I'd like to ask that my skin tone no longer be referred to as some kind of food. I was in Target the other day, and I saw this book called Mocha Moms (or something like that.) It was a survival guide for black mothers-to-be. That got me thinking: black people's skin is often referred to as mocha, caramel, chocolate etc. This is annoying--do you ever hear white people's skin called, "mashed potato" or "rice cake?"
I didn't think so.
Granted, you do hear white people's skin occasionally referred to as "milky," But you don't have books coming out called, "Milky Moms: A how-to guide for white moms-to-be." What gives?
I assert that this whole food/skin tone thing is another part of trying to dehumanize people of color. I know, I know "dehumanize" is a very strong word, and I don't intended to throw it around lightly. However, if we look at the definition, it fits here. When we're associating certain groups of people with certain foods, we're not associating them completely just with being people.
It's like calling Latino's "spicy"--you're not talking about a person, you're talking about a pepper!
Think about it.
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