By Jaleesa Johnson
Growing up, Snow White was a confusing story to me. We all remember the call, “Magic mirror, on the wall. Who’s the fairest of them all?” By ‘fairest’, I didn’t realize she meant ‘prettiest’. And by ‘prettiest’, I definitely didn’t realize she meant ‘whitest’. As a black kid, I just added ‘fair skin’ to the long list of words that didn’t apply to me, including ‘pure’ and ‘princess-material’. Thankfully, in recent years, Disney has turned a new leaf and added an African-American princess to the mix. However, that’s still just a fantasy story.
The reality is, if you Google the meaning of the phrase ‘fair skin’, you’ll notice that ‘pale skin’ or ‘pale complexion’ are the leading definitions. However, that’s like saying the meaning of ‘black person’ is ‘dark complexion’. Yeah. I guess that explains it. But without really giving any understanding of the intentions behind the words. Intentions are just as important as the final product in my book. They speak volumes to one’s character. So, I wonder, what are the intentions behind the phrase ‘fair skin’ and why does it only apply to white people?
Malcolm X once shared his views on the definition of words in the English language and how they can sometimes be used to oppress a certain demographic. Specifically, he referenced the word ‘black’ and its connection to evil and darkness, as opposed to ‘white’ which is associated with purity and light. Now, of course, it can’t be denied that black is a dark color and white is a light color. However, it would be foolish to not consider the sociological effects those associations can bring when you slap these labels onto a human being.
In America, black men–who only account for up to 6% of the nation’s population–constitute 40% of the 60 unarmed citizens who have been fatally shot by police this year. Not to mention that black people are three times more likely to be shot by the cops than white people. And 98% of these incidents result in in the officers not being charged with any crime. Now, of course not all fair-skinned people are responsible for the unfair treatment of dark-skinned people. However, we cannot stand by and allow a small but powerful group of individuals use our different levels of melanin as fuel to drive their hateful agenda.
So, the question remains, “why do we still call white people fair skinned?” Here’s a modern-day theory:
While it’s hard to determine whether or not this is the words’ true origin, I can’t help but make the connection that perhaps we call white people fair skinned simply because cops are fairer to them.
You could say ‘shots fired’, but–well, that’s the problem.
