The issue of “skin whitening” is caused by the oppression of colonization, racism within and outside of the same race, and social injustice to women. Townes said that “race is a social construction as well as a cultural production where there are both implicit and explicit costs and benefits to collapsing race into uninterrogated coloredness.” The popularity of “skin whitening” in most colored people countries reminds people of the existence of global racism problem, especially the racial discrimination to women. The past centuries’ feminist movement and liberation movement have not completed, and will have to continue for a long time. Compared to the physical liberation, the more important thing for colored people or women is the liberation …show more content…
He said that there were three levels of liberation: 1) the aspirations of the oppressed people; 2) an understanding of history which means that a person’s corresponding change towards the changing society; 3) Christ the savior who released us from sin, oppression and injustice. The current situation of liberation in the 21st century, compared with long slavery history in the past, is a big progress. It meets the first level of liberation. However, the “skin whitening” issue showed the ideology of colored people still colonized by whiteness. The most important approach and the highest level of liberation is having Jesus. When the humanity sinned, Jesus became the slave of penalty for us to fulfil the salvation. Having Jesus is having the true liberation because people can find the love, faith, hope and peace in …show more content…
Sharing the gospel with more people is an important way to help people seeing others, not only the physical bodies, but also their needs, their sorrows, their struggles. When we have love and humble ourselves, we will hear better, see clearer, and feel more correctly about how others feel. Rauschenbusch said that the church should “broadened its ethical teaching to any great extent to meet the new duties of the citizen-kings”. The effective way of evangelization to meet the fast changing and complicated society is that “it must appear to motives which powerfully seize men, and hold up a moral standard so high above their actual lives that it will smite them with conviction of sin.” We need to share the gospel so that people in the struggles could find the peace. Most of those who use “skin whitening” products are not confident about their identities and face the diverse and colorful world God creates. It is Christians’ responsibilities to give them comfort and erase their inner unsafety caused by the social
Skin colour means nothing but identity. Many people use it to discriminate against others whereas they have equal intelligence and sometimes the person being discriminated upon could be having sharper brains. This book is also written for kids and immigrants to learn more about the past of where they live. I recommend that every person should see the other as a partner but not as superior to the other and that there will not be any discrimination in our society.
We become conditioned, as a society, to believe that black women are angry Sapphires, who are constantly looking for a fight. Stereotypes such as this one force even modern black women to white wash themselves, their own personalities and appearances, in order to seem
In the beginning they laid a solid foundation of how color played a large part in African-American history back to the days of slavery. Giving that history is critical to understanding how colorism started within the culture. Continuing on, the documentary build a story line of the impact in society to how the issue is dealt with within the family structure. They spoke to men on their views of dark women and women on their views of dark men. One of the interesting segments was the global impact of colorism. The director’s ability to show examples of colorism in the Korean and Thai culture shed an additional perspective on the
The 18th century marked the onset or foundation of this epidemic, this disease which is ingrained in all of us. Slavery became endemic in many parts of the world, especially in Africa. It can be presumed that this movement to subdue this unknown kind to its own akin began the whole notion of racism and constructed these two parallel structures that discriminated purely on the basis of race, sex, class, color and national origin. The memory of having been capital -Africans who were bought and sold and traded lingers on in the present. The 19th century had shown development which further fueled this divide, where scientists subscribed to the belief that human population can be divided into races. With racism came the dismissal of one’s culture, tradition, beliefs, individuality, identity, their experience and beliefs. The slavery of blacks is a term that’s blotted with irreplaceable brutal history. Many
Theology is widely accepted as the study of God and religious beliefs. Liberation theology applies the study of God and religious beliefs, to the study and experience of racial, gender and class oppression. As such, liberation theology is a theology of, by, and for those doing (as in praxis) the theology and those in solidarity with them. Such reasoning has led to formations of various liberation theologies (Yellow, Red, and Black) that speak to various oppressed groups. From this line comes, the philosophy of Black liberation theology, which seeks to liberate people of color from multiple forms of political, social, economic, and religious subjugation by interpreting Christian theology as a theology of liberation. As Black Liberation Theology aligns itself with the oppressed, this paper recalls the subversive memory of slavery to ask whether there could be a White Liberation Theology; which would look at White privilege (oppressor).
From these convictions, the idea of black liberation theology was created. Blacks relate Christianity to the struggles they have endured, therefore it has to be black. “In a society where men are defined on the basis of color of the victims, proclaiming that the condition of the poor is incongruous with him who has come to liberate us.”
In the book, Gospel of Freedom: Martin Luther King, Jr.’s Letter from Birmingham Jail and the Struggle That Changed a Nation by Jonathan Rieder resurrects the letter, masterpiece of freedom and justice. Rieder programs “Gospel of Freedom” as a strong idea making it appealing to the combination of argument and action. For whites, it was difficult to digest the fact that the blacks were God’s children too. In such consequence, blacks came up with the thought that freedom is “never voluntarily given” as King stresses “It must be demanded by the oppressed”.
That being said, his text is not pro-slavery, instead, it is a demonstration on how estrangement from identity creates protection of the slave and furthermore creates a sense of humanity in regards to the slave.
We are all human, the differences in our skin shouldn’t define what we can achieve in life or stop us from enjoying the fruit of life; progress were hard fought and it wasn’t earned overnight but when people stood up and raised their voices, it shed a light into the life of most that were silenced for decades.
One of the main reasons why the world is no longer white is because of the sweeping racial changes that is on the rise and has predominantly outnumbered their white counterparts. It is evident that we’ve seen this in previous trends and in today's society. For
Racism is often considered a thing of the past, with its manifestation rarely being acknowledged in the United States today. Race: The Power of an Illusion, is a documentary that addresses the legacy of racism through its significance in the past, and its presence in society today. To understand racism, it is vital to understand the concept of race. Race is a social invention, not a biological truth. This can be observed through the varying classifications of race in different cultures and time periods. For instance, in the United States, race has long been distinguished by skin color. In nineteenth century China, however, race was determined by the amount of body hair an individual had. Someone with a large amount of facial hair, for example,
Black liberation theology is refers to a theological perspective which originated in some black churches in the United States and later in other parts of the world, which contextualizes Christianity in an attempt to help those of African descent overcome oppression. It especially focuses on the injustices committed against African Americans. The symbol of Jesus in black liberation theology is not symbolic of man but rather of oppressed groups of people. Martin Luther King Jr., a Christian reverend believed that in order to overcome oppression the black communities must endure redemptive suffering; to “turn the other cheek” Matthew 5:39. Malcolm X, a Muslim believed that the black community had suffered long enough. In a white dominated society, black has been defined as evil. Thus Christianity for Malcolm X is the white man's religion thus he believed that the black community should create their own religion in which they would be welcomed.
The Association of Black Psychologist (ABP) (2013) defines colorism as skin-color stratification. Colorism is described as “internalized racism” that is perceived to be a way of life for the group that it is accepted by (ABP 2013). Moreover, colorism is classified as a persistent problem within Black American. Colorism in the process of discriminatory privileges given to lighter-skinned individuals of color over their darker- skinned counterparts (Margret Hunter 2007). From a historical standpoint, colorism was a white constructed policy in order to create dissention among their slaves as to maintain order or obedience. Over the centuries, it seems that the original purpose of colorism remains. Why has this issue persisted? Blacks have been able to dismantle the barriers faced within the larger society of the United States. Yet, Blacks have failed to properly address the sins of the past within the ethnic group. As a consequence of this failure, colorism prevails. Through my research, I developed many questions: Is it right that this view remain? How does valuing an individual over another cause distribution to the mental health of the victims of colorism? More importantly, what are the solutions for colorism? Colorism, unfortunately, has had a persisted effect on the lives of Black Americans. It has become so internalized that one cannot differentiate between the view of ourselves that Black Americans adopted from slavery or a more personalized view developed from within the ethnicity. The consequences of this internalized view heightens the already exorbitant mental health concerns within the Black community, but the most unfortunate aspect of colorism is that there is contention on how the issue should be solved.
Lynch’s tactic was to replace the physical chains and whips of slavery with psychological tethers of oppression that had the possibility to last for 300 years (Lynch, 1712). Colorism operates in contemporary African-American community today through the perpetuation of the standards of beauty, superiority, and identity established during European colonialism. In reference to beauty, lighter skinned Black women are often perceived as more attractive than darker skinned African-American women (Hill, 2002). In addition, there is often an assumption that lighter skinned African-American women must be interracial due to their physical features (i.e. green eyes, loose texture hair) resembling that of a White person. However, people fail to realize that by making this assumption, it is suggesting that African-American women are beautiful only if they are mixed with another race that is not of African descent. From slavery until now, the identity of African-American women has been suppressed by those who see her as a subordinate to themselves, which cripples African-American women’s ability to know, accept, and love herself as fulfillment of her
Norhan Amani, a young girl growing up in India shared some of her experiences with colorism on her blog. She mentioned that when she was growing up in a South Asian community, she frequently heard comments about “forsha”, or lighter skin, and “kaalo” or darker colored skin. When she would take trip back to her home in Bangladesh her relatives would compliment her “forsha” complexion. She expressed that these comments “made [her] squirm uncomfortably”, but she never thought much of it until she grew older (Amani). She then realized that lighter complexions were constantly being looked to as ideal, while individuals with darker skin tones were being degraded. While the exact origins of colorism in the Indian subcontinent are unknown, it can be attributed to many different reasons. In the pre-colonial era, the wealthy did not have to toil outside like the peasants and workers, and therefore often had lighter complexions. This led lighter skin to be equated with higher social castes and classes. After Europeans started colonizing the Indian subcontinent, they started enforcing the idea of themselves being the master race. This further led many South Asians to consider lighter skin and European-like features more desirable. Amani also explains in her blog post that advertisements for skin-lightening creams, such as Fair and Lovely, are rampant. She further explains that, “these ads often depict women who are unable to get a job or