On RHOP: “Everything Is Not about Colorism”

We respond to colorism, and other forms of oppression, with variations of “Everything is not about colorism” because we’re rehearsed to do so in a White supremacist society. First, colorism, racism, homophobia, antiblackness, etc. are not personality flaws, as I’ve stated in a prior post. They are systems that order our world. Most school principals would not say their schools are patriarchal, but many principals would proceed to describe gender-based dress codes that police and punish the sartorial choices of girls. Ask the principal the reasoning for the codes, and they will say something along the lines of “We don’t want these girls distracting the boys.” That’s patriarchy, a system that orders social relations in a way that privileges cisgender (typically White, straight, affluent) men. We learn to deny oppressive systems because we’re taught to acknowledge and protect the assumed superiority of a particular group. Acknowledging the existence of an unjust system, also acknowledges the group’s privileges and power are unjust—that is the big no-no. To benefit from these systems, people deny their existence because said people want to keep their jobs, their friends, and their social standing (invitation to Bravocon)—even if they are members of the group oppressed by the system.

Colorism has a long history that extends from slavery. The darker-tone Africans who lived in the Sub-Saharan region of the continent were designated as “Black,” marking them suitable for chattel slavery. White men like Thomas Jefferson clearly stated the dark skin color of Africans rendered them the inferior race (Google it). Across Africa and the African Diaspora, wherever colonialism took root, an intra-racial color system emerged. We who attended U.S. schools are very familiar with this system. We know that lighter skin Blacks were afforded proximity to Whites. These lighter-skin Blacks often received privileges such as educational opportunities, release from slavery, and land inheritance. Such access gave these lighter-skin Blacks advantages over other Blacks, although the U.S. remained a brutally racist and segregated society after the Civil War and the enactments of the 13th, 14th, and 15th U.S. Constitutional Amendments. 

These privileged Blacks became the powerful leaders of the Black community. W.E.B. Du Bois’s famous phrase, “The Talented Tenth” refers to this group: an educated, light-skin elite who would uplift the folk. Individuals who claim The Real Housewives of Potomac (RHOP) is disconnected from colorism are unequivocally wrong and historically incorrect. The social organization that served as the basis of the Potomac group which became RHOP is directly connected to the color-class-based, exclusive, historically Black social club system in the United States. I encourage readers of this blog to check out When and Where I Enter by Paula J. Giddings and Righteous Discontent by Evelyn Brooks Higginbotham to learn more about the Black women’s club movement.

The colorism that viewers identify on RHOP is complex. Colorism is historically connected to socioeconomic class (a complex term in itself), and it is also a gendered system. And when we say colorism, we are referring to a wide range of phenotypical traits that are stereotypically associated with Europeans versus Black Africans such as nose width, hair texture, and lip fullness. It is not simply about skin color. What we see on Potomac is a system of ordering that structures privileges and punishments depending upon whether the individuals fall on the favorable side of this complex matrix of factors. For instance, fans attempt to dismiss accusations of colorism by pointing out that Gizelle and Robyn target Karen. Yes, Karen is light-skin, and she is middle-class. However, according to standards, Karen is not the right kind of middle class. Gizelle made this distinction clear when she rebutted Karen with the words, “I have a legacy and a pedigree. You grew up on a farm.” If an individual is not the right kind of middle-class, cast members are often accepted if they get on board with maintaining the order. Early on in season six, Wendy Osefo clocked Mia Thorton’s attempt to curry favor with the green-eyed bandits, even though Mia was introduced to the show by Karen. Now, Bravo footage shows Mia directing physical aggression at the darker-tone women of the cast, while she pardons the condescension and ridicule directed at her by Gizelle and Robyn. Readers can learn about such dynamics by reading Negroland by Margo Jefferson. 

What is important in this discussion about colorism is a willingness to learn and to listen in new ways. Often, we revert to reactions that we’ve acquired such as gaslighting and denial, but we have to question who is served by these responses. Also, I want to reiterate that colorism is not an individual flaw; it is a historical social system. The way we create a more equitable society is by questioning the taken-for-granted norms, acts, and rituals that maintain such systems.