Tasheia Floyd Draft 1

The media is a vital source for what we as society do, believe, and accept. From fashion to the type of people one should date the media answers all of the questions to our problems while making indirect suggestions. When watching TV or reading a magazine, we all know that skinny women with beautiful radiant hair and smoothing looking skin is what is desire. But, if you really analyze the message these music videos, ads, and magazine covers are saying, you will see that the essence of beauty lies in the hands of light complexioned people of the African American race awakening the sad but true idea that whiter or lighter) is better. As slavery took a rise, so did the amount of sexual intercourse between African female slaves and masters, some rape others consensual. With this breeding of different races, a multitude and variety of beautiful skin tones evolved. From light to cocoa brown to ebony black, the African American race was embracing itself with multitudes of complexions, but it had to be used against them for the betterment of slavery. The history of the mistreatment of darker complexioned blacks seems to have begun during the days of slavery when the masters were trying to find ways to control their slaves, keeping them in line and obedient. Willie Lynch, a slave owner in the West Indies, delivered a famous speech in Virginia in 1712 that suggested several tactics and strategies to keep slaves against each other. One of his tactics still living in the black community today is the use [of] the dark skin slaves vs. the light skin slaves, and the light skin slaves vs. the dark skin slaves. (Finalcall.com News 1) The offspring of the white masters would receive better treatment than those who were pure Africans. It just so happened that those pure African slaves were of darker tone compared to the biracial slaves. But as time went on, complexion seemed to be doing more than just choosing your duties as a slave. Author Nina

Goodwine of The Legacy of the Brown Paper Bag writes light-skinned slaves, particularly women, were considered gentler, kinder, more handsome, smarter and more delicate, than darker-skinned slaves. Along with discrimination and prejudice was the belief and assumption of how skin complexion linked to personality. A darker complexion slave was seen as man-like, rough, unattractive and the like. How can you assume such things based on complexion? Could it be that the mistreatment of darker-toned slaves brought about their robust angry facial features, while the lighter-toned slaves embraced their fair treatment as the shame, but responsibility of their masters? As time went on and slavery became abolished, African Americans still carried a sense of worthlessness and self-hate. It was becoming clear that most black people were ashamed of being black. Today in the twenty-first century, there is still a perception that being a lighter hue will bring about success, acceptance, attention, and better social roles. In the entertainment industry, advertisements, music videos, and commercials are shamelessly embracing the lighter complexioned African American, because of their white features: small nose, long straight or wavy hair, pretty-colored eyes, and pink lips. Famous rapper Lil Wayne bluntly states in the introduction to a popular collaborated song titled Every Girl, I like a long-haired thick redbone.