Thandiwe Newton Colorism Apology

I don't know what is happening this Black Hx Month, but I wish the people would leave the foolishness out of it! We don’t have time for long preambles so let’s just get right into it starting with and talk about Thandiwe Newton. Why, oh why did she feel the need to apologize for colorism this month? If you have not seen her apology tour type video, please do check it out here: APOLOGY VIDEO.

So, some people have been wondering what’s wrong with Thandiwe recognizing light skinned privilege and apologizing for how hard things are. While there is not anything inherently wrong with recognizing privilege and apologizing for  harm caused in the pursuit of using that privilege, there is something wrong with a backward apology that is still very steeped in the white supremacy you dare apologize for. 

 Before I break down what was wrong with the apology, first read this excerpt explaining light fragility. 

… light fragility, like how Robin DiAngelo defines white fragility, is a state in which minimum colorism based stress becomes intolerable triggering defensive moves…. To put it plainly, light skinned folk get in their feelings, feel a way, get triggered and move into denying the dark skinned experience, or even move into arguing, trying to recenter the conversation on themselves, or leaving because they are feeling too much stress (i.e. they cannot handle being told that there are privileges to being light skinned and don’t want to identify with that).

Now, think back to her apology. Here are the major issues I noted:

1. She didn’t actually apologize. Despite how many people were saying that she was apologizing for colorism she didn't. She said she wanted to. This leads me to believe that she hasn’t actually done it. 

2. Even if she did apologize for colorism, she didn’t create the system of hierarchy based on skin tone. She is also a Black woman. She has no business apologizing for what wyt supremacy built. If ever you are in the position to give an apology, you don’t offer one for racism or patriarchy or heterosexism or anti-fatness. NO. You don’t because you can’t apologize for a system you didn’t create and which is beyond your individual control. BUT you can apologize for how you have furthered the system of oppression. You can apologize for your actions. While the best apology is always going to be changed behavior you are more than allowed to start with saying what you did wrong, take responsibility, understand that the consequences are yours to endure, ask for forgiveness, and make plans for how you will no longer continue in the harmful behavior that led you to apologize in the first place. The problem here was that she didn't admit to any wrongdoing. She is apologizing for a system which almost makes it look like she is asking for forgiveness because she benefits from it, which absolves her from responsibility. Much like “good” whilte folk seek absolution through tears, gnashing of teeth, and general upsetness with the system, but won’t actually commit to doing anything to change.

3. “I am sorry I’m the one chosen” BAAAAAYYYYYYY-BE! This one is the line heard around the dark skinned world which confirmed that while she may feel sad, she definitely feels both guilty and superior. This part really did sound a lot like “I am sorry I’m so pretty…and you’re not.” It is a childhood taunt in saying what you have that makes you valuable while noting that other people are not nearly as valuable because they lack the thing that you have and the access it gives you. Again, this apology is saying sorry for the system of white supremacy and how it benefits her but not saying sorry for how she has allowed the system to continually use her to denigrate darker skinned Black folk.

4. Finally, for this post, not for her statement, she mentions that being light skinned has been more problematic for her than being Black. That she has faced more prejudice from dark skinned women than anyone else. This, from the woman who we didn’t even know her real name until last year. There is so much wrong here, I am not even sure where we should be starting. But how about, while she has “apologizes” absolving herself from blame because she has not named her own behaviors for which she would be seeking absolution, she has taken the time to blame dark skinned people for the very oppression that serves as her stepping stool. This was, perhaps, the most egregious thing she said. In saying that being light skin was her biggest problem, not being Black, she has failed to note that her Blackness is the reason why her skin tone is privileged. In a world where everyone wants a touch of exotic negro “other” without having the “taint” of being fully Black, she, and other mixed race light skinned folk are winning. Light enough to access Blackness and the benefits therein, while being light enough to be allowed entry into some of the white spaces which would still ‘other’ her but allow her entry nonetheless. 

Here is where I stop because naming more concerns with her apology only serves to hurt myself more in remembering her words. The point is this “apology” was the very definition of Light Fragility. She is speaking of overcoming an internalized oppression, but blaming dark skinned folk for it. She is talking about how her mother “looks like you” and then omitting that being light skinned played a role in her upbringing at all, and claiming to be “the dark one” in some grab for dark skinned affinity. She both sees and chooses not to see. She is someone that has been excited and offended to be called “exotic” or “ethnic” but doesn’t see the hand of wyt supremacy, nor ask the uncomfortable questions as to a casting directors comfort with their own racism. There has been no acknowledgement of how she has benefited from the colorism for which punished darker skinned actors which she cries about their similarity to her mother. There has been no confession of her complicity in continuing the system of colorism. So in the end what did we get but her tears? What did we get but her centering herself, in the most egregious way, in the oppression of colorism and found herself without fault? While she may be sad, her comfort need not come from the people’s whose backs she already stands on and is lifted by.

I, for one, don’t accept this “apology” for anything more than a performative farce completed by someone who doesn't admit to their own privilege.