AltMuslimah and Brown Girl Magazine planned a Twitter conversation called #OwnBrown based on a previous Hashtag called #BrownParts. We hoped to address the issue and engage followers about skin color discrimination and the results were eye opening, sombering, and hopeful.
AltMuslimah and Brown Girl Magazine welcomed followers to the event at 3:00 PM PDT/6:00 PM EDT.
Here are some of the Tweets from the conversation:
Ever since I hit twenty, I’ve been constantly “advised” on the importance of learning how to use bleaching products. #OwnBrown
— Release Kaye-raken! (@gildedspine) January 27, 2015
@BrownGirlMag comments on how light you are (congrats) or how dark you have become (condolences) are normal #OwnBrown #BrownParts — Hena Zuberi (@HenaZuberi) January 27, 2015
@BrownGirlMag @HenaZuberi A LOT OF COMMENTS ON COLORISM! Many from people I respect and whose opinion I hold high — Legible Muslim (@Legible_M) January 27, 2015
#OwnBrown because one of my children has darker colouring than the other two and ppl ask me if they have the same father. In front if them. — Naheed Mustafa (@NaheedMustafa) January 28, 2015
Convos on brownness not a rarity on twitter. Grateful. Its a convo we must have and keep having until we no longer need to have it #OwnBrown
— Aisha Saeed (@aishacs) January 28, 2015
Let 2015 be the year women stop silently seething and instead gently push back on statements of colorism & shadeism. #OwnBrown
— Namira Islam (@namirari) January 28, 2015
It wasn’t til 20s that I started to <3 my brown skin. BlackStar’s Brown Skin Lady bcame anthem https://t.co/bpv8HL0fdO #brownparts #OwnBrown
— Taz Ahmed (@TazzyStar) January 28, 2015
Fair and Lovely needs to be boycotted. Psychological terror against brown women. #OwnBrown
— Darakshan (@DarakshanRaja) January 28, 2015
Being brown is a disease. Being brown is a flaw. Being brown needs to and can be fixed These thoughts are implemented in our girls #ownBrown — Anam (@AnamR_Syed) January 27, 2015
@MuslimahMontage growing up my siblings & I are all diff shades people would rudely remark that we didn’t have the same parents #OwnBrown — Malika B (@NaaishaMalikab) January 27, 2015
The thing is, sometimes I can’t even be upset at the women who prescribe these products because they were taught this, too. #OwnBrown — Release Kaye-raken! (@gildedspine) January 27, 2015
Those our community calls the “prettiest” are often those who look Western. Straight hair, light eyes, white skin. Coincidence? #OwnBrown — Hafsa Ahmad (@HafsaAhmad) January 27, 2015
If “Fair & Lovely” is meant as a beauty solution for women of color, what does that imply about our #BrownParts? “Brown & Ugly?” #OwnBrown
— Simran Jeet Singh (@SimranColumbia) January 27, 2015
Color can be a Huge barrier in the #marriage games #OwnBrown — Shazia Kamal Farook (@ShaziaKFarook) January 27, 2015
many brown ppl are told by own family members to purchase ‘Fair & Lovely’ so we can become more beautiful. brown is beautiful! #OwnBrown — Ramya Ramana (@Ramyaramana) January 27, 2015
shouldn’t have to feel lucky to have parents that didn’t compare my skin to my sisters’ lighter tones – i do. Shadeism runs deep #OwnBrown
— Yumnah M Syed (@yumnahms) January 28, 2015
Can I add how brown parents think Black people cannot be pretty? “Oh wow she’s pretty!” “No, she is black” “Umm what?” #ownbrown
— Narmin Oshmi Shahid (@Oshmita) January 28, 2015
Colonial mentality still embedded in our minds; the obsession with ‘fair’ skin has gotten to the point of self hatred. #OwnBrown
— Dialectic (@Dialectic1) January 28, 2015
To move forward we need to gently check people, change the language we use and others use #OwnBrown
— Hena Zuberi (@HenaZuberi) January 28, 2015
Engage enough aunties who make awful statements & many will say how they’ve suffered and hate it too. Don’t fume. Unite. #OwnBrown #colorism
— Namira Islam (@namirari) January 28, 2015
At 30 I started loving my brownness. #OwnBrown
— rabia chaudry (@rabiasquared) January 28, 2015
To read more tweets follow the #OwnBrown Hasthag
