As I was reading this book I would like to say I was shocked at the lengths that people go through in order to "pass" but I'm not. It is interesting though that the fear of not being considered white will lead you almost to turn on your family. How it says in the book that these pregnant women's worst fear is having a dark child because then their secret will be discovered. Then you have Clare's husband who is married to a woman who is passing and he doesn't even realize it. The fact that he is in a room full of blacks and he says all these terrible things and Clare just laughs it off really shocked me even men he called her a "nig" she seemed to be okay with that. Even if she was laughing because she was playing this big joke on him since she was really black how much is she willing to endure? There comes a time when the person needs to draw the line and be like enough is enough.
I remember when I went to Bolivia for three weeks you could see there was huge class struggles. The whiter you are the higher the class you were. Even in their own families the lighter more fair skinned children and family members will be treated A LOT better than those with darker skin. I just couldn't believe that this stuff still happened to this day. It seemed like everywhere I went or wherever I turned someone was grabbing my hand and was just in awe as they looked at your skin and would say muy bonita.
3 comments:
Your comparison between Clare’s fears of her children being dark skinned and the class differences in Bolivia interested me. We continually say that we don’t think about racism still existing in today’s society, but I think we forget to look outside of the US and into different countries and cultures.
It is kind of hard to wrap your head around how much it takes for one to pass. You have to take up a completely new identity. I cannot imagine growing up one way and then having to assume the character of a totally diferent person. Those who chose to do this must really be subject with so much internal conflict.
I would argue that the sort of skin/ class consciousness exists not only in other countries today, but in the U.S. as well. Not in everyday life and interactions, but when we look at models and actresses who have done very well, like Hallie Barry and Tyra Banks, you have to wonder. While they are certainly very talented, it seems most actresses and models of color are light skinned, that is not because that is all there is, but rather, the entertainment industry seems to favor light skinned women the way they do very thin women.
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