Is colorism – the valuing of lighter skin over darker skin – still a major issue in black communities?
The author Marita Golden ruminates over at the Washington Post
:I have begun more and more to conclude that colorism is the most unacknowledged and unaddressed mental-health crisis in communities of color around the world. We speak of the color complex as a problem, as an issue, but it’s negative emotional impact on people of all hues is so serious that it needs to be called what it is – a disease. Google “color complex†and you will see impressive evidence of the vigorous Internet debates and discussions on this topic, such as the July essay from Vibe Vixen about a light-skinned girl whose blackness is questioned and an Allvoices.com essay from 2010 about the color complex crippling African Americans.