ABSTRACT
One of the best-kept secrets among African Americans (blacks) in this country is the issue of intraracial skin color distinction (Morganthau, 1995). In black communities serious polemics have been exchanged among small groups regarding this issue, but on the whole a taboo has been self-imposed restricting honest, intellectual, and insightful debate, especially in the presence of white Americans. For African Americans, the hesitancy in openly discussing intraracial skin color discrimination is the unsettling fear that racial antagonists, employed by rich conservative foundations, institutes, and “think tanks,” may listen intensely to the acrimonious discourse, then proceed to skillfully redefine discrimination in America. The challenge is that these groups, operating from an alien framework, may then attempt to manipulate history and the color quandary by proclaiming that: (1) slavery was not an immoral institution, (2) the institution of slavery was not responsible for skin color separation among African Americans, (3) all systemic oppression, including skin color distinction, came to a halt in the 1960s after civil rights legislation was enacted, (4) America has no problem with people with dark skin color, and (5) racism and discrimination are only in the heads of African-American leaders described by black conservative J.C. Watts as “poverty pimps,” and by some conservatives as “race merchants.”
