COLOURISM

During the pandemic, the internet was filled with conversations about race. I was drawn into a Facebook post that had over 13,000 comments about the complexion of my skin. My father is African American, and he posted a picture of me and my brothers with the caption "So proud of my Black children." The internet went wild, with one person responding by saying I was not Black because I am so light-skinned. However, thousands of darker-skinned people responded to this individual by uploading pictures of their children who were of a lighter complexion but still claimed that their children were Black. I understand that in the USA, things are very different. The "one drop rule," a principle in which racial categorization was coined during the early 20th century, meant that if a person had a parent of Black ancestry, they would be classified as Black. I guess this was a form of rejection, seen as polluting Whiteness.

As a youth, I struggled with my identity, being called the N-word and the P-word quite often. Nowadays, I am confident in claiming my mixed heritage and all its beautiful parts. I identify as a human being with a rich tapestry of migration and adaptation. But if I were forced to choose, if we totally split into two groups, I would say I am Black because my DNA results identified that I have from the 1700s to date, seven different African countries in my blood, so I guess I have more than one drop! But I do agree with Duke, in that the quicker we see each other for our qualities, the better. But we cannot discount the pain and suffering of people with darker skins, we must change the narrative and get busy filling spaces and creating equity, displaying excellence and dispelling myths.

Xcellence magazine caught up with Duke, a poet, writer, and spoken word artist, to find out what his poem "Liquorish" is all about. The topic around colourism is definitely up for conversation.

What is your poem liquorice based on?

The poem Liquorice is based on my personal experience being mixed race, White Welsh/Jamaican. I wanted to create a piece that tried to explain the lived experience that some mixed-race people go through. I am a poet and spoken word artist, so for me this is the best way to express myself, through words. I wanted to create a piece that was thought provoking and relatable. Liquorice is about acceptance, sometimes, not being accepted as either Black or White, as though you are somehow in the middle, but having negative experiences that often lean towards the Black side of my heritage. Since we live within a matrix made up of social constructs, where everything is very Black or very White, it is as though we must choose one side or the other, but both sides do not claim us. In my experience I have been a victim of mainly blind racism and colourism. Although blind racism within the poem is not malicious in intent, it is used in the form of banter to explore ignorance, which I feel is overlooked, so wanted to shine a light on the issue. I hope through my words people can gauge an understanding that there are internal struggles that go with trying to identify, as one or the other and my experiences being rejected by both is unacceptable. I feel that this is a topic that is worth exploring.

What do you think people can do to understand the experiences of people of mixed-race heritage?

People need to consider both heritages when understanding the experiences of mixed-race people. These experiences can be both positive and negative within society. To not accept a person’s heritage because you think they are of a lighter complexion is wrong. In my opinion, it goes deeper than skin shade, what about hair texture and features that display Blackness? How do we navigate our way through society, with physical attributes that would categorise us as Black, but denied because we are light skinned? The juxtaposition being our features defined as Black by White people?

"My Vision for the future is for us to not see skin tone but character"

Being of dual heritage for me living in Wales, just means being Welsh. As much as I experience the world as a mixed-race person, I strongly believe that people should see no colour, just our humanity. Considering first, what a person stands for in their morals, ethics, and values. Racism is an ideology that is taught and used to control the distribution of wealth and distort equality. However, my thought is, if we stop talking about race and more about what connects us, we could go a long way to eradicate racism. Furthermore, I really dislike the term, ‘people of colour’ I believe it only divides White people from everybody else, it still fuels the divide of that racism has created, also white is still a colour! However, I do also feel that it is important not to ignore the inequalities that persist, to discount a person’s lived experience is exactly what Liquorice is about. But I hope we get to a point in time, where we are all seen and heard, for our human essence and treated accordingly. As I said, I express myself through words, which are also interchangeable, for instance the term coloured, which in the UK is a term that is socially unacceptable, but it is a term used frequently to categorised people in South Africa. See how words change, depending on location and time, it is funny how society evolves, searching for more palatable and acceptable terms of ethnic categorisation, but the one thing that does not change is the fact that we all want to be seen for who we are, we all need to earn a living, and have our basic needs met, as well as play a positive role in society. Racism was created to divide people, to scare people, to enslave people, to increase the power and wealth of slave owners, and other ruthless, selfish individuals.

Racism still divides us to this day, but the counter argument against racism, is equity, it is fair distribution, it is understanding that the minority group, who put its roots down in so many parts of the world, accept that their greed has created, this Black and White narrative. I have thought deeply about the root of all evil which would have led to racism being created, I personally believe it not to be money and power, but selfishness and narcissism. The brutal decision to intently hurt another person for personal gain, shows a terrifying lack of empathy, and a horrifying selfish attitude. It is important to see the human race as one, yet recognise our uniqueness in culture, passions, values and goals, maybe then, we can work together and see the beauty in our cultural differences and learn from one another to protect this planet we share.

How do we eradicate colourism?

In my opinion, racism and colourism are branches of the same tree, which is why we need to stop talking about colour. We instead need to celebrate culture and love our individual heritage, which sometimes, may be dual or multiple, but we must recognise them as part of our identity. Culture can offer more depth to a person, as a description to their different experiences but we should not be defined by skin tone. The matrix we have created can influence us, but I hope by having these conversations, we begin to see that ridiculous idea that having the same skin colour assumes we all believe the same, act the same and think the same. We are individuals, drawing from our own uniqueness. It is society that pigeonholes us and holds us back from living our fullest personal expression. I hope we stop conforming to these absurd ideologies and experience life as we were meant to, with one as one.

I have thought deeply about the root of all evil which would have led to racism being created, I personally believe it not to be money and power, but selfishness and narcissism.