covered in the plot of this family, there are many other occasions in which colorism in Africa American women is depicted. According to actor and singer Tyrese, colorism in dark skinned people is evident in the entertainment industry.

Music videos are also an integral part of the visual arts subject. Unfortunately, the music video industry has also borrowed the color discrimination issue. This is clearly seen by the