Don't Play in the Sun: One Woman's Journey Through the Color Complex.Don't Play in the Sun: One Woman's Journey Through the Color Complex. by Marita Golden Doubleday, April 2004 $23.95, ISBN ISBN abbr. International Standard Book Number ISBN International Standard Book Number ISBN n abbr (= International Standard Book Number) → ISBN m 0-385-50786-0 In her new book, Marita Golden uses many of her own stories and takes examples from her friend's lives, as well as images in the media and long-held stereotypes, to explore how inter- and intra-racial attitudes about skin color in Verb 1. color in - add color to; "The child colored the drawings"; "Fall colored the trees"; "colorize black and white film" color, colorise, colorize, colour in, colourise, colourize, colour particular continue to affect the collective consciousness of people of African descent. Golden recalls as a child wrapping scarves scarves n. A plural of scarf1. scarves Noun a plural of scarf1 around her head and pretending she had long hair because she learned from a very early age to believe that long hair was desirable. She also discusses exchanges with her mother. Golden's mother told her not to play in the sun for fear the child would get "too dark." At the same time, she told her "Your daddy is black, but he sure is handsome." Virtually everyone Golden talked with among her friends had a story to share about bow their skin color affected how they viewed themselves, as well as the way people treated them. Golden does not limit her discussion to the United States United States, officially United States of America, republic (2005 est. pop. 295,734,000), 3,539,227 sq mi (9,166,598 sq km), North America. The United States is the world's third largest country in population and the fourth largest country in area. . She relates the widespread use of skin-lightening creams and their extremely detrimental effects in Africa and Caribbean as well. The stories are painful reminders of the pervasive, persistent effects of racism and oppression on the psyche of African people The term African people can be used in two ways. First, it may refer to all people who live in Africa, see also demographics of Africa. Second, it is commonly used to describe people who trace their recent ancestry to indigenous inhabitants of Africa, in particular Sub-Saharan around the world, and the extent to which we have internalized the beliefs of our oppressors that we are unattractive, unworthy and undesirable. To examine the color complex, Golden had to talk, of course, about how people look. By the conclusion of the book, this reviewer found the repeated references to people's "light skin," "dark skin," "keen features" and various hair and body types tiresome. I longed for a critique of the larger issue at stake, namely the world's obsession with physical appearance (not just skin color but breast size, penis size, leg length, eyebrow height, wrinkles wrinkles See bells and whistles. ), frequently at the expense of our character. There is virtually no question that an ongoing, serious dialogue about the color complex needs to take place. Only in discussing our feelings about the subject will we find healing. Yet, ultimately, this conversation must move not toward definitions that continue to emphasize our physical appearance but in a direction that focuses on our character and our intelligence. --Reviewed by Donia Elizabeth Alien Donia Elizabeth Allen Elizabeth Allen may be:
New York City City (pop., 2000: 8,008,278), southeastern New York, at the mouth of the Hudson River. The largest city in the U.S. . |
|
||||||||||||||||||
Printer friendly
Cite/link
Email
Feedback
Reader Opinion