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New Book — Exploring Shadeism
Racism | Colorism
Publishing a book has become pretty easy — and my most recent book illustrates that perfectly.
It’s called Exploring Shadeism, and I published it in a weekend.
Here’s how it happened. I did some research a while back, and it was suggested that I publish it. But publishing deals didn’t grow on trees, so I just let it lie. Now, it’s different.
Thanks to the wonders of Designrr, and Kindle Direct Publishing, it took only a couple of days to get the text I already had from Word doc to ebook and print on demand paperback. I share a little bit of that story in my recent email newsletter.
So, what’s the book about? Check out this promo video, then read on.
[embed]https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=URnRrWi9YNU[/embed]
It’s about the politics of shade (or color) and how it affects everyday life in the Caribbean. Exploring Shadeism includes quotes from interviews and surveys that reveal how some people have experienced colorism. And if you live in a place where this happens, I’m pretty sure you’ll recognize some of the types of incidents and behaviors described here.
I don’t consider that lighter equals more attractive (I don’t subscribe to that at all), but I do recognize that lighter often equals more opportunity, more privilege.
The book also looks at how literature reinforces or tackles issues of shade and color:
Black literature, both inside and outside the Caribbean, provides striking evidence of preoccupation with skin shade and European features. For example, Toni Morrison’s The Bluest Eye tells of a dark-skinned little girl who wanted to be white because of her perception that this was where true social acceptability lay.