‘Layers of Blackness’ was inspired by a feature Deborah wrote about on skin bleaching in 2005, which followed a documentary about skin bleaching by a black female filmmaker and by the failure of mainstream writers to discuss the psychological and historical factors associated with it. The primary aim of Deborah’s book is, she says:“to unite, not divide people of African descent”. I asked myself, how can you not divide people of African descent when the definition of colourism implies just that? As I continued to read through its pages, I realised that it was the psychological divisions Deborah was trying to remove - those mental hierarchies that had been ingrained since slavery. The more I read ‘Layers the Blackness’, the more I felt that colourism’s divisive one-drop rule tactics were simply designed to increase the numbers of slaves they had available to them, and that the term had absolutely no validity at all! Dark-skinned people (by virtue of them working outside on the plantation) were made to feel inferior, but the designation probably had more to do with the slave masters’ paternal loyalty why light-skinned slaves worked inside the house, as well as: “a mechanism to 13
remarks several years ago that my ex-husband was too black, so based on that premise, I surmised that it did. I remember asking myself, how could my mother say he was too black when he was almost the same colour as she was? It never occurred to me that it might be because: “internalised racism is so firmly entrenched in the consciousness of black people, they are often unaware that they have a colour complex”, as the book suggests. My mother’s remarks angered, confused and frustrated me. So does colourism stop with my mother’s generation? Deborah’s investigation on racial stratification on both a historical level, and a global level, implies that it does not.
Deborah Gabriel’s instructive book intrigued me. The concept of colourism brought to the forefront a number of suppressed issues and I wondered if colourism still existed in the 20th century. I recalled my mother’s
‘Layers of Blackness’ examines the reason for discrimination because of skin shade. It further looks into why historically, premium and deference has been placed on light-skin peoples at the expense of those of darker complexions by people within the same ethnic group; a term which is defined as ‘colourism’. Is it necessary to address colourism today? Doesn’t it just give African people yet another burden to carry?
(Non-Fiction) Publisher: Imani Media Limited. (Reviewed by Myrna Loy)
(Colourism in the African Diaspora) by Deborah Gabriel
“Layers of Blackness”
Purchase the book via www.layersofblackness.com
(Reviewed by Myrna Loy)
divide enslaved Africans, thereby minimising the likelihood of slave rebellions”. Whatever the reason, when African people continue, even today, to devalue “blackness without realising that they are endorsing white supremacy” [Gabriel] it makes us realise just how serious this ailment is, and how important it is that is treated, and treated fast. This solidly written, intellectual piece of work also addresses the issue as to why the dark skinned people opt to use bleaching creams - is it to give them, what they see as, a sense of acceptance? Does being lighter make them feel beautiful? It is this kind of misrepresentation why Deborah writes: “In order to resist the destructive nature of white supremacy and the negativity and inferiority it aims to impose on people of African descent, individuals need to be well grounded in their sense of identity and to have reached a level of consciousness where they are able to accept their blackness and wear it with a sense of pride – not to seek to mask their black identity under bleaching creams, cosmetic powders that lighten the appearance of the skin, or weaves and chemical straighteners that disguise natural hair. When I read this part, I must admit, I did feel a tug inside. I cannot accept that women are not emulating blackness because they wear weaves and wigs. There must be a number of women like me who wear weaves for different reasons, be it for religion purposes, medical reasons or simply to maintain a sense of wellbeing in a society where appearance is important. I am not suggesting that everyone who wears a weave or a wig is an alopecia sufferer or has religious restrictions and so need to disguise their natural hair, nor am I defending those who wear weaves as a cosmetic accessory - a ‘get up and go kinda ting’. I admit that there are women who wear elaborate and colourful weaves because (as Deborah asserts) they have lost their sense of identity and aspire to the European standard of beauty, but what I am saying is that cosmetic accessorising can be unrelated to a lack of black pride. ‘Layers of Blackness’ investigates how disempowerment started and if we have evolved from colourism. It serves as a pivotal resource in enabling the concept of colourism to be challenged so that disenfranchised Africans can feel validated in their blackness. So has Deborah managed to achieve her objective “to unite, not divide people of African descent?” If ‘affected’ Africans read the book, evaluate their behaviour and realise they are alienating themselves from each other by adopting discriminatory practices, then I guess, that by raising awareness to the presence of colourism - she has!