Nia Dix

English 102-16
Dr. Wynne
February 9, 2017

General Analysis: Colorism

Since the start and colonization of America, there has been an ideology imposed upon the

African American race. The idea that to be of a lighter skin tone is to be beautiful, intelligent, and

successful meanwhile, being of a darker skin tone is to be ugly, stupid, and inferior. This idea and

belief is known as colorism, which is an unconscious prejudice on blackness. The black

communities mind has been shaped culturally and historically and created intricate hierarchies

that privilege those who are physically and culturally whiter and punish those who are darker

(Vedantam, 2010). Within the online article, Shades of Prejudice by Shankar Vedantam, and

the documentary Dark Girls produced and directed by D. Channsin Berry and Bill Duke both

aim to inform the black community and others around the country and world about the negative

effects of colorism. While both authors aim to inform the black communities and the world about

this institution, they used different genres to convey their information and that affected how their

audience will view and understand the idea that is colorism.

The documentary helps the author give the audience a visual aid into six different

components that hone in on the effects of colorism, which include the history, the impact, the

family, the global aspect, the media, and finally the healing process. Berry and Dukes intended

audience would be the African American community, all people who have different shades

within their race, and all other Americans. The African American community already knows the

light skinned versus dark skinned issue and where it originated from, but they need to understand
the depth of how it negatively effects those with different skin tones. Also, those outside of the

African American community should understand the depth of the subject. Throughout the film, it

was a mixture of formal and informal language because in some parts there would be a scholarly

opinion or a study of what has occurred because of colorism; meanwhile, the women and men

who were interviewed spoke of their experiences, which often consisted of profanity, racial slurs,

slang, and expressing themselves in ways that you shouldnt when in a business setting.

Additionally, the documentary strongly appeals to ethos, pathos, and logos. Ethos flows

throughout the documentary because the credibility of scholars giving their opinion, studies and

statistics, and having actual women of color being interviewed about what it is like to be a

woman of a darker skin tone and how they were or have been treated. This credibility allows for

the audience to have three different views that are true and come from relevant sources that deal

with the topic. Pathos is the strongest appeal because of the pain and emotion that is felt from the

interviews with the men and women. Emotions that more than likely came about for the audience

were anger, sadness, understanding, empathy, compassion, and awe. All of the emotions

expressed can be split up between the men and women interviews just from what they said and

how it possibly affected the audience. In the components family and healing, logos is thriving

because many of those who were interviewed continued to state a very logical idea such as

loving yourself before all else, love begins in the home and spreads out, black is beautiful,

the blacker the berry the sweeter the juice, etc. The logical thing about all of these mantras is

to bring about the idea of black pride no matter the hue of your skin (Duke & Channsin Berry,

2011 ).

The documentary Dark Girls is visually pleasing to the mind and to the emotions, which

aids in delivering the message of how people are truly affected by colorism. This is evident first
in the introduction photo which is of a woman who was designed with four different shades of

brown. Then throughout the film when they talk about colorism in school they would show a

hallway and in history they would show the black and white photos of blacks that came before

us. As these images came about, it would remind the audience that at one time they were on that

hallway and may have participated in, watched, or been attacked by colorism. For the photos,

they would of course make the African American community look back and see the many shades

that we come from. All of these elements affect the mind and emotions because it pulls on

memories of things that happened to us, which can then allow the audience to gain an

understanding of colorisms effects.

In contrast, the online article uses the political and societal views to convey the message

of colorism and its negative effects. For instance, Vedantam viewed two murder cases between a

light skinned defendant and a dark-skinned defendant. The light skinned defendant ransacked a

drugstore and killed the pharmacist. Then, the dark-skinned defendant pleaded not guilty to the

murder of a beautician, had two witnesses give an alibi who were never called, and revealed that

the police officers got his name wrong. Both men were convicted, but given different sentences;

the light skinned man was given life while the dark-skinned man was put on Pennsylvanias

death row (Vedantam, 2010). This is colorism taking its role in society and in politics by

punishing someone harder because of their darker skin tone. With examples like this the

audience would be the African American community, those throughout America, and the

government to prove that people are being profiled to this day because of the color of their skin.

The language used throughout this article is formal because of the reference to a Senator and his

comments, information from a Harvard neuroscientist, and the way that information is conveyed

in an intellectual way.
 Furthermore, Shades of Prejudice appeals strongly to ethos and pathos. Ethos flows

smoothly throughout the paper as credible sources are shown all throughout the article. For

example, the comment from Senator majority leader Harry Reid, Harvard neuroscientist Allen

Counter, and murder cases from Dr. Eberhadts. All credible and reliable sources to aid in the

facts and observations of colorism around the world. Pathos is portrayed throughout the article as

the examples and facts are provided. The information evokes two very strong emotions which are

anger and confusion. Anger because of how people are being treated all because of the shade of

their skin tone. Confusion because of the fact that we have come so far with acceptance, yet

society still colorizes people and profiles them from the start. However, as these emotions arise it

has a positive affect because it is opening the audiences eyes to what is happening in society and

now giving them ideas on how they could possibly improve or end the idea of colorism.

The article as a whole defines colorism perfectly for the audience that is reading. The

structure and delivery includes facts first and then flows into examples so that the reader is can

get a true vision of how negative colorism can really be. Also, a part of the article is a visual

component of a white triangle with two holes and two blue eyes sticking out. It appears that this

is meant to be a KKK member who is possibly hiding behind the title of a government official.

Vedantam is able to prove how the government aids in the idea that is colorism through the two

murder cases. The article itself is emotion provoking, informative, and makes the audience want

to end colorism.

Granted, both the documentary and the article used different genres to convey their

message, they do share some similarities. Of course, both the genres share the same message,

which is what colorism is, how it affects people, and how the idea can come to an end. Moreover,

the genres almost feed off one another. This is found as they both talk about Barack Obama.
Although he is mentioned in two different ways, the shade of his skin is still the main focus. For

instance, in the article a study is done where they tested campaign ads where Obama was light in

one and dark in the other. As this was done they found that voters were less likely to vote for that

darker-skinned campaign ad (Vedantam, 2010). Meanwhile, in the documentary the women who

were interviewed were proud to have not only a man and woman of color in office, but a dark-

skinned woman in office because they finally had someone just like them to see on television

(Duke & Channsin Berry, 2011 ). Finally, the difference that is seen between both genres would

have to be the emotion that is brought upon the audience. The documentary made the audience

more sympathetic but still angry because of how these beautiful women were treated. While the

article brought more facts to the table that confused and angered the audience.

All in all, the documentary Dark Girls is the more capable and proficient genre for the

topic of colorism. Although both were meant to convey the same message, the documentary was

more appealing because of the many perspectives that were used to expose what colorism is and

how it has affected different elements of life. By adding in those who were colorized, it brought

emotions to the fore front and made the audience truly understand just how serious this topic is.

Overall, people are always going to have a preference when it comes to how a message is

conveyed, but the best one must be chosen in order for an audience to feel passionate about the

topic.
 Works Cited
Duke, B., & Channsin Berry, D. (Directors). (2011 ). Dark Girls [Motion Picture].
Vedantam, S. (2010, January 18). Shades of Prejudice . Cambridge ,
Massachusettes , United States of America .