My Discomfort with Light-Skinned People Choosing the Dark-Brown Emoji
By: Fabiola Santiago
Tags: White Privilege, Intersectionality, Colorism, Latinx, Emoji

I began to truly love my skin in my late teens/early twenties. But it took time to embrace, celebrate and allow the sun to kiss my skin without the fear of getting darker. That’s why I pause with wonder when light-skinned people parade their brown pride in their emojis.

I understand that light-skinned people may be using the dark-brown tone to reclaim their Black and more melanated ancestors. But our ancestors’ experiences are not our experiences.

I also understand that some are just trying to diversify emoji tones. I’m not the first one to get caught up in the emoji politics, here are additional reasons white and light-skinned folks choose darker colored emoji tones.

To be fair, five tones is not representative of a whole person or all people in the world. To learn more about how these five tones came to be, read about another person of color who unpacks some of the complexities with emoji tones.

Image: Table with six rows of different tones and emojis, from the top: Black, dark-brown, brown, light-brown, white, yellow. Image is from the first hyperlinked article above.

Skin tone, like identity, is fluid. Our skin tones can change throughout the year. The geography we live in and different body parts are illustrative of that. For example, I’m darker in Oaxaca, my native land, than when I’m in Northern California. Various family members have said, “ya agarraste tu color,” (you got your color back) when I’m in Oaxaca.

So when light-skinned Latinx/o/e/x people choose the dark-brown tone, it tells me that they may be uncomfortable with their whiteness. I’ve had light-skinned people tell me that they wish they had darker skin, but I don’t think they actually comprehend how convoluted this statement is for those of us who were once shamed for our brown skin, and sometimes still are.

Another reason I’m uncomfortable with NBPoC (Non-Black People of Color) choosing a darker toned emoji is because I read it as romanticization. Black women know the romanticization of their features all too well. The NBPoC who have no qualms getting bigger lips, hips, butts, wearing braids, dreads, tanning and so forth are often the same ones who diminish Black voices when they speak up about racial injustices. I won’t list examples, but they’re all over social and mainstream media.

The appropriation of features and skin tone minimizes the trauma that Black and dark brown people experience.

Further, our physical bodies and features also carry privilege. The shape of one’s lips, nose, eye color, facial structure, hair texture and color, and body size are used as metrics for beauty. Certain features are labeled more beautiful based on their proximity to European features. This is also reflected in mainstream media. Though things are changing, we still have a long way to go.

This is why I choose my emoji tone based on how I think others see me, not how I see myself. Because how others see me is what determines how strangers and people I don’t have an intimate relationship with treat me. I use the solid brown✋🏽, not dark-brown tone✋🏾, even though I think I’m in between.

I also choose the solid brown because I have people in my circle who are Black and choose the dark-brown tone. I want Black people to choose first and the rest of us make our decisions based on their preferences.