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If You’re Light Skinned Please Move to the Front of the Line! by Anonymous
Monday, January 4th, 2010 | 29 Comments
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For about three months I worked for a promotional group in the DC area. For the sake of the group I will call them X. X was your typical promotion group, getting young adults to help them pass out flyers, collect email addresses and for me specifically, work the guest lists at various clubs and lounges in our area. Twice a week from 9pm to midnight I stood outside of one extremely popular and successful DC club checking off names that were on the guest list. Oh.. it was such a fun job and a great way to make some extra cash while attending college. I made great connections and got in good with the bouncers where even to this day I do not have to stand in line or pay to attend this club.
Unfortunately, all was not great while working there. I saw first hand racism and sexism coming from the people I worked around. The bouncers (especially the lead bouncer) would actually let White, Hispanic, and light-skinned Black women (including bi-racial) in for free until practically mid-night while at the same time they would charge darker-skinned women to get in the club. So for example: It’s 10pm on a Thursday night and two light-skinned women walk up to the entrance. It wouldn’t matter if their names were on the list or not because they would be told to please go on in. Then at 10:15pm a dark-skinned woman would walk up to the entrance and right away the bouncers would say things like “It’s $20.00” or “The guest list closed at 10pm….$20.00). Even when the guest list actually closed at 11pm, White and lighter skinned women would often get a $10.00 off discount to enter the club whereas the darker-skinned women would have to pay full price.
Oh yes, this does actually happen and its happening in our clubs all over DC. This action angered me because there has always been this topic of light skinned women vs. dark skinned women and how many Black men prefer one over the other and blah blah blah. Oftentimes the blame of this problem is put on the women themselves as if they started this fight and hate against each other. Yet no one talks about the institutions that put Black women against each other.
Take for example P. Diddy and his ad campaigns and commercials for Ciroc Vodka, Unforgivable, and I Am King cologne. Most of these ads are filled with non-Black or very light skinned women (like Cassie and Lauren London). Why is that? In an online article entitled “What’s Wrong With Dark Skinned Women?…Ask Diddy” I found a complaint letter from a Black female model who received an invite to audition for one of these ads. She complained because this is what the casting invite said:
Ciroc Promotion
Ciroc promo is this Friday, March 27, 2009
Time: 3:00pm – 7:00pm and 12:00am – 3:00am
Requirements:
Race: White, Hispanic or Light Skinned African-American
Height: At least 5′6 or taller
Size 7 or smaller.
This is a cash @ wrap job and the booking will be thru our partner. Please submit asap. Talent will only be contacted if the client is interested in booking you!!!
Compensation: $35.00 per hour
(courtesy of http://necolebitchie.com)
This is fucking ridiculous and I’m tired of it. So many individuals have this sick, brainwashed notion of what beauty looks like and apparently to them dark-skin is not beautiful.
What do you think?
29 Comments »
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sooo….not…cool
I wonder if dark skinned men would do that to their moms
Comment by CreoleSugar — January 4, 2010 @ 11:24 pm
It’s crazy right. I don’t even know what to say about this one. I’m sure it happens, but no one really talks about it.
Comment by Reefaman — January 4, 2010 @ 11:25 pm
But Diddy has been with women of all colors (Sienna Miller to JLo to his first baby mama) and has three kids by Kim Porter who is brown skinned. Is Lauren London very light skinned? At first it was only whites, and then expanded to people of color, then its light skins? How far and long will the outrage go? Next is not enough short hair, full lips, moles on your right cheek? Why not hate on the 5’6″, tiny girls should be able to be beautiful too?
My biggest gripe is bringing the light skin girls in the convo, they are just as ‘black’ as the dark skin girls. Societal beauty models suck anyway but they are what they are to each person. The same person that complains about them is the usually the same person that is ascribing to their own beauty standards that they want. If you’re brown, light, dark, somebody loved (I hope) each other to bring you here and thats all that matters to you and to the next that is brought in.
the flyer shouldn’t discriminate but the entire issue isnt about brainwashing IMO because anybody that believes in the concept of physical ‘beauty’ at all is brainwashed to a certain extent.
Comment by Cmonson — January 5, 2010 @ 12:03 am
ah this is so sad…smh…this world is truth f’d up were not going to hell were already living in it.
Comment by sinitus tempo — January 5, 2010 @ 5:44 am
Sad. This prom’l company out in Richmond, VA actually had an event where if you brought two light-skinned females in you both got in for the price of one. They had the flyer on a major gossip website a couple of months ago. Sad and ignorant.
Comment by Lola Maxwell — January 5, 2010 @ 11:45 am
crazy…sad….it’s 2010, c’mon!
Comment by Lo — January 5, 2010 @ 3:23 pm
They do….
Comment by MissXMCB — January 5, 2010 @ 11:51 pm
Although I don’t doubt that some of this article is true. I feel the author loses credibility for publishing anonymously.
Comment by DCSuperSid — January 6, 2010 @ 9:51 am
to cmonson, who commented above me, you should read ‘the isis papers’ by dr frances cress welsing. might help you understand the context of this blog entry a bit better.
Comment by spirit equality — January 6, 2010 @ 9:54 am
As someone who rarely frequents DC clubs, the couple of times I have…I’ve seen this happen…and spoke out about it at one club that shall remain nameless…it’s a shame the ‘velvet’ rope is color struck.
Comment by [fung'ke][blak][chik] — January 6, 2010 @ 10:10 am
I’m actually not black but I can’t believe this goes on at clubs but ice def experienced it in the Bars in college park the majority of my friends are African American and on one night we decided to go to thirsty turtle a reknown bar in CP and they let white dudes in with no problem didn’t even ask for school id but when me and my friend were up they requested school IDs I kirked but of course they still didn’t let us in…..I’m aware of this and I think because of this I kind of get turned off by light skinned guys I prefer darker guys if this makes any sensense lol I just hate seeing any one getting discriminated against I net the bouncers in this write were black and I wouldn’t be surprised if their dark tone smh!
Comment by sugarformybooga — January 6, 2010 @ 10:25 am
I’m actually not black but I can’t believe this goes on at clubs but ice def experienced it in the Bars in college park the majority of my friends are African American and on one night we decided to go to thirsty turtle a reknown bar in CP and they let white dudes in with no problem didn’t even ask for school id but when me and my friend were up they requested school IDs I kirked but of course they still didn’t let us in…..I’m aware of this and I think because of this I kind of get turned off by light skinned guys I prefer darker guys if this makes any sensense lol I just hate seeing any one getting discriminated against I net the bouncers in this write were black and I wouldn’t be surprised if their dark tone smh!
Comment by sugarformybooga — January 6, 2010 @ 10:25 am
This is indeed horrible, but I’m also amused that folks are so hesitant to name names. The writer is already ‘Anonymous’, what do you have to lose?
*shrug*
Go to these bamma ass clubs, get some bamma ass treatment. Give these bammas your money and you validate them.
Or you can avoid the heartache (and the hypothermia from standing in line with your pretty brown skin exposed to the elements in your club outfit) and hang out at real places for real people.
Comment by DJStylus — January 6, 2010 @ 10:26 am
spirit equality: I have read the Isis Papers, it still is what it is. the why is not changing it. I understand the context well and I could recommend some more reading for you but it still reflects a standard of beauty that should be changed. What it should do is state that “beauty is in the eye of the beholder” and that standards are what they are, not definitive unless you allow it to be. There is somebody out there for you, if the person YOU like doesnt like YOU, does that mean that ur not beautiful? NO. You just found somebody who didn’t believe that, move on and deal with it, somebody out there DOES.
like look at sugarformybooga, “oh this is terrible” then but I prefer dark skin guys to light skin guys.” I’m light skinned and it dont bother me a bit. I know there are people that find me attractive so I hope that I will also find one of them attractive and mentally compatible. You can’t be everybody’s cup of tea especially when trying to ascribe to a standard that will always have limiters on it. Again the flyer shouldnt blatantly discriminate but this is deeper than a flyer.
Comment by cmonson — January 6, 2010 @ 11:41 am
DJ Stylus is dead on. Clubs are havens for bamma, ass shallow thinking. You want things that arent purely dictated by a stupid societal standard of beauty go to places where people think instead of get drunk and and try to look good. Again “beauty is in the eye of the beholder”, stop trying to change people’s opinions and just be beautiful to that person who WILL eventually find you that way.
Comment by cmonson — January 6, 2010 @ 11:51 am
I also agree with DJ Stylus. I also get the impression that although she has all of these issues with the club policies, she still likes to get in free to the club and she doesn’t want to name names and mess up her connections.
Comment by DCSuperSid — January 6, 2010 @ 12:38 pm
I agree with Stylus. Your actions mean more than sounding off one sec, to go back and patronise the same wack shit you griped about.
Your money and presence is akin to a vote. No matter what you say, you still voted for that shit and continue to do so.
@cmonson there’s a whole lot you could read but if you observed these behaviours honestly, you should know better. You can like light-skinned, white or other hued women more than dark-skinned women. Treating them with disdain bc of what you or anyone else likes is the manifestation of a problem.
Isis Papers is a great read.
Comment by FrankTalkDC — January 6, 2010 @ 12:44 pm
All these club owners, managers and bouncers are laughing at your silly asses as you shiver in the cold, craning your necks and looking hopeful behind the velvet rope, desperate to cough up your money to be herded like cattle and then rewarded by harrassment from a**holes whose behavior isn’t modified by the fact that they wore a suit to “da club” but who may cover your tab for overpriced drinks.
Dark, light or white, your money is green and that’s ultimately what matters.
Comment by DJStylus — January 6, 2010 @ 12:49 pm
I don’t understand why people are so surprised. If you spend your time in shallow places that play a bunch of shallow music, you’re ultimately gonna get what you pay for. Besides, there are far worse things than being discriminated against at Ibiza…holla at me when they start lettin light-skinned people to the front of the line at the MVA
Comment by All Man — January 6, 2010 @ 1:48 pm
i am not surprised. the first thing that 90% of black men do when they become successful is date outside their race. instead of empowering there own race they contibute to another because they are ashamed, hate, or dont know where they come from. If more black men had pride in there race they would feel that black women were good enough. Slave trade stipped many african desendents of their culture and pride by be littling us for hundreds of years. Black men treat women of their own race just as our white slave owners did a little over 100 years ago and we came too long to recieve that treatment.
Comment by j rite — January 6, 2010 @ 2:15 pm
I am not surprised at all about the content of this story as the ignorance displayed by the staff of the club is a reflection of clouded perceptions of beauty in this country in general. I’m sure a lot of brown skin girls can attest to hearing “you’re pretty for a brown skin girl” or “light skin girls are badder than dark skin girls”. This is just brain-washed ignorance and clear examples of “self-hatred” for people within your own culture.
This club is clearly practicing discrimination but that is the way the night club scene works. “Pretty girls” get in free and are welcomed to free drinks at tables which I can’t complain about, sorry. But making people pay based on COMPLEXION is downright idiotic and disrespectful.
This “light vs. dark” way of thinking was originally devised in the SLAVE DAYS in order to DIVIDE and conquer African Americans as a group of people who otherwise should be forming bonds not rifts (for example I’m sure a lot of you have read Willie Lynch’s speech “The Making of a Slave” from 1712 “You must use the DARK skin slaves vs. the LIGHT skin slaves”). Look at the conflict it’s causing just on this blog! Of course the marketing tactics and media advertisements that continuously over represent lighter complexion girls and SNUB using darker models, such as with the example of Diddy’s ads, don’t help either.
I know it’s not just girls with “darker” complexions that get the hate; there are people with “lighter” complexions who are mistreated or taunted too! Ultimately it is up to us as individuals to be wiser than to succumb to believing in these stereotypes and standards in our own mindset of what’s beautiful. We need to embrace our differences and realize we have an amazing culture with a variety of beautiful people.
Comment by Alicia — January 6, 2010 @ 2:20 pm
i think it’s incredibly foolish to say 90% of black men date outside their race once they get “successful.” You’re most likely talking about professional athletes, in which case i hope you realize that there are tons of “successful” (you probably should have just said wealthy, cuz that’s most likely what you meant) Black men who don’t get nightly coverage on ESPN. Even if they do, so what? How does that affect you? Black folks need to realize that love is colorblind, and a Black man loving someone from Brazil, China , or Ireland has absolutely nothing to do with the amount of pride he has for his race. Wake up people
Comment by All Man — January 6, 2010 @ 2:25 pm
@j rite NOT TRUE! I’m tired of people always saying that black men date out of their race when they become successful. What numbers do we have to prove that? Of course you’re going to single out the ones who do, but honestly can you give me a percentage of those that do to those that don’t. I mean come one, for real.
Majority of black men date within their race whether successful or not. Stop trying to put all successful black men into a corner or a group because it simply isn’t true. For every successful black man that dates or marries out of his race you can definitely find 3 that don’t.
Another thing that I noticed is that this topic seems to have brought out alot of different sub topics. One second we’re talking about Diddy using only white, hispanic and light skinned women in his ads to club ethics.
What I believe the author is trying to talk about is the issue of light-skinned vs dark-skinned and how it’s still prevalent in the black community and an example of it was depicted in the club he/she worked at. The club example is definitely prejudice no doubt, but when we bring up issues amongst ourselves when it comes to dating is it prejudice or preference?
Comment by JokesOnYou — January 6, 2010 @ 2:32 pm
@FrankTalkDC I didn’t say anything about treating them like disdain, I took what I got from the tone of the article, which didn’t allude only to a flyer but a standard of beauty. I said in both my posts that the flyer shouldnt discriminate but you shouldnt care about this or any other standard of beauty especially at a club. I don’t treat anyone regardless of color with disdain.
Comment by cmonson — January 6, 2010 @ 3:50 pm
This is crazy, but I feel that if you go somewhere and you get bad service, no matter if its the merchandise is cheap, bad customer service, bad food, discrimination etc, you should let everyone know. I understand why the author wouldn’t want to be named because they obvisously have personal relationships with the venue, but you should name the venue. That way people will know about them and will know what to expect/ watch for if they still choose to attend these places. Trust if I get bad service I will let you know exactly where because there are too many businesses that will treat customers right and have you satisfied to let bad service go anonymous
http://www.twitter.com/dmvlife
Comment by DMV Life — January 7, 2010 @ 5:07 am
This goes back to slavery and the Willie Lynch letter. The term “lynching” is derived from his last name. Willie Lynch had a full proof method on controlling Black Slaves. He had many tactics but one that fits with this article is Breaking the Process of African American Woman, Crossbreading the “NIGGER”- this means a white slave owner slept with our sistas and made Birarcacial children. When the lighterskin children grew older, they were told they were better than the darker skin slaves. Stripped from there parents at a young age, The light skin slaves lived in a society of there own. Manipulation, being told that light skin is better than dark skin is ignorance and we have been manipulated from the Law of slavery as well as the Willie Lynch letter. PPL EDUCATE YOURSELF.
Comment by solodolocandy — January 8, 2010 @ 3:41 pm
This goes back to slavery and the Willie Lynch letter. The term “lynching” is derived from his last name. Willie Lynch had a full proof method on controlling Black Slaves. He had many tactics but one that fits with this article is Breaking the Process of African American Woman, Crossbreading the “NIGGER”- this means a white slave owner slept with our sistas and made Biracial children. When the lighterskin children grew older, they were told they were better than the darker skin slaves. Stripped from thier parents at a young age, The light skin slaves lived in there own society. Manipulation, being told that light skin is better than dark skin is ignorance and we have been manipulated from the Law of slavery as well as the Willie Lynch letter. PPL EDUCATE YOURSELF.
Comment by solodolocandy — January 8, 2010 @ 3:44 pm
Alicia and Solodolocandy hit it right on the head. Willie Lynch was a slave owner who went to different plantations teaching other slave owners how to control their slaves. Their plan was to turn African men and women against each other and lighter slaves against darker slaves so that rather then coming together as a people they would always be divided and conquered. I feel that the author was trying to point out the fact that we (ethnic communities with no wealth, who barely own anything, and who are economically suffering) cannot expect others to respect us as a group when we do not respect each other. We can’t expect others to support us when we do not support each other. Diddy and the bouncers’ actions in dividing our people only continues the cycle of ignorance and hate.
Comment by Kia Renee’ — January 8, 2010 @ 4:18 pm
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RELATED LINK:
newsblaze.com/story/20090621155502zzzz.nb/topstory.html
boards.mulatto.org/post/show_single_post?pid=34070414&postcount;=14
ourfilmspace.com/forum/topics/2045657:Topic:42413?commentId=2045657:Comment:246405
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Comment by APGifts — January 27, 2010 @ 10:37 am