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I think that this whole dark and light nonsense is getting out of hand again. I thought we were over the days of racism? What is wrong with having friends of all colors? Skin color does not determine whether someone is good or bad, and it certainly doesn't mean that they are any different than you or me.
Its sad to say that racism is becoming an issue again, because there is no reason for it.
I have colored friends, and white friends, and I love them equally. Sure, I don't always understand what my colored friends mean when they talk in their slang, but I still love them to death!

On the topic that white skinned people don't know about racism, I've actually received racist hate online by dark skinned people because I'm white. I showed no prejudice towards any race at all, but they saw a picture of me and started sending me messages full of racist comments saying "die racist white scum" and that when I got offended I was a "stupid little whitey" and that I "deserve to feel like shit". This was just because of a photo of myself and some friends on a blog.
At first I felt really bad about these messages, however I felt better after I checked their blogs and most of the hate was coming from people who literally had "anti whiteness" pages and white hate on their blogs, so I knew it really wasn't personal, but for some reason they really hated white people.

I've read some articles that might be interesting on the topic, the first one's here:
http://www.scragged.com/articles/science-says-blacks-and-whites-are-born-racists

"Moody found that the more diverse the school, the more the kids self-segregate by race and ethnicity within the school, and thus the likelihood that any two kids of different races have a friendship goes down"
^^ I find this to be incredibly true, because my old school was very diverse and different races seperated. In my current school, it is less diverse, but the people with enough races like their own segregate themselves, while the 4 black kids in our grade are integrated and are friends with a variety of people. (Yes, somehow there are only 4. But everyone loves them.)

Here is another article on how children's views on race and color have changed over the years:
http://articles.cnn.com/2010-05-13/us/doll.study_1_black-children-pilot-study-white-doll/2?_s=PM:US

The article says that in 1940, dark skinned children overwhelmingly chose a white doll over a black doll. It then says that today, over 70 years later, both dark skinned and light skinned children have a bias towards their skin color, but white children's is higher.

It's interesting, but I think as long as you personally don't display racism and accept all races equally, your life will benefit and you will live a happier, more diverse life.

Ohh i'm taking that class this semester also, but that discussion as never been brought up.
I've discussed it with one of my close friends before who happens to be from Pakistan, she said that in her country they prefer girls that are lighter in complexion, it didn't surprise me tho, because I've heard a African american boys also say they only like light skin girls.
I'm neither light not dark, lol i'm somewhere in between.
I remember in high school, a girl told be to stop acting 'white' i was dumbfounded. I still do not know what she meant by that comment.

Anyway i think its stupid, and the guy that said that to you is a jerk. somethings i wish we were all gray, so that way you can dislike someone for who they were, rather than what the color of their skin was. lol

Great Forum.

lol I also don't get that nonsense light skin vs. dark skin foolishness. I'm dark skin and i remember when i was in high school and i will get made fun of my color and some people just wouldn't talk to me. I don't care what color your skin is. What matters is your personality and the way you treat others. All skin types are beautiful. Fearfully and wonderfully made in God's image.

I am familiar with the ligh-skinned v. dark-skinned debate from attending college with a large African American population. I never even knew it happened until talking about it with some of my teammates. My darker skinned friend said that light skinned girls assumed she was more 'ghetto' because of her skin. There were so many stereotypes being given to both groups that it was ridiculous.
I don't understand how they can discriminate within their own race when they are collectively fighting off dicrimination for African Americans in general.
My girlfriend is what you would call light-skinned. Many people think that she is half white. She is not and in fact, the rest of her family would be considered dark skinned. Some people have accused her of acting white and trying to be better than other African Americans because of her color. Similar to skywordsee. She used to get upset because it doesn't make sense that your skin color would make you better than the next person.
People thought she was acting white because she is articulate, wears 'normal' clothes (not phat farm, apple bottom jeans, etc.) and doesn't have solely African American friends.
I thought it was insane and she has since learned to ignore those critics.

This whole thing is crazy!! I dealt with the same thing when I was in school. I just learned to ignore people. Although that has given me more backlash because people think that by ignoring them that I am being a self-righteous light skinned girl. People are nuts. Just let it roll off your back.

As much as we don't want to admit it, colorism is very much relevant in today's society. I don't know if it's just because I live in southern Louisiana, but it is very much so in my face out here.

Darker skinned people are most likely to be looked at as a criminal, are most likely to be pulled over, etc. Statistics have shown this.

Let's be real, light skinned black people are portrayed to be more beautiful than the darker skinned black people.

But who are we to blame? The media? Willie Lynch?
This is a problem that has been in the black community since slavery. Since the light skinned women (who were most likely children of the slave owners) were able to be house slaves, some times got an education, and were not treated as brutally as the dark skinned slaves. I think it's a mentality that we've kept for generations now. It's up to us to change the mindset that we've acquired as a people.

I went to a high school where there were literally maybe 100 black kids through out the whole school of 2500+ and we were expected to act like everyone else in the school. Any outburst or attitude and we were considered to "ghetto".

I am quite aware of this debate. I had a lot of black friends in high school and they would talk about being dark-skinned and light-skinned. Many people would prefer dating the light-skinned individuals over the dark-skinned. I think it is because people like to regress toward the mean. Light-skinned individuals are usually mixed, so they usually get the best traits from both or all the races they are.

It is not just a black thing either, other ethnicities prefer people with lighter complexions as well. I know Filipinos think like that too, my relatives would occasionally talk about keeping their fair skin and staying out of the sun. Even I will admit that I look better when I do not spend too much time in the sun because I tan easily.

Anyways, it is a shame that people still think like this. I don't really like it when people ask about my ethnicity. Not because I am ashamed of it or anything but I like to think I am post-racial. I mean if you take the whole race concept out of existence, there would be no racism. So when people ask me about my race, I sometimes tell them that I am adopted and that I do not know what I am. They feel so guilty about asking while I know damn well what I am and that I was not adopted.

Unfortunately the light/dark skin issue has been around for centuries going back to slavery and colonialism. It existed in the South when lighter skin people were made house slaves and darker skin people were put in the fields. It exists in other ethnicities as well. I had a Spanish professor from Ecuador who talked about how darker skinned latinos had a harder time finding work because they were perceived to have more indiginous ancestors. When I worked for the international programs office at my college, Tawainese students would wear hats, long sleeves, and pants at the pool because they didn't want to take a chance of getting a tan before they went home and being perceived as "working class." I was immensely sad when I went to Ghana last summer and saw skin lighteners for sale, even in rural villages. I would love if this issue went away, but it has existed for centuries throughout the world. I don't think human beings are going to evolve enough to get over it.

Light Skin Brown Skin, Black or White, Christian, Muslim, Plump or Right America Afghanistan Pakistan Indi a I don't give a Damn!! WE ARE ONE!!!! And until we learn this Peace, Love Happiness, Harmony will never be felt or learned if we can't or won't acknowledge that within our Hearts and Souls.

Im very familiar with this nonsense. I dont get it at all. What does the color of someone's skin color have to do with anything at all. People made fun of my skin color back in high school. I love my skin color. U don't have to accept me but I love myself. It's just stupid to judge someone by the color of their skin. I know in high school people always associated with ppl that we're the same color as themselves...