Colorism shapes who gets hired, who's trusted, who's seen as beautiful (and who's called dangerous) often within the same racial group. In this episode, Becky Mollenkamp and Faith Clarke sit down with Dr. Sarah L. Webb, author of Colorism and founder of Colorism Healing, to unpack what colorism is, how it forms in early childhood, and why white people can't opt out of the conversation just because it "isn't their issue."
In this episode:
(00:15) Welcome — introducing Dr. Sarah Webb, author of Colorism and founder of Colorism Healing
(00:41) Icebreaker: the last thing you splurged on just for you
(04:00) Dr. Webb's earliest memory of noticing colorism — before she even had the language for it
(06:23) Why white parents avoiding "race talk" with kids misses the mark, and why colorism isn't discussed even in households of color
(08:48) Faith joins and shares her grandmother's story growing up in Jamaica
(14:19) How Dr. Webb's own healing journey began — the Dark Girls documentary and a moment from Ta-Nehisi Coates
(15:34) The hardest part of healing from colorism: never knowing when it will happen again
(18:56) Faith's own colorism journey growing up in Jamaica vs. the U.S.
(24:05) Faith on power dynamics with neurodivergent, queer family members
(25:10) Becky reflects on her own white positionality and how she came to understand colorism wasn't "someone else's issue"
(27:25) Why colorism is everyone's work — racial profiling, the justice system, and disparities within the same race
(31:08) Fearing the Black Body and how race gets constructed and weaponized
(32:58) Colorism among people who share the same skin tone — a museum story
(34:28) Is "we're willing to talk about race but not colorism" a form of virtue signaling?
(38:09) Faith on "proximity to whiteness" and America's obsession with checklists over systems thinking
(42:23) Colorism in media and Hollywood — patterns in who gets cast as masculine vs. feminine, and by skin tone
(45:34) The how: translating awareness into daily practice, not just workshops
(46:30) Dr. Webb on the second half of her book — the politics of skin tone and how we get free
(51:40) Closing ritual: what are you saying yes (and otherwise) to?
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