colorism

[ kuhl-uh-riz-uhm ]

noun

1. differential treatment based on skin color, especially favoritism toward those with a lighter skin tone and mistreatment or exclusion of those with a darker skin tone, typically among those of the same racial group or ethnicity.

Word History and Origins

Origin of colorism¹

First recorded in 1960–65; color (in the sense “skin complexion”) + -ism ( def )

Example Sentences

Anti-blackness and colorism swayed their vote, they said.

From Los Angeles Times

Questions about Harris’ race from Black communities are often just offshoots of a larger conversation about colorism—the relative privilege that multiracial Americans might have because of their proximity to whiteness.

From Slate

Wang wanted to explore class and colorism, so another of the novel’s white characters, Hilary Starr, became dark-skinned and Southeast Asian.

From Los Angeles Times

It’s wild because even in my own family . . . for us Latin people, we understand colorism is alive and well in our families.

From Salon

Colorism and the many other branches of racism and white supremacist culture are real and omnipresent.

From Los Angeles Times