Light "Skinneded" vs. Dark "Skinneded" (and No it ain't misspelled!)

I ran across this post by Diary of an Anxious Black Woman, where she addressed the debate on whether or not light "skinneded" people benefit from certain types of privilege over dark "skinneded" folks. While acknowledging the ways in which the lighter sistas may have done their darker sistas wrong (she really doesn't say anything about how this applies to light and dark "skinneded" men), she basically concludes:

In other words, this "privilege" is entrenched in a system that values and empowers those with white skin, and those who are "near white" or "not quite," must know their place and never challenge the hierarchy in which whites remain on top. It's why lighter-skinned blacks bear their own scars of racism. All that yellow wasted indeed.

For those who didn't accept the racial hierarchy, they do make great movers and shakers, some even great revolutionaries (think Frederick Douglass, William Wells Brown, Mary Ellen Pleasant, Ellen Craft, Harriet Jacobs, W.E.B. DuBois, Malcolm X, Huey Newton, Kathleen Cleaver). If we have ever been wrong or done wrong, it's in not pushing hard enough to break down this racial hierarchy, for the illusory promise of power was too distracting.

Let me first stay that I agree completely with my sista here -- that light or dark skin really don't matter that much when racists laws and policies are passed down. I'd also draw on another part of her post (not included here) where she discusses how she was successful academically perhaps because of her light skin or because she was an American attending schools in the Caribbean and thus, wore better clothes. Her light skin may or may not be the reason why she was successful in school, and as she argues, she's not quite sure to what extend this played a part. In short, although racist policies are irrespective of hue, as a light "skinneded" sista, she acknowledges ways she may have been privileged because of her complexion.

Here's what bothers me about the whole light vs. dark debate though: Why are we (black folk) so hung up on a hue when we expect other folk not to be ( particularly as this relates to racial oppression, racist policies, etc.)? My sista addresses hue as it may relate to academic achievement, when I can think a lot more other thangs that Black folk need to discuss in relationship to academic achievement besides someone being light skinneded. I'm not criticizing Diary of an Anxious Black Women for posting this topic on her blog; after all, she ain't the one who brought the topic up. But, when it really comes down to our schools and the underperformance of Black children, a hue will not determine if they pass standardized tests or graduate from high school. And when we speak of linguistic prejudice, light skinneded Ebonics speakers won't be prevented from being placed in remedial composition just because they hue is a lil' bit yellower. C'mon people! We got bigger fish to fry.


PC

Ralph Nader Should Sign Up for My Fall Class

This comes from CNN Political Ticker. Ralph Nader accuses Obama of talking white! Oh the ignorance! Funny how linguistic prejudice and racism continue to be manifested.

Faculty Fired For Plagiarism

I stumbled across this while looking at CNN headlines. Thoughts?

Getting Ready This Summer

I've been busy preparing course materials to teach WRA 125: Writing the Ethnic and Racial Experience this fall at Michigan State University. The course will focus on African American contributions (linguistic, rhetorical, literate) to composition studies. Students will look at writing in the field, as I adapt an Afracentric curricular approach. For those interested in the course materials, you can view them here. Although I obviously haven't taught the course yet, I will update you on the things I have been doing this summer as I prepare to teach in the fall. It's been roughly a year since I've taught, and I really excited about getting back into the classroom to do teacher-research. But here's what I've spent time doing this summer:

1) Preparing the WRA 125 course

2) Working on the Tier I Guidebook: Members of the Tier I Writing Committee are composing a handbook for all instructors teaching Tier I (First-Year Writing) at MSU.

3) The Tier I Reader: Nancy DeJoy, Collin Craig, and I are working along with McGraw Hill on the readings that will go in the reader. We've nearly finalized and obtained all permissions for these selections. I'm really excited about the reader because while it contains some familiar readings you see in FYW readers, ours is still very unique (more to come on this later).

We've recently passed a version of the shared learning goals that students should demonstrate upon completion on Tier I Writing. Our guidebook will talk about curricular materials in relationship to our learning goals. The learning goals should be up soon on the Tier I Writing website once it is updated. I'm excited that redesigning my WRA 125 Afracentric course comes at a time when we are incorporating new objectives. I'm hoping that the teacher-research I do with this curriculum will help demonstrate that instructors can use other curricular models (like Afracentricity) besides the current/traditional rhetorical paradigm, and still meet standards and programmatic requirements. More coming soon.

PC