Orey discusses colorism and hair texture during lecture

Deabra Gray
Staff Writer

As part of Jackson State University’s Black History Month celebrations, the Center for University Scholars hosted a Brown Bag Research Talk entitled: “Hair Texture, Complexion and Candidate Evaluation” on Feb. 11 in the Holden Reading Room of the H.T. Sampson Library .

With both students and professors in attendance, the event was an opportunity for students to address colorism and hair texture issues in the black community.  Attendees discussed the hair trends of black females going natural and black males growing dreadlocks and how these decisions affect professionalism and acceptance in the workplace.

“Crack is whack,” said Byron D’Andra Orey to members of the audience, referencing hair relaxers and the “creamy crack” nickname it holds in the black community.

Orey, a professor of political science at Jackson State, believes most of the issues with colorism and hair texture stem from self-hatred and has currently launched a pilot study entitled “The Intersectionality of Race and Gender.”

“For this project, you know, I look at hair and skin tone, colorism, this notion that lighter skin individuals are, oftentimes, perceived as more positive, if you will, compared to dark skin. In some regards, there is a bias associated with this,” said Orey.

Orey stated that in his research he has found that lighter skin blacks with Eurocentric features are deemed more intelligent, less militant, and less supportive of black issues.

Jai-Quilah Rasul, a biology major from Hazlehurst, Miss., felt just the opposite.

“Dark skinned people are smarter than light skin people in certain ways,” said Rasul.

Some members of the audience stated that they have seen African-American males cut off their locs before graduation in order to achieve a more refined look, believing that they will have a better chance of employment if their appearances were more mainstream.

Orey admitted that he was surprised by some of the survey results. In some cases the candidate with natural hair or dark skin would be deemed more knowledgeable and hard-working than the candidate with lighter skin or a relaxer.

Jonny Amasa-Annan, a public administration doctoral student from West Africa, attended the discussion and said that he was surprised to hear that there is a colorism issue in the African-American community.

“These differences, these stereotypes among African -Americans, I don’t know about that…It’s new. I don’t know that. It’s difficult to move up if you are divided. That’s it.”

The Center for University Scholars will host its next “Brown Bag Research Talk” on Feb. 20, 2014 from 11 a.m. to 12 p.m. in the Holden Reading Room on the fourth floor of the H.T. Sampson Library and will featuring Robert Luckett and a discussion on “Massive Resistance: The Evolution of Racist Politics in Mississippi.”