On this week’s episode of Red Table Talk — which was filmed pre-quarantine — Jada Pinkett Smith touched on a very relevant and emotional issue that she, unfortunately, has experienced firsthand: Colorism.
She revealed that she faces the difficult memory of being “picked on for being light-skinned” when she was a girl.
It is a super sad story, and we are happy to see she’s in a better place now.
As you may already know, Jada Pinkett Smith is the absolute queen of keeping it real.
To be frank, her entire family is woke af.
But every week she brings new insights to the table (no pun intended) on Red Table Talk , that remind us she how brilliant her mind is.
This week, in a pre-quarantine recorded episode of *Red Table Talk*, Jada touched on a very relevant and emotional topic that many people of color face on a regular basis.
An issue that is not talked about nearly enough: Colorism.
For those of you that aren’t totally clear on what colorism means, it is essentially prejudice or descrimination against somebody for their skin tone, by somebody within the same ethnicity or racial group.
This is an issue that is, sadly, quite prominant in today’s day and age.
Jada, her daughter, Willow, and Adrienne Banfield Norris, sat down to discuss how colorism has affected each of them individually.
While it’s often thought that colorism is especially difficult for people with darker complexions, inflicted by those with lighter complexions, Jada admitted that in her experience, it was the opposite.
She revealed that she was bullied by black people with darker skin than her for being too light.
“I had the opposite in my experience, being picked on for being light-skinned,” she said .
Which is just awful.
“Also, I remember having plenty of conversations,” she said. “About not revealing other haritage in my blood.”
“It was like, ‘You’re black and that’s it.'”
“Back in the day, you would always hear black people like, ‘I got Indian in me,’ still not owning our own blackness,” Adrienne added .
“And that’s just a result of all the brainwashing that has happened over the years and the perpetuation of white supremacy,” Adrienne went on.
“The approximation to white is what’s valued around the world… Back in the day, if you were light-skinned and long hair, you would get bank for no reason.”
“Just think about how superficial that is.”
“My grandparents were West Indian,” Jada said. “We really didn’t have an issue with color persé, more so with class .”
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Adrienne then chimed in, explaining that her family did have an issue with color.
“There was a little bit of it with my grandmother,” she explained.
“They were from Barbados and she definitely did not like dark-skinned people. “
She then revealed that her grandmother’s prejudices actually prevented her from being able to socialize with dark-skinned children when she was younger.
“When I was little, we had neighbors that were very, very dark, and she didn’t want us to play with them,” Adrienne added.
Willow then explained that she has felt colorism with regards to her hair-type, specifically.
“One of the issues for me growing up was my hair,” she said. “That was just a struggle.”
Willow admitted that as a child, she frequently compared herself to girls with longer, silkier hair.
She often thought she would be considered more beautiful if she looked more like them.
“My cousins and my friends, I would look at her hair and be like, ‘I would be so much prettier if my hair wasn’t so kinky or if I had longer hair.’”
She admitted that it was an issue that weighed on her for a long time growing up.
“It would always be such an issue,” she concluded. Adrienne then responded, pointing out that this isn’t just a North American issue, it’s a worldwide one.
“The approximation to white is what is valued. Around the world!,” she emphasized . “It’s global.”
What do you think of the latest episode of *Red Table Talk*, where Jada Pinkett Smith, Willow Smith, and Adrienne Banfield Norris dissect the prominant issue of colorism.
Let us know your thoughts down in the comments below!
Remember to be kind everyone!
