Reaction paper to film, A Question of Color

The film also made me more aware of the detrimental psychological lessons that African Americans have learned about their value in this society. In his young mind he already knew that his darker skin was less desirable. I thought the footage of Malcolm X in the film telling of the white man’s plot to keep African Americans down by making African Americans devalue who they are, was effective in getting that point across.

A Question of Color

Reaction Paper

. ” I end this paper wondering in my own mind what it will take for African Americans to get past a conflict that does not appear to have a simple or obvious solution. This was also evident, when an African American mother and her two sons were eating breakfast, and the older brother teasingly asked the younger brother if he ever wished he was light skinned, the younger brother did not have to say a word; his answer was all over his face and it was obvious it made him uncomfortable. The film pointed out that our society teaches us that white is right; the closer a person is to white, the better off that person is perceived to be. The film noted how some other non-Caucasian groups have sought to emulate the white ideas about beauty, but it has not eroded their sense of worth as it has done African Americans.

Finally, I felt the movie did a good job at presenting both sides of the whole question of color as it relates to the African American psyche. Socialization had already taught him that people with lighter complexions are better in some way than those with darker complexions. Throughout the film I was reminded of the saying, “The grass is greener on the other side.