When senior Mahadev Tapaskar attended a summer camp with other Indian kids, he didn\u2019t expect to be faced with insults about his skin color.<\/p>\n
\u201cThe other kids saw how dark I was and would belittle me,\u201d he said. \u201cI even got called a monkey. Being so dark-skinned made me feel like an outlier. Because of that, I just kept to myself and didn\u2019t really hang out with any of the other kids for the rest of the camp.\u201d<\/p>\n
Instances like these highlight a form of prejudice closely tied to racism: colorism. Merriam-Webster defines colorism as \u201cprejudice or discrimination especially within a racial or ethnic group favoring people with lighter skin over those with darker skin.\u201d While racism involves discrimination against people based on their racial group, colorism can occur within a single ethnic group.<\/p>\n
From the \u201cbrown paper bag test\u201d denying dark-skinned Black people entrance into establishments to the development of skin bleaching, colorism has strong historical roots. Its ramifications extend into the present day, perpetuating discrimination and inequality based on skin tone in communities around the world.<\/p>\n
Over centuries of enslavement or colonial rule, lighter-skinned individuals were often elevated and granted privileges compared to their darker-skinned counterparts, reinforcing the notion that fair skin equates to beauty and superiority.<\/p>\n
In the Black communities in the U.S., the origins of colorism date back to slavery, when enslaved people with fairer complexions \u2014 sometimes children of the enslaving man and an enslaved woman \u2014 were assigned to work in the house, while enslaved people with darker complexions worked in the fields. Those working in the house were more likely to receive an education, nutritious food and less physically harsh working conditions \u2014 though they were often sexually assaulted or raped by enslavers.<\/p>\n