Only Joking?

Comedy is a great way to lift people's spirits but what happens when the jokes are at somebody else's expense? Is it right to lift some people up by putting others down? This year a number of celebrities and media personalities were exposed for making derogatory comments about dark skinned women. I was particularly disappointed to hear that Karl from The Grapevine had tweeted a number of anti-dark skinned women jokes because I liked the way he articulated himself on the show (even if I didn't always agree with his points). After hearing about the tweets I reached out to Karl and mentioned that I was in the process of writing an article and told him that instead of vilifying him I was trying to understand his mindset. I went on to ask if he would be willing to answer some questions. Karl's response was "I appreciate it but no thank you". 

As Karl was unwilling to explain the thought process behind his tweets I am going to make some assumptions based on the evidence that I have. Karl has said that his tweets were jokes but who was he trying to amuse? The tweets are clearly offensive to dark skinned women so he obviously wasn't trying to make us laugh. Karl has tweeted about his love for light skinned women on a number of occasions so I believe that it is fair to assume that he has a preference for lighter skinned women.
I believe that Karl made those derogatory comments about dark skin women in order to flatter light skinned women and let them know he thinks they are superior.

Earlier this year Maya Jama apologised for posting a tweet disrepecting dark skinned black women. The tweet was effectively uplifting light skinned women whilst belittling dark skinned women and it seemed to make Maya Jama happy. Therefore, I think it's fair to assume that men like Karl make derogatory comments about dark skin women in order to amuse women like Maya Jama. As long as women like Maya Jama continue to be amused by derogatory comments about dark skinned women, men like Karl will continue to make them.

Thankfully, not all light skinned are amused when dark skinned women are disrespected. We need more light skinned women who are willing to stand up and tell men that it is not okay to make colourist remarks. If we all unite as women I believe that we will see an end to these derogatory comments about dark skin women.