South African Rapper Sho Madjozi just dove head first into the politics of melanin. Earning her Wakanda-street cred catalysed by her recent BET Award win maybe?! The first South African woman to win a BET Award dug into the issue of colourism in a thread this week; an issue that’s been rife on social media.
Black women face two extreme ends of the colourism spectrum. Either we become less attractive and more oppressed the darker we are or face the opposite when lighter skinned.
The reason why in 2019 women who are fairer are considered more desirable than those more melanated is a long-ass debate.
A debate I may or may not be qualified to conduct. Point is, not only in South Africa’s entertainment scene; a trend does exist. Fairer, women are casted more often; having their work more publically acknowledged or easily accepted.
Sho is not sorry for being great at her work despite rampant colourism, instead, she wants men opening doors based on sexist criteria to hand those keys over!
“I’m great at what I do, I’m smart as hell…I cant be expected to stop being great because colorism exists… I MUST speak out when I see people being treated unfairly because of color and I can try to amplify the voices of talented dark-skinned women.” – Sho Madjozi (Twitter)
We need to fight for each other. Because if a woman’s beauty opens doors for her, it means that men still hold the keys! And that must fall.
— #LimpopoChampionsLeague (@ShoMadjozi) June 26, 2019
In the thread, Sho Madjozi she found the fact that a woman couldn’t be considered for her talent alone problematic…
“Men can look raggedy, never do hair or nails (sic) and people will just judge them purely for their talent. Sometimes women won’t be given a chance unless they’re light skinned, half-naked, have a big booty (but with a small waist,) wear a weave etc.” – Sho Madjozi
The real problem is that women are valued more when they are considered attractive to men.
— #LimpopoChampionsLeague (@ShoMadjozi) June 26, 2019
Though powerful, Sho Madjozi’s words may be discredited on the basis of them coming from a ‘point of privilege’.
Regardless…
We hope Sho Madjozi walks the talk and continues to represent African women of colour in entertainment by challenging tokenism and sexism. That can’t be an easy cross to bear!
