Abstract
I argue that the manner in which we locate ourselves as African or black people, within an inherited racist continuum that equates whiteness with human and blackness with inhuman, must be considered in any conversation about the role shadism (Shadism is a form of racism toward dark skin color. http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/2011/oct/04/racism-skin-colour-shades-prejudice?newsfeed=true) plays in our psychological make-up. This requires interrogating how we ourselves as Africans include or exclude people based on phenotype, to ascertain what historical role we play in perpetuating our own psychological oppression for the white supremacist cause. This chapter will feature examples from Jamaica and the United Kingdom to demonstrate why we need an updated approach to determine what it means to be African and black in the twenty-first century.
This is a preview of subscription content, log in via an institution to check access.
Access this chapter
Tax calculation will be finalised at checkout
Purchases are for personal use only
Notes
- 1.
Rastafari state that the enemy presses us down. Hence, downpressors/downpression.
- 2.
I use Africentric, not Afrocentric, as an Afro [hair] was a powerful aesthetic, a political statement linked to the poignancy of the Black Power or Black Panther movement of the 1960s and 1970s. As such, if we are to challenge the assumptions on which an ‘enemy language’ like English is premised, then we as Africans must determine how such challenges are made.
- 3.
I go into more detail in my 2006 book What The Deejay Said, pp. 26–46.
- 4.
The term “outernational” has been featured in reggae musical culture since the early 1970s to describe the intra- and international nature of a form that, although created in Jamaica, cannot be restricted to this geographical space as its influences are global as is its appeal. Thus, outernational becomes wholly descriptive of a consciousness that is not geographically bounded, as it essentially entails a notion of the African being everywhere at once.
- 5.
Blak without the ‘c’ denotes a particular social, cultural, spiritual, and political orientation within the British context that recognizes that we are speaking of people of African ancestry. I also use the term as an acronym in much of my community work whereby BLAK equals Blak Liberation Afrikan Knowledge.
- 6.
The S.S. Empire Windrush was one of the first ships to bring migrants from the Caribbean to England, which explains why blacks in the UK are generally referred to as the Windrush generation. For more information on the Empire Windrush, see http://www.oceanlinermuseum.co.uk/Empire\%20Windrush.html
- 7.
One of the best counter recordings is Them ah Bleach, by Ranks (1992).
- 8.
Deejay spelt this way denotes the Jamaican MC, not a disc jockey who plays tunes and spins the wheels of steel.
- 9.
Marcus Garvey introduced a flag with wide horizontal red, black, and green stripes in 1920. For more history on the flag and what it represents, visit: http://www.blackbusinessnetwork.com/MarcusGarvey/
References
Adewunmi, B. (2011, October 4). Racism and skin colour: The many shades of prejudice. http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/2011/oct/04/racism-skin-colour-shades-prejudice. Accessed 21 Apr 2011.
Banton, B. (1992). Love me Browning [Song]. Kingston: Penthouse Records.
Benston, K. W. (2000). Performing blackness: Enactments of African American modernism. London: Routledge.
Blackout, J. A. (2010). Resisting the system: Reggae in the 21st century [Film]. London: Nu-Beyond Ltd. http://www.drlez.co.uk/products/dr-lez-dvds-cds. Accessed 21 Oct 2011.
Capleton [Deejay]. (1997). Interview with Bobby Condors. New York: Hot 97 FM radio.
Cooper, C. (2004). Sound clash: Jamaican dancehall culture at large (pp. 136–137). New York: Palgrave Macmillan.
Ekwe Ekwe, H. (1994). The idiocy and tragedy of a Euroassimilationist illusion. African People’s Review, 3(2), 16–17.
Gabriel, D. (2007). Layers of blackness: Colourism in the African diaspora. London: Imani Media.
Gilroy, P. (1993). The black Atlantic: Modernity and double consciousness. London: Verso.
Gilroy, P. (2000). Between camps: Nations, cultures, and the allure of race. London: Penguin Group.
Gilroy, P. (2004). After empire: Melancholia or convivial culture. Oxford: Routledge.
Graham, M. (2002). Social work and African-centred world views. Birmingham: Venture Press.
Hall, S. (2006). Black diaspora artists in Britain: Three “moments” in post-war history. History Workshop Journal, 61(1), 1–24. http://hwj.oxfordjournals.org/content/61/1/1.abstract. Accessed 21 Oct 2011.
Hart, R. (2002). Slaves who abolished slavery: Blacks in rebellion. Jamaica: University of the West Indies Press.
Henry, L. [William Henry]. (2005). In D. Akinnusi. (Director). Bleach my skin white [Film]. London: ITV.
Henry, L. [William Henry]. (2010a). Resisting the system: Reggae in the 21st century [Blackout JA segment] [Film]. London: Nu-Beyond Ltd. http://www.drlez.co.uk/products/dr-lez-dvds-cds. Accessed 21 Oct 2011.
Henry, L. [William Henry]. (2010b). Resisting the system: Reggae in the 21st century [Cooper interview] [Film]. London: Nu-Beyond Ltd.
Henry, L. [William Henry]. (2010c). Resisting the system: Reggae in the 21st century. [Sister Juliet interview] [Film]. London: Nu-Beyond Ltd.
Henry, W. (2006). What the deejay said: A critique from the street. London: Learning By Choice Publications.
Henry, W. (2007a). Whiteness made simple: Stepping into the GREY zone. London: Learning By Choice Publications.
Henry, W. (2007b, October 28). Personal interview. London: Galaxy Radio 99.5FM.
Henry, W. (2010, October 21). Personal interview with T Hakim. London.
Higgins, C., Jr. (2011). Sidebar quote. http://www.africanholocaust.net/. Accessed 21 Oct 2011.
Hunter, M. L. (2011, June). Buying racial capital: Skin-bleaching and cosmetic surgery in a globalized world. Journal of Pan African Studies, 4(4), 142–162.
John, G. (2006). Taking a stand: Gus John speaks on education, race, social action & civil unrest 1980–2005. Manchester: Gus John Partnership.
Kartel, V. [Michael “Cake Soap” Jackson]. (2011). Look pon we. [Song, with Tarik “Russian” Johnston] [Promo single]. Jamaica.
King Sun [Rahmakhan Todd Turnbow]. (1990). Be black [Song, 5:40] On Righteous but ruthless [Profile Records]. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BKdHwgi-qxo. Accessed 21 Oct 2011.
Lezlee Lyrix [Lez Henry]. (1991). Afrikan body [Demo CD]. London.
Martin, T. (1986). Race First: The Ideological and Organizational Struggles of Marcus Garvey and the Universal Negro Improvement Association, USA: The Majority Press.
Noble, D. (2008). Postcolonial criticism, transnational identifications, and the hegemonies of dancehall’s academic and popular performativities. Feminist Review, 90(1), 106–127. doi:10.1057/fr.2008.40.
Norbeuse, P. M. (1998). Race, space and the poetics of moving. In K. M. Baluntansky & M.-A. Sourieau (Eds.), Caribbean creolization: Reflections on the cultural dynamics of language, literature and identity. Gainesville/Mona: University Press of Florida/University of the West Indies Press.
Pickering, M. (2004). Racial stereotypes. In G. Taylor & S. Spencer (Eds.), Social identities: Multi-disciplinary approaches (p. 91). London/New York: Routledge.
Pieterse, J. N. (1992). White on black: Images of Africa and blacks in western popular culture. New Haven: Yale University Press.
Ranks, N. (1992). Them a bleach. [Song, 4.05]. Jamaica: Dancehall Classics.
Rodney, W. (1969). Groundings with my brothers. London: Bogle-L’ Overture.
Staples, B. (2008, August 22). As racism wanes, colorism persists. New York Times. http://theboard.blogs.nytimes.com/2008/08/22/as-racism-wanes-colorism-persists/. Accessed 21 Oct 2011.
Synnott, A., & Howes, D. (1996). Canada’s visible minorities: Identity and representation. In V. Amit-Talai & C. Knowles (Eds.), Re-situating identities: The politics of race, ethnicity, and culture (pp. 283–303). Peterborough: Broadview Press.
Ugwu, C. (1995). Let’s get it on: The politics of black performance. Seattle: Bay Press.
Wade, W. (1976). Black is our colour [Song]. Jamaica: Prophet Records.
Wheeler, C., & Macintosh, C. (1991). UK BLAK [Album]. London: EMI Records.
Ignatiev, N. (1995). How the Irish became White. New York: Routledge.
Author information
Authors and Affiliations
Corresponding author
Editor information
Editors and Affiliations
Rights and permissions
Copyright information
© 2013 Springer Science+Business Media Dordrecht
About this chapter
Cite this chapter
Henry, W. (2013). Shades of Consciousness: From Jamaica to the UK. In: Hall, R. (eds) The Melanin Millennium. Springer, Dordrecht. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-94-007-4608-4_10
Download citation
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-94-007-4608-4_10
Published:
Publisher Name: Springer, Dordrecht
Print ISBN: 978-94-007-4607-7
Online ISBN: 978-94-007-4608-4
eBook Packages: Humanities, Social Sciences and LawSocial Sciences (R0)