Afrocentric Features Are Still Seen as Undesirable. Here’s Why
An essay about a distinct form of discrimination, featurism
In a 1962 speech, Malcolm X famously asked a room full of Black people, “Who taught you to hate yourself.” He was addressing the way American society, dominated by the white gaze, views Black people as inferior to White people, which contributes to internalized anti-Blackness. “Who taught you to hate the texture of your hair,” the “color of your skin,” the “shape of your nose, and the shape of your lips,” he asked. Malcolm’s goal was to promote self-love to elevate the collective self-esteem of Black people, who are often made to feel they’re worthless and that their features are undesirable. However, his words also opened the door for us to examine how race-related characteristics impact our experiences.
While race is often discussed as a binary construct, colorism, featurism, and texturism — byproducts of white supremacy — exist on a spectrum. For instance, featurism can be understood as a prism where access to social opportunities and resources is refracted differently based on one’s position. Those with Eurocentric features may pass through life more easily than those with Afrocentric features. Thus, being Black or belonging to any racial group is dynamic and nuanced. It’s not enough to simply categorize someone as Black, White, Asian, or Indigenous because their phenotypical presentation will also impact their experiences, not just their group membership. Overlooking featurism hampers efforts to understand how discrimination impacts Black people and other marginalized groups.
Evidence suggests that skin color and features shape the experiences of individuals distinctly from their racial categorization. King and Johnson (2016) found that White people who possessed “features that more closely resemble blacks are treated more harshly than other whites.” This indicates that featurism uniquely accounts for some discrimination people experience, even among White people, the hegemonic group. Furthermore, researchers found a significant relationship between darker skin tone, Afrocentric facial features, and harsher criminal sanctions (King & Johnson, 2016). For every unit increase in the skin tone scale, they found a 15% increase in prison sentence length, suggesting that darker-skinned people receive significantly harsher punishments related to their skin color, not just their racial identity.
In a society where proximity to whiteness is treated like a gold standard, someone’s experiences are tied to their position within that hierarchy. Blair et al. (2002) suggest that people judge those with Afrocentric features as more likely to possess traits stereotypically attributed to African Americans. If a volume dial controlled the level of prejudice experienced, the sound of privilege would increase toward the lighter end of the spectrum while the noise of discrimination fades. Conversely, those on the darker end face deafening prejudice. Of course, we cannot control the features we’re born with in our society, or decide where we fall on this spectrum. However, we can collectively work toward a society that mitigates discrimination experienced by darker-skinned people with pronounced Afrocentric features.
Those addressing the impacts of colorism or any other form of discrimination stemming from white supremacy are often accused of being divisive. However, the evidence demonstrating the significant impact of skin color, hair texture, and facial features on people’s lives necessitates conversations about nuanced inequities. Historically, light-skinned Black people often held better occupations and earned higher incomes, even after controlling for education and social background (Blair et al., 2002; Hill, 2000; Keith & Herring, 1991). This discrimination continues to resonate in the modern era, as Keith et al. (2017) found that respondents with darker skin were more likely to be exposed to a high level of discrimination, disrespect, and condescension in everyday communication.
Livingston and Brewer (2002) revealed that participants responded more favorably to African Americans with less pronounced Afrocentric features. Furthermore, they found that Afrocentric features predicted stereotypic judgments “even when racial category membership was controlled for.” Again, this research shows how featurism uniquely impacts lived experiences. In an investigation using post-reconstruction era census data, Green and Hamilton (2013) found a gendered difference in how colorism impacted mortality. As expected, there was a significant mortality gap between Black and White people. However, among women, there was a considerable advantage associated with mixed-race status women, not men. Their research shows why we must look beyond the binary experience of identification and consider the nuanced experiences of people.
Phenotypical discrimination has been investigated among other marginalized groups as well, not just Black and White Americans. For instance, Murguia and Telles (1996) found that Mexican Americans who had the “lightest skin tone and most European-looking” had “about 1.5 more years of schooling than those with darker skin with “Indian-looking” features. This indicates that how someone racially presents is relevant beyond superficial labels. While those who endorse a color-blind racial ideology often argue that society can mitigate racial disparities if people stop discussing race and using racial categories, Murguia and Telles (1996) suggest that phenotypical discrimination occurs, separate from someone’s identification of themselves as belonging to a racial minority group.
In a society where whiteness is centered, it is unsurprising that Afrocentric features are seen as less desirable. To counter this narrative, we must consciously try to de-center whiteness. Consider how you compare every car you drive or ride to your first car. Similarly, the concepts of beauty, intellect, achievement, and potential are often viewed through a comparative lens of whiteness, where any deviation is pathologized. Even describing Black people’s noses, for instance, as wider implies a comparison is being made. Wide compared to whose nose? There are no biological weaknesses associated with Afrocentric features; possessing dark skin, a wide nose, full lips, and tightly coiled hair has no inherent disadvantages. However, subconscious comparative analysis often assesses Black people as less valuable than others, creating social disadvantages associated with their caste. Afrocentric features continue to be seen as undesirable because we have yet to mitigate pervasive anti-black attitudes that persist among Americans.
References
Blair, I. V., Judd, C. M., Sadler, M. S., & Jenkins, C. (2002). The role of Afrocentric features in person perception: Judging by features and categories. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 83(1), 5–25. https://doi.org/10.1037/0022-3514.83.1.5
Hill, M. E. (2000). Color differences in the socioeconomic status of African American men: Results of a longitudinal study. Social Forces, 78, 1437–1460.
Keith, V., & Herring, C. (1991). Skin tone and stratification in the Black community. American Journal of Sociology, 97, 760–778.
Keith, V. M., Nguyen, A. W., Taylor, R. J., Chatters, L. M., & Mouzon, D. M. (2017). Microaggressions, Discrimination, and Phenotype among African Americans: A Latent Class Analysis of the Impact of Skin Tone and BMI. Sociological Inquiry, 87(2), 233–255. https://doi.org/10.1111/soin.12168
King, R. D., & Johnson, B. D. (2016). A punishing look: Skin tone and Afrocentric features in the Halls of Justice. American Journal of Sociology, 122(1), 90–124. https://doi.org/10.1086/686941
Livingston, R. W., & Brewer, M. B. (2002). What are we really priming? Cue-based versus category-based processing of facial stimuli. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 82, 5–18.
Malcolm X — who taught you to hate yourself? Genius. (n.d.-b). https://genius.com/Malcolm-x-who-taught-you-to-hate-yourself-annotated
Murguia, E., & Telles, E. E. (1996). Phenotype and schooling among Mexican Americans. Sociology of Education, 69(4), 276–289. https://doi.org/10.2307/2112715
This article is an edited version, originally published initially on AfroSapiophile on June 7, 2024.
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And THIS is why I hate when Black people (especially the light skin one) dismissively say “they see us as all Black” like either you’re not very bright or you’re just not wanting to acknowledge the “advantages” that you have and participate in perpetrating
Of course the pigmentation fixation doesn’t stop at our hallowed shores! You should check out a country like Brazil, in all its mongrel glory. They have those “shading” interests, too.