Rating: 
Summary: Color Complex
Review: EXCELLENT! This is a book that one cannot put down. The issue of color discrimmination is rampant within the communities of color be it black, hispanic, etc. Although I cannot say if I have suffered intraracial color bias, I know it exists. When I look at Ebony Magazine, Jet, etc. I feel that these publications have a fetish for light skinned people! I know of light skinned blacks that absolutley will not marry or get involved with anyone dark skinned or one that does not have "european" features. i have worked with African Americans that only allowed their daughters to date white boys! For fear of having children with dark skin and "bad" hair. This book tells the truth about the role of skin tone ,hair texture and self hatred in the black community.
Rating: 
Summary: Allow White Men To Speak For Themselves
Review: First I like to say that I read this book from beginning to end. I could nearly write a book about The Color Complex, because I examined it so well. The author claimed that she wrote the book for dark skinned women with kinky hair that were made to feel ugly. However you certainly couldn't tell this by the content within her book. If you didn't know any better it looked as though she done everything in her power to reinforce and down grade their existence all the more. In the black community , from the experience of black women,it is a well known fact that white men tend to admire darker skinned black women more and differently than black men. In this book an experiment was held to see how society at large views dark skinned and light skinned black women. They tallied the combined opinions of white men, white women, black men, and black women together. Based on their research they concluded that society-at-large views light skinned black women more positively than darker skinned black women in all areas accept humor. So they titled the results of this experiment the Whoopi Goldberg Effect. Despite the fact that this woman has been successful and exclusively married and admired by whitemen herself. None the less, since this claim was made, it would have been interesting to have the view points of white men by themselves. Also others by themselves, to determine exactly who views darker skinned black women the most negatively. These are the exact questions the experiment should have exposed. It would have been an EXCELLENT opportunity to shatter myths and sustain truths. For example is it really true that white men view darker skinned black women more positively than black men?. If the scores could have been compared between the two groups of men, it could have validated what dark skinned women have known since slavery. However when the opinions are clumped together, it hides too much. A combined outcome means nothing. I'd like to know what the whitemen had to say by themselves.This book seem like it was design to give light skinned women a little too much praise, and when possible go to any extent to even steal credit from dark skinned women.Black men boldly spoke in coarse street language and specifically told why they didn't want a dark skinned woman. I kept wondering why the author didn't allow white men equal coverage to verbalize and make their testimonies heard as well. After all they did say that society at large view light skinned black women more positively. So why are black men the only ones crooning praises, and the white men found saying nothing? Also, the intent of the book would have more credibility if Kathy Russell, would have included a darker skinned black woman,beyond medium tone, and a white man on her team while compiling the book.
Rating:
Summary: Insightful and interesting...get it!
Review: I am a dark-skinned woman born in the US of nigerian parents. I was diggin this book the whole way through... The author is a somewhat light-skinned african american and her coathors/ advisors are a white woman and an african american man so it gives you a well-rounded perspective of the issue of color. The book breaks it down issue by issue as you can see in the Table of Contents that you can view here on Amazon.com. It makes it clear to the reader exactly *how* color became an issue and *why* it remains such an issue today in this so called "modern" world. Color among those of the african diaspora is an issue because of the presence of world domination by the europeans. Color therefore = class and people view us either positively or negatively because of our color. People will assume how *good* you've had it in life based not only on your ethnic background (like say, japanese or korean vs. any african) but also on the color within that background. Being closer to white generally means people will assume you've had it *better* in life. Aesthetically, people may assume you have better facial features, better hair texture, within the african diaspora. Just look at the leaders in the african american community - they have historically been very light/very mixed with white. They have been allowed to move up. Similarly many female costars to black males have been very light/very mixed with white. Test yourself: what did *YOU* think of me when I wrote that I am a dark-skinned woman directly from africa? What do you envision and how does that make you feel? For me it is all about self luv and seeing myself as a blessed child of God... peace&blessings
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Summary: Our "Dirty Laundry" is Stinkin' up the House!
Review: I first read "The Color Complex" as a college student in 1996. As a dark-skinned Black male, this book brought to light the lion's share of all of the ostracism, ridicule, and occasional bullying that I experienced as a child. It also made me realize that a large segment of the Black community still does not want to acknowledge (let alone deal with) the fact that Black intra-racial color discrimination is still alive and well. Never under-estimate the power of denial. It is very hypocritical that many Black "leaders (?)" prefer to always point the finger at White America for all of its sins, yet refuse to challenge us as Black folks to take a good, hard look at ourselves and how we treat each other. Bravo to the authors for "airing our dirty laundry" in a way that forces much needed and long overdue Black American community introspection. This book will make some uncomfortable, but that's the point! Just like "Losing the Race" by John McWhorter, this books represents a much-needed wake-up call for Black Americans.
Rating:
Summary: Interesting
Review: I knew that there was discrimination between blacks. I'm a dark-skinned black man and having grown up mostly around medium to dark skinned blacks I've seen light-skinned blacks teased and made to feel inferior by us because of their white heritage on a regular basis. People would be friends with them but people's hatred of them because of them being mixed always lingered in the back of someone's mind. One thing I found interesting was how in the book they told of how in the early 1900's up until the 50's, light-skinned blacks formed their own organizations and excluded dark-skinned blacks. I've never experienced discrimination from light-skinned blacks so I never knew that they'd done those things. One thing that I didn't like about the book though was how they presently applied the one-drop rule to determine if someone was black. If someone is light enough to pass for white then they are basically white. These aren't the slave days where the one-drop rule will divide up property. I agree with one of the people they interviewed in the book who said that if someone is genetically more white than black then they should be considered passing for black and not passing for white. Growing up the way that I did I don't consider half-white people completely black and especially someone who has only one black grandparent but who's parents and other grandparent are white. No matter how much they want to be black and deny their white heritage as I have often seen, they will never be considered black by many of us. Overall the book was very good because they did a lot of research and were able to cite different instances of color discrimination between blacks. I would recommend this book for anyone who thinks that discrimination is nonexistant especially within the black community.
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Summary: I am a dark skinned woman, according to this book...
Review: I live in the ghetto(because the darkest blacks live there), am insecure about my nappy hair, will not climb the corporate ladder as swiftly as my light skinned peers, when choosing a mate I will desire a light skinned husband so that I can dip into a lighter gene pool, and finally, if I had to adopt a child I would REQUEST a light skinned one quicker than a dark one.
Slave talk, all of it!
I read this book (most of it) with a completely open mind and hoping for a well researched and fair study of black america's color complex. I ended up throwing this book across the room in frustration. This book perpetuates the myth more than black america. As a dark skinned female I felt horrible reading this, mothers don't let your babies read this, it can be SERIOUSLY detremental to ones development. In all honesty I can say with much authority (after all I have been black all of my life) that the very vast majority of black people do NOT think like this. I find it very hard to believe that it's no more than a coincidence that the authors are the two who benefit the most from the "color complex", a light skinned female and a dark male (because according to this book light skinned men lack the all important street credibility and dark skinned women are bitter and unattractive).
This is a disgraceful portrayal of what could have been a pivotal cultural study. Shame on them for perpetuating the myth.
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Summary: ALL BLACK PPL ARE MIXED
Review: I love this book and how it highlights how some of my beloved brothers and sisters discriminate against each other, as if we don't have it bad enough in America. I find such ignorance quite sad. I'm a medium brown complected sister myself and never endured the cruelty that I saw my darker or lighter skinned friends suffer through. If you are dark, you were told you were ugly or "too black". If you are light, you were told you were gorgeous or "not black enough". All of this self-hatred and ignorance is the legacy of slavery as the book points out. That old "divide and conquer" strategy is still working in our community. Also, if you have African ancestry, you are black. I don't care if you're fair as Mariah Carey or if you're dark as Wesley Snipes, you are black and beautiful and you should be proud. Even if you only have one distant black ancestor, that still makes you black in America. There is no such thing as HALF-BLACK OR HALF-WHITE, just as there are no people who can claim to be 100 percent black. I have distant white, native american and hispanic ancestors but that still makes me black. We are all "mixed" thanks to slavery and African colonization. Yes, even Africans are "mixed". Why do you think Somalians look the way they do? Italian colonization, that's why. Read up on your rich black history people. My bottom line, black is black is black is BLACK. Your shade of blackness or number of black ancestors does not change that fact. If we could all realize this and work TOGETHER, we could make even more progress in this racist society we live in.
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Summary: As a medium complexion woamn, this booke opened my eyes
Review: I picked this book up, just for the sake of reading. I could NOT out this book down. As a graduate student who works full-time I don't have a lot of time to read for pleasure, but I read this book in 3 days! I was amazed about the depths of this issue. Although I consider myself to be pretty in tune with Black issues I was shocked to read some of the things people say and believe b/c of skin tones. There were some extremely gut wrenching candid points made. For example, I was not aware that people in today's "modern" times were still "white-washing" their families or that people still engaged in passing". The whole section on the importance of complexion and dating was wonderful. This book is very straight forward, easy to read, and candid. I think every person regardless of race should read this book, especially those in the helping professions (i.e. teachers, social workers, metal health counselors, psychologists, ect.)
Rating: 
Summary: Informative
Review: I throught the color complex was a very interesting read. When reading books like this have to wonder, just how many people were interviewed. I asked my hundreds of relatives, both light and dark skin, and most of them said they didn't even know color was a big issue until I mention it to them. Another thing from reading this book, it makes it seem if you are light and married to a dark skin guy, he only married you because of your color, and love is not even in the equation. People always bring up the entertainment industy, to justify their point that light skin people have and advantage, but i'm thinking what's so great about that industry anyway, why not look at real life, why don't we worry more about how God see's us. Sometime I wonder if books like this don't keep the problem going on, instead of solving anything.
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Summary: Intraracial racism EXPOSED!!!!
Review: I, an African-American female, have read this book at least 6 times. It's a much needed book that focuses on color prejudice/racism that runs rampant like a disease within communities of color. Often, most books of this type deal with White racism against all people of color, but this book is exceptional in that it focuses on how White racism has affected people of color mindsets when it comes to other people of color, not just Blacks (no thanks to colonialism). Cases in point:
1. Arabs who discriminated against blacks before 9-11-01 (still do now but not nearly as much...gotta worry about racial-profiling now)...and don't forget Arab slavery of Africans
2. People from India/Pakistan discriminated against blacks (remember the NYC yellow-cab fiasco that happened with Danny Glover?...that's just one instance)
3. Latinos against Blacks- very, very complicated to discuss here...I call it J.Lo syndrome for short
4. Asians against blacks- again too complicated to discuss here...I call Asian J.Lo syndrome
5. Blacks against Blacks- that's what this novel is for The list goes on, but try reading this book, it's a great eye-opener as well as a wake-up call for ALL people of color not just blacks.
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