In Racism On Trial, Lopez notes how during the 1940’s, “Light-featured and relatively well-off Mexicans experienced race differently that other community members. For middle-class Mexicans, especially those with more European looks, claiming to be white was social advantageous in the context of the times…In contrast, for darker-skinned Mexicans, those in the laboring class…the full weight of anti-Mexican hostility made any pretense to be white delusional” (80). It was “common sense” that lighter Mexicans of a lighter skin color were more trustworthy or hardworking than those of darker skin.
This section of the book reminded me of a segment on 20/20 on ‘colorism’ I saw back in high school. In the report, the news crew presented employers of various businesses with dozens of pictures, along with resumes, of potential employees. What the employers didn’t know was that many of the pictures and resumes were the exact same person. The twist was that the news crew changed the names of the applicants and had their faces photo-shopped in order to make their skin color darker or lighter. Not knowing they were evaluating the same person only with a darker skin color, the employers were asked whom they believed was smarter on a scale from 1 to 5.
The results came in showing that the applicants with the lighter skin were generally seen as smarter. And it wasn’t only the whites who would give the lighter skin people higher scores, but the blacks also tended to favor the light skin. While in the 1940’s, it may have been much more obvious that there was discrimination going on based on skin color, there are still similar problems going on today, perhaps a bit more subtle. Like the judges, perhaps these employers had certain shortcuts, or a variation of “common sense” that told them that the applicants who were lighter seemed more trustworthy or smarter. However, they would most likely never admit this because like the judges, they don’t consciously realize it either.
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