Colorism

Colorism in Childhood

As I stated in some of my previous posts I grew up being one of the only Black girls' in my class from kindergarten to eighth grade. Though I connected well with my peers and found it pretty easy to make friends despite me being African American and my friends being Caucasian I still felt like I was a clownfish swimming in a school of goldfish. Once I entered high school there was a larger presence of Black girls in my class however since I was accustom to being around mainly white people I was told I acted white and not black. This put me in a perplex state cause not only was I not able to fit in with my white friends and peers I also could not fit in with my black friends and peers.  High school is when I started to gain more Asian American friends and they accepted me for who I was and did not try to categorize me into any group. We all bonded over the concept of being a minority in general. Once talking with them I learned about various stereotypes and divisions within their own race community and we discussed how they had theirs and how the black community had race division within our own race as well.  We talked about the expectations and characteristics of our races and how we matched them and didn't match them and also discussed the complexity of skin tones within our race. I found out in some Asian cultures such as in China, they prefer to be a light fair skin tone. My one friend didn't like to tan because he gets very dark and that was seen as a negative characteristic to have.
In my own community, I've faced judgment because I am of a lighter complexion. Some encounters I have had with people in the black community about my skin tone are that I am a "lightbrite" "light-skinned (in a negative tone)" "redbone" and even "easy". A lot of people think I am mixed raced or of Latino descent. Black guys believe me to be easy because a common stereotype of light skin black girls is that they have a lot of sex and are willing to do anything. I am not sure where or how this stereotype started but it has put me in very uncomfortable situations. I know that some people of lighter complexion in the Black community try to pass as white and this was very common during segregation days and even nowadays this still occurs.  This is very upsetting to me that people are ashamed of who they are and where they come from. I do not like this segregation in my own community. Some people of darker complexion think that people of lighter complexion think that they are better than them because of the passing concept and because White people accept lighter complexion Blacks over darker complexion. I have seen and witness this happen before as well. I've been told that I am pretty for a Black girl and even in the work field I have received better treatment than some of my co-workers who are of a darker skin tone.
Fascinated and intrigued by this concept I decided to look more into this and see others stories in experiences of colorism within their own community. A journal article that I read by an African American woman, Trina Jones, talks about colorism in Vietnam and the colorism she faced growing up in the United States. She speaks to a Vietnamese woman and here are some quotes that she shared with her "When I was a child, I spent a lot of time in the sun and I tanned easily, becoming dark after just a few days. This was not really a concern when I was young, but I remember my mom despairing as I grew up that she let me get too dark" (Michelle 2012).
When Trina herself was in Vietnam this is what she observed, “As I looked around, I also noticed that many women riding on bicycles and motorbikes wore long sleeves and hats and had similarly covered the lower halves of their faces with cloth. Some even wore white gloves" (Jones 2013).
Reading these stories and reflecting back to my childhood I realized how hard it truly is to be a part of a minority community. Not only are you faced with judgment from the majority race group and other races as well but also stereotypes within your own community. This can make one start to doubt their own identity and want to fit into some type of group but can't. It is very frustrating and a huge stressor for both adults and children alike. I am so grateful for the friends I have now and that I am able to discuss these topics with them in an open-minded environment.
In the future, I hope to help other young minority children have an open and safe place to discuss these topics because it is a very important conversation to have. Children need to have a sense of security and comfortably in defining their identity. They shouldn't have to feel constricted to fit into boxes that society, culture, race, and ethnicity gives them.


Here is a chart that I found very fascinating that helps further explain the idea and concept of passing and shows the Tri- Racial system in America
(Bonilla-Silva’s Preliminary Map of a Tri-Racial System in the United State) 




References
Jones Trina. The Significance of Skin Color in Asian and Asian-American Communities: Initial Reflections. 2013
https://www.law.uci.edu/lawreview/vol3/no4/Jones.pdf

Healthy Nutritian in Early Childhood

The Benefits of a Healthy Nutritional Diet in Early Childhood Development

      A healthy diet is a necessity for growth and development, especially in early childhood. Getting proper nutrition helps children focus, complete tasks, gives them the strength they need to progress in their motor skills, and help them expand in their behavioral and social skills as well.  Although many people know that this is a must it is hard to attain this achievement based on location and economic status. In some locations, people and children are bought up in "food deserts", meaning they have no grocery store in their neighborhood. This is a huge dilemma because people growing up in these locations are not able to get the necessary vitamins they need to progress in their development. This can even be lethal especially for babies and toddlers.
     Three issues that can occur because of malnutrition are protein-calorie malnutrition, stunting, and wasting (Berger 2018). Protein - calorie malnutrition is a lack of nutritious and sufficient food resulting in a child contracting a type of illness and not having enough strength to fully develop both physically and mentally. Stunting is when a child does not receive enough nutrition and is not able to grow at the speed and height as their peers and other children of that age group. Wasting is being underweight because of a lack of nutrition (Berger 2018).
    This topic is important to me because I have seen this happen first hand with some of the students and children I have worked with. It breaks my heart to see someone not able to perform as well as their peers because of a lack of proper nutrition. One sees this happening a lot in impoverished areas and with minority families who do not have the resources they need to help feed their children healthy food. Some children are only eating healthy while at school because that is the only place providing them with the nutrients that they need. Being part of a minority group I want to be able to help the young children in families in my community and make sure that they are given the proper resources that they need to help them thrive and develop.
     While researching this topic I found out that the World Health Organization, WHO, has a mission to help feed the children of Africa. "WHO’s nutrition mission is to work with Member States and partners to ensure universal access by populations to healthy, safe and sustainable diets as well as effective interventions. WHO’s ambition for nutrition is to end all forms of malnutrition" (WHO 2020).
  "In 2012, the World Health Assembly endorsed the Comprehensive implementation plan on maternal, infant and young child nutrition, which includes six global targets to be achieved by 2025. The targets are to reduce the number of under-five stunted children by 40%; reduce anaemia in women of reproductive age by 50%; reduce the incidence of low birth weight by 30%; halt the increase in under-five overweight; increase the rate of exclusive breastfeeding under the age of 6 months to at least 50%; and reduce and maintain under-five wasting below 5%" (WHO 2020).

    I think that WHO has a great mission and it will help reduce the number of death caused by malnutrition. My plan is to look into groups like these and see what I can do to help. I want to give back to the Philadelphia community because I know there are plenty of areas in my city that are considered to be "food deserts" and the children in these areas are stereotyped and put under a statistic of not thriving in the academic world. I do not think it is fair for these children to be labeled and given up on just because they do not have access to the proper food they need to help them develop and grow. Many behavioral problems that adults look to be as just a "misbehave child" begins with the fact that the child is hungry and their body is not getting enough energy they need to focus on one particular task so they get frustrated and act on their feelings.

 Resources

Berger, K. S. (2018) The developing person through childhood (8th ed.). New York, NY: Worth Publishers

WHO Africa. Health Topics. Nutrition. 2020. https://www.afro.who.int/health-topics/nutrition

Child Birth Experience

My Mother's Child Birthing Experience

I have not personally given birth or experienced one however I was able to get my mom's perspective on her birth of me. To start off I am an only child, my mom had me at the age of thirty. She was married to my father for five years before my conception. Her nine-month pregnancy with me went smoothly she did not have any morning sickness and went to regular doctor visits. I was conceived naturally and my mom took pre-natal vitamins when she was pregnant. She did not have any tests done during the pregnancy to see if I had any ailments or disabilities. My mom believed in having natural childbirth with no epidural or induced labor.  She had been in a hospital and I was five days late for delivery. She was in active labor for six hours before having me. I was a healthy baby weighing seven pounds and five ounces at birth.

The Troubling Reality of Child Birth in Latin America

My mother was very lucky with her smooth pregnancy with me. Many women who live in the united states have prenatal care and are given the proper resources and tools to ensure healthy childbirth. However, this is not the case for other counties. I chose to look into childbirth in Latin America and found an article discussing the high rate of death while in labour for these mothers. "On average, approximately 16 women die every day in Latin America and the Caribbean from maternity-related complications, according to April 2015 figures from the Pan-American Health Organisation (PAHO)" (Frayssinet 2015). The proper care for prenatal health is not a fundamental right in these areas. Since they are not receiving the proper care they are having many difficulties in child delivery resulting in many mothers not making out alive. 

“When you look at the basic causes of maternal deaths you don’t have to be highly intelligent to see that they are related to lack of access (to the health system) and to abortions, which are the main cause of maternal deaths in Argentina and in Latin America." -- Juan Reichenbach

Prenatal care needs to be a fundamental right for all women to have healthy and successful childbirth. We have come along way with our advancements in child delivery and proper care for taking care of mom and baby and we have to make sure that all mothers around the world are granted this necessity of proper prenatal care.

Resource:

http://www.ipsnews.net/2015/05/pregnancy-and-childbirth-still-kill-too-many-women-in-latin-america/