Colorism Healing: 'I Break the Silence to Break the Cycle'
What We Can All Learn from Dr. Sarah L. Webb
Colorism. A form of discrimination that can cut deeper and scar more profoundly than the racism from which it (often) derives.
For many People of the Global Majority, colorism is a rough, tough, traumatizing topic that’s so painful to acknowledge, think about, and directly address that it’s hard to even imagine the possibility of healing.
The good news: We are FINALLY having ongoing public conversations that directly address and challenge colorism.
Many of these conversations—while much needed and welcome—focus more on expressing personal experience and opinion than on critically analyzing the bigger, systemic context of this specific ISM and its broad societal impact. And while some target corrective actions, very few grapple with the hard work of healing that must happen for real progress to take place.
Which is why I want to tell you about the marvelous Dr. Sarah L. Webb and her revolutionary work with Colorism Healing.
Dr. Sarah L. Webb’s TEDx Talk, “How Can We Heal From the Shades of Colorism?”
She is the expert, analyst, and teacher we’ve needed for so long.
“Colorism is the social marginalization and systemic oppression of people with darker skin tones and the privileging of people with lighter skin tones.”
When I grew up, we experienced and were aware of colorism, but didn’t have the language to understand or process it in a larger systemic context. We simply referred to people exhibiting colorist attitudes and behaviors as “color struck.” And even when it bothered us, we mostly grudgingly accepted it as a messed-up but inevitable fact of life.
Varnette P. Honeywood’s “Hearts Make Friends” Copyright 1986, is the cover of her famed songbook, Shake It To The One That You Love The Best.” Click HERE for her website.
Then, in 1983, literary supernova Alice Walker introduced us to the term colorism in her book, In Search of Our Mother’s Gardens as “prejudicial or preferential treatment of same-race people based solely on the color of their skin.”
While that is generally correct, Dr. Sarah—who launched Colorism Healing a decade ago to look beyond the surface and discover solutions—gives us a definition that more accurately addresses, dissects, and encompasses colorism with an eye towards healing. The definition on her website states:
Dr. Sarah teaches about various aspects of colorism with levels of nuance, clarity, and precision that have been missing from most conversations on the topic.
She helps move us through and then beyond our very subjective experiences to better understand colorism from the SYSTEMIC perspective. Her focus on the big picture helps us better understand how colorism works and think about how to disrupt it as part of the fight against racism.
She investigates, interrogates, and analyzes colorism from many angles, as evidenced by just a few of the topics she explores on her videos and podcasts:
Does Skin Tone Affect School & Workplace Outcomes?
How We Define Colorism Matters, So Let’s Get It Right
What is the Difference Between Racism and Colorism?
Beyond the Binary: Colorism is a Spectrum of Privilege
Check out her TED Talk, “How Can We Heal from the Shades of Colorism?”
5 Reasons to Follow Dr. Sarah L. Webb and Colorism Healing
Here are the Top 5 Reasons I follow and learn from Dr. Sarah—and why I warmly invite anyone who wants to better understand and learn to dismantle colorism to do the same. I find her valuable because she:
1. Speaks from her heart with passion, clarity, insight, and grace geared towards concrete SOLUTIONS.
2. Focuses on the big picture of SYSTEMIC colorism, which provides the foundation for better understanding and tools to process how it has impacted us and our communities.
3. Teaches about colorism and its many NUANCES with warmth, insight, compassion, and a ready smile. And most impressive to me: patience and good humor.
4. Maintains a good BALANCE between the macro nature of this global scourge and the micro impact on individuals, while always moving towards healing.
5. Provides clear, specific, GUIDANCE to light-skinned people who want to contribute to healing and progress.
I recommend Dr. Sarah L. Webb as a resource because as someone who has been talking and writing about colorism for decades, I believe that our collective understanding of this multifaceted issue needs to be grounded in the perspectives of darker-skinned people. Not that those of us who are lighter-skinned aren’t deeply affected as well—a dynamic I WILL speak on very soon. But because all ISMS and forms of systemic oppression / discrimination are best understood through the lenses of the folks directly on the receiving end who experience the most profoundly consistent negative impact and pain. That foundational understanding provides the context from which we can best understand ourselves and each other to do this work.
CHECK OUT DR. SARAH’S WEBSITE Colorism Healing - Colorism Healing LLC
PEEP HER YOUTUBE CHANNEL (145) Colorism Healing - YouTube
LISTEN TO HER PODCAST Colorism Healing with Dr. Sarah L. Webb on Apple Podcasts
FOLLOW HER ON INSTAGRAM Dr. Sarah L. Webb (@colorismhealing) • Instagram photos and videos