On Kids and Colorism

This past week, the Kardashian clan posted a photo of all of their new babies, and thus dubbed them “The Triplets.”

To no one’s surprise they are stunningly cute, but True (middle) has been facing colorism issues. True is the baby of Khloe Kardashian and Tristan Thompson. (An ironic name considering Thompson was caught cheating with other women during Khloe’s pregnancy but that’s for another article.)

Colorism, the internalization of white supremacy within Black and brown communities, has reared its ugly head once more but this time at an infant. Comments calling to “Bleach that skin” and “burnt chicken nugget” were posted under the comments.

All of the babies have black fathers, but True happens to be the darkest which makes her a target for trolls. This is not uncommon for the children of black stars. Beyonce and Jay Z’s daughter has constantly been ridiculed for looking more like Jay, who has darker skin and more African features, than Bey, who has lighter skin.

When celebrity children don’t live up to unnecessarily high expectations of racial identity or cuteness
they come under as much scrutiny as their parents, despite just being kids. Especially within the celebrity
world, Blackness continues to be a commodity that is revered and respected when it conforms to a level of whiteness that is acceptable to the American public. In some of its ugliest moments, it comes out as blatant colorism and bullying towards children.