Phenotypic Proximity: Colorism and Intraracial Discrimination among Blacks in the United States and Brazil, 1928 to 1988

The level of colorism that developed among blacks in the United States (U.S.) and Brazil, during the 20th century, gave rise to intense altitudes of intraracial discrimination. This distinct form of discrimination was based on proximity to whiteness and white privilege. This essay will illustrate how attitudes toward complexion, within the black community, are a direct consequence and perpetual remnant of the white supremacy and racial hierarchy that developed in colonized societies. Colorism manifested itself in different forms in Brazil and in the U.S. However, the level of black-on-black discrimination that it spawned was grounded in the belief that one’s immediacy to whiteness created a vehicle for upward mobility.

Colorism and U.S. Immigration: Considerations for Researchers

Research on colorism in the United States frequently focuses on people of color who were born in the country such as African Americans. Globalization, however, requires social scientists to consider new dimensions of intraracial discrimination as research studies must attend to realities and standpoints about race, as well as other forms of categorization, that are not traditionally represented in conversations about in-group stratification. In this article, we consider how colorism acts as a force that propels many immigrants toward identification with whiteness. Based on historical and contemporary snapshots of immigrant trends in the United States, we discuss how and why some groups opt to self-identify as racially White and/or align themselves with the ideological status quo regardless of their racial, phenotypic, and/or cultural self-ascriptions.

We Want Black Students, Just Not You: How White Admissions Counselors Screen Black Prospective Students

Most historically and predominantly white institutions (HPWIs) now desire some number of black students on their campuses. However, recent theoretical scholarship suggests that HPWIs’ desire for and willingness to embrace black students is predicated on their racial palatability. The theory of intraracial discrimination stipulates that white gatekeepers are increasingly inclined to screen blacks to “weed out” those they perceive as too concerned with race and racism. In this study, the author assessed whether there was evidence of intraracial discrimination within the HPWI admissions regime. The data were derived through an audit of 517 white admissions counselors, employed at the same number of institutions, who received inquiry e-mails from fictitious black high school students who presented as more or less racially salient. The findings reveal that white admissions counselors are more responsive to black students who present as deracialized and racially apolitical than they are to those who evince a commitment to antiracism and racial justice. These findings provide convincing support for the theory of intraracial discrimination within the HPWI admissions regime. The author concludes with a brief discussion of the implications of these findings.