Over the weekend at a party, I witnessed a weird contest. It was a “pale-off”. Three or four people put their arms next to each to figure out who was whiter. I laughed a little at the ridiculousness as it reminded me of the first day back to school after summer vacation when I was a kid. My schoolmates and I would compare arms to see who got the better tan. My first thought at witnessing the “pale-off” was how everyone is still obsessed with the color of the skin, no matter their race. My second thought is there is an unsettling ease for someone who is White to even make that comparison, since other than more risk of sunburn or skin cancer, there is no repercussion for being very pale or semi-pale. For someone who African African or Latino, there is still discrimination within our community and outside of community. People are still obsessed with color even if don’t know about the “Brown Paper Bag” test.

From Urban Dictionary, “The Brown Paper Bag test is an actual test, along with the so-called ruler test in common use in the the early 1900s among upper class Black American societies and families to determine if a Black person was sufficiently white to gain admittance or acceptance. If your skin was darker than a brown paper bag, you did not merit inclusion.”

Both the “pale-off” and “brown paper bag test” are silly exercises. I hope the historical repercussions of the “brown paper bag test” does not keep a little brown girl or brown boy feel that they can’t be anything they want to be.