Newspaper Page Text
Prejudice: Light skin, not really black?
Continued from page 2A
identity with black. Theyll
say, ‘Oh, you're not really
black. You're this, that or the
other” But, me, I'm black. If
they question how black I am,
I just wonder if they're com
fortable with themselves.”
Regina Romero, a Wash
ington, D.C. psychologist,
says the black community has
a responsibility to end these
kinds of superficial pre-judg
Kerry: Civil rights advocacy questioned
Continued from page 2A
journalists that he does
not bring up religion on
the campaign trail.
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an-American Newspap
Serving Metropolitan Augusta, South Carolina and the Central Savannah River Area
ments and hostility.
“It is painful and it is ugly,”
she explains. “I don't think we
do enough to protect, in par
ticular, our girls, but also our
boys from that kind of hostile
assault. And the truth of the
matter is that it hurts more
when it comes from your
own.”
Romero, who is l#ht skin
and has green eyes, recalls her
college experience at Howard
University, arriving from the
“I’s appropriate in
church to talk about
how you enter the king
dom of God,” he
explained. “That is,
Germantown section of
Philadelphia in the early
19705. She said she was reluc
want to tell fellow students that
she was from West Mount
Airy — a section of German
town known for its light-skin,
middle class population - for
fear of being stereotyped. And
some people try to judge her
by her outward appearance.
“I don't want to be known
for green eyes. I'd like to be
after all, why we go to
church. And if you have
true faith and you pro
fess that faith, you have
to live that faith. Living
AUGUSTA FOCUS
known for having some
brains or for having some
thing to contribute to the uni
verse or something else,” she
says. “I dont want ‘green eyes’
on my tombstone.”
To get away from that color
fixation, many argue that the
issue must be dealt with at an
carly age.
“From what I see in movies,
they dont show many dark
people,” says Candice Hol
land, 13, a brown-skin, mid
your faith is not reserved
in the hour or two hours
or whatever it is that
you're in church. It’s car
ried on in your life.”
Kerry said he was sur
prised by the attack on
him over his remarks in
St. Louis, given Bush’s
reliance on religion.
As governor, Bush pro
claimed June 10 “Jesus
Day” in Texas. He has
expressed support for
posting the Ten Com
mandments in govern
ment buildings and ran
for office saying that
Jesus was his favorite
political - philosopher.
Bush makes frequent
references to religion in
his speeches.
The Bush campaign,
which is expected to
raise S2OO million for
the president’s reelection
effort, has launched a
massive effort to paint
Kerry as being too liber
al and one who is incon
sistent on the issues. But
dle school cheerleader in
Washington, D.C. “They
show, like, light brown and
they show just creamy, but
tery looking people.”
By discussing the problem
openly, there is hope, says
Romero, the psychologist.
“This thing isn’t going
away. You know, Black is
beautifil came and went in
the 60s and it was great, but
think it by-passed a lot of
folks. Or, what actually hap
Kerry says he is confi
dent that he can with
stand such withering
attacks.
“You'll notice they've
done S4O million on me
nationally over the last
six weeks and I'm still
leading in three our of
four polls and we're
neck-and-neck in the
other one,” he stated. “It
ain’t working. Ameri
cans want something
more. They want leader
ship, they want real
solutions to real prob
lems. I'm going to keep
being positive.”
Kerry says he expect
Bush to try to sidetrack
voters by focusing on so
called cultural issues
that have little to do
with their daily lives.
“I'm going to keep
focused, keep coming
back to the real choice,”
he explained.
“When they say this, I
am going to say jobs.
‘When they say this, lam
April 22, 2004
pened, I think, was that peo
ple got the phrase in their
heads, but didn’t necessarily
get it in their hearts,” Romero
says. “I think we've got to be
honest with each other and
say this is one situation that
we might not have created i,
but we've certainly got to fix it
and figure out, how to
embrace all of us.”
going to say jobs. When
they say that, I'm going
to say jobs, health care,
education, I'm just
going to keep coming
back to the real choic
.
Kerry invited blacks to
look at the choices he’s
making.
“The first meeting I
held when I secured the
nomination was not
with the Senate Caucus,
it was with the Congres
sional Black Caucus,”
Kerry said. “I wanted to
make it very clear that I
want this race to be dif
ferent. 1 know in the
black community that
there’s this sense that
politicians come along
during election time.
Where’s the delivery
afterwards and a feeling
of being taken for grant
ed — that’s the most
direct way to put it. And
I’'m determined that that
is not going to be the
case in this race.”
16A