The Mudcat Café TM
Thread #89464 Message #1688702
Posted By: Azizi
08-Mar-06 - 08:35 PM
Thread Name: Origin: if your skin is brown...skin is black
Subject: RE: anyone know this song? - skin is brown/black
Deckman,
I'm curious. Did you hear White people sayin that "rhyme" or Black people. I've never heard any White people say it, but maybe they wouldn't say it around me.
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I've always considered this saying as succient commentary on who is favored and who is the low "man" on the totem pole in race conscious America. "Brown" in this rhyme means "Black people who aren't real dark skinned" like those the rhyme refers to as "black" . Actually, to better fit reality, the rhyme should have had a line that said "if you're almost White [in skin color] you're alright."
Although tremendous strides have been made to promote positve self-concept among Black people, color consciousness and preference for light skinned over dark skinned [Black] people is still prevalent among many people of African descent-at least in the USA, if not elsewhere.