Colourism

Bula Vinaka and welcome to Tabu Tok - Volavola (Writing), here you will be able to find a piece of writing that corresponds to the episode of the week. Our first piece discusses Colourism.

So what is Colourism?

Colourism is the discrimination against people based on their skin tone. The concept basically creates a hierarchy of skin tones where those with lighter skin are treated better than those with darker skin. Colourism sits both within ethnic groups and across ethnic groups.

Colourism is rooted in white supremacy and colonial ideals. Whiteness is privileged and the blackness of ones skin is positioned at an inferior level. A persons proximity to whiteness gives them benefits and privileges within a western context. Whereas, a person’s proximity to blackness leaves them marginalised and discriminated against.

What this means is that when we as humans who have been socialised within a western context (or colonised into one) look at skin colour two things usually happen. First is that our frame of reference is what is presented to us most often and this is everywhere … television, magazines, the internet, social media, billboards, movies and the list goes on. Second is we relate our frame of reference to what we are viewing … oh this person looks like that beautiful actress in the movie … 9 times out of 10 that beautiful actress we are talking about is White or Light Skinned! This is just how socialisation and saturation of imaging works.

We don’t even know we are doing it half the time as Pacific peoples. But it happens everyday in lots of different ways. Body image is probably the most notable and although there is a huge movement towards acceptance of ones body, there are still some deeply ingrained behaviours that we exhibit daily. Examples of this can be found in our own families (we all have those aunties) … “You look like you got a beautiful tan today” said to a cousin who is fair skinned and in the same breath “Shhhhh get inside its too sunny you’ll get black" to another cousin who is dark skinned. Not only is the second statement filled with anti-black sentiments but the mixture of both shows how colourism sits within families.

There are many examples from our everyday lives, we have all heard colourism in some way, shape or form. Who has heard “Brown men date white women because they are beautiful/softer/gentle/sweet (insert kind sentiment here)” but then they compare brown skinned women to them in a negative way. That is colourism and its also straight up racism which makes it hard for people to grasp. Colourism is that internalised racism that we have all been socialised into.

If you are hearing and seeing everyday that ‘western/white standards of beauty’ are ideal then science tells us that we internalise those beliefs and project that internalisation in different ways. For some of us its using makeup to make certain features smaller or contoured, for others its wearing coloured contact lenses to 'get ‘pretty eyes’ and for some its even going as far as bleaching our skin. These are all examples of internalised colourism. Which is internalised racism. Its a tough conversation to have and it requires A LOT of unpacking on a very personal level.

Its impossible to talk about Colourism without talking about Colonisation! Yes I know everyone is tired of hearing how bad colonisation was and is continuing to be, but it is a very valid point. Our Pacific people LOVED OURSELVES before white people came to our shores and told us we weren’t good enough and that we had to be civilised because they thought they were the ‘superior race’. Colonisation bought many things with it and one of them was the idea that because Pacific people especially dark skinned Pacific people were living their lives in a non-western way that this made us inferior. Colonisers then proceeded to use their religion to further push this idea into our communities. With the use of missionaries both from Europe and the Pacific (yes our people became missionaries to help colonise other Pacific countries) colonisers convinced us that our way of living was ‘savage’ and ‘unclean’ and this was because of our skin colour. They even sent people from Europe to the Pacific to measure our skulls to prove their theories. ‘Scientific Racism’ exists to this day and although debunked many times over it is still used as an excuse for racist actions towards people with dark skin.

So because we are so deeply embedded in a society that is undergoing colonisation we sometimes do not see ourselves as doing the same thing. As attributing whiteness to beauty and discriminating against our own people. Colourism runs deep in the Pacific community and it is so important that we start to really think about what we say and why we feel comfortable commenting on our own people’s skin colour. Why do we encourage our daughters to ‘find a nice palagi man’. Why do some continue to use the term ‘meauli’ when referring to our darker skinned Pacific people and also Black people (anti-blackness also runs very deep in our communities but thats another post for another day). Why do we praise our light skinned and coloured eyed family members a lot. Why are we so attracted to women with fair skin and slim bodies. Why do some in our society want to bleach their skin. Why are the favourites in the family fairer skinned.

Now we are not saying that this applies to everyone but we are saying that the next time something like this comes to your mind or out of someones mouth, maybe its time to start a conversation about colourism. There are plenty of resources online that discuss colourism and unpack the term in depth.

Maybe its time that we start to decolonise and reindigenise our thinking and our actions.

Shared with Love and Radical Hope*

Tabu Tok

*Radical hope is a term borrowed from the magnificent Dr Emalani Case. It is something we at Tabu Tok aim to carry in our everyday lives. Vinaka vakalevu Dr Case for your tireless mahi and activism for Indigenous people.