I typically avoid discussing the Kardashians in any shape or form. To me, the entire family represents the worst of society: The attention-craving, narcissistic, sycophantic, idol-worshippers who value people that have done nothing remarkable to get where they are. The Kardashian fans are the same ones who make “instamodels” blow up on social media, and who also judge their own self worth (and the self-worth of others) by followers and likes. Life becomes a performance, and they become the prima donna.
One good and bad thing about Twitter is that the platform often shows you content by proxy e.g. the content liked or retweeted by someone you follow. That is how I came across this tweet.
Now, as much as I hate the Kardashians, you will not see me insulting their babies on social media. A baby can’t take blame for the sins of hits parents. Aside from insulting the baby, a few people here want to say the baby is ugly and/or “too dark.”
I have discussed colourism before, where skin tone becomes a mark of status and beauty. It affects Hollywood’s casting of black leads, especially females. As Viola Davis said, “If you are darker than a paper bag, then you are not sexy” in the eyes of Hollywood execs.
I can’t blame Hollywood for colourism though. They perpetuate it when they deliberately go for the lightest skinned black girls possible, casting Zendaya and Meghan Markle in roles and stripping upcoming dark-skinned actors of opportunity. Do you think it’s a coincidence that a lot of the famous black Hollywood sex symbols are light-skinned black women? Obviously we have figures like Lupita Nyong’o, but they are an exception.
Ever heard people complain about how past discrimination doesn’t affect the present? Colourism stretches back to slavery and colonialism, which is why definitions like the one above say it is most prominent within minority groups. Countries like India and Japan are infamous for valuing light skin, evident with the popularity of products like skin-lightening lotions. Jamaica, a country that is 90% black, has its own skin bleaching issues as well. White colonial overlords set the standard for beauty, which includes light skin. Now there are minorities who aim to be lighter-skinned, or are only attracted to people with light skin because they are conditioned to think that way. Colonialism lives on, through people’s parents and grandparents, who have self-hate and carry it down to their children.
As another example, the comments calling the Kardashian baby, True, “too dark” come from another dark-skinned black girl.
I may not be a Kardashian fan but I feel for True, who will grow up being viewed as “too dark,” as if darkness and beauty are mutually exclusive. It isn’t just about looks either. If True ever wants to do actually do something with her life, instead of just mooching off her reputation, then her skin tone can affect job opportunities. She might not be viewed as attractive by casting agents for modelling or acting. At the very least, she’ll have less opportunities than her lighter-skinned family members, even with her name. Colourism can even affect jobs that don’t strictly have to do with looks. As an example, check this Australian comic’s drawing of Serena Williams.
This comic was a response to Williams getting angry at the referee due to his calls. I don’t know much about tennis, so I can’t argue if the double standard Williams argued about is true, where men can get away with being a lot more angry than she was. What struck me about this, was the depiction of Williams herself. This artistic depiction fits right into a minstrel-era drawing (If you don’t know what minstrelsy is, you’re part of the problem). Even better, the half-black, half-Japanese opponent, who has visibly brown skin in real-life, is turned into a white woman. So we just get a brutish, angry black woman vs civil white woman. Williams would not have been depicted this way, if she was white or if she was a very light-skinned black woman. Maybe someday, True will be subject to a depiction like this, and have people rush to defend the artist because they could care less about a dark-skinned girl’s feelings.
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