Do you think, back in their own folklore, the natives of the African continent associate a dark skin color with evil, and a light skin color with good on a regular basis? When, as has been shown, jet-black skin is a natural tone there?
You probably were not asking this question seriously, BUT...looking at history the actual question is...
Depends on which part of Africa you were in.
The following has nothing to do with the thread though, and is more a general history note regarding the Continent of Africa.
In much of it...YES...this actually WAS an association...because almost none of them actually have jet black skin (and that picture posted earlier either the guy has inked himself with black ink, or it has been photoshopped or he has a skin condition as that is NOT a natural skin tone in ANY part of Africa I've ever been in. More likely, as he also has specks of that same color on his teeth and shirt, he has been doing something with a black substance which has covered his skin or something to that effect. A search of the image says he has not been identified, The claim is he is the darkest individual in Africa...but the photo itself cannot identify or verify that this is accurate as the individual and what is occurring is not identified. Regardless, his is NOT the normal or natural skin color that I've ever seen occurring in Africa in general. Nyakim is more akin to the darkest skin tones...and she is definately NOT "jet-black" in any sense of the word).
Various parts of Africa were very intolerant of other portions and areas of Africa...many times in regards to skin tone. While a European may have a racist idea that they all have the same skin tone or other racist ideas, there were a wide variety of different peoples in Africa. In truth, there is probably a wider variety of peoples on the African Continent then there were on the European continent.
It wasn't just about skin tone though, it was about birth status, who you were born to, and in many parts that were more tribal, what tribe you were in vs. what tribes others were born into.
They got violent, waged war on those they either hated or considered lesser groups. It went the whole gambut of skin tone, religion, and even caste/class/tribal differences.
Africa, like many other places, has a RICH history where you have examples of noble humanity at it's best (virtuous civilizations with great cities and caring citizens) to those of it at it's worst (slavery and intolerance). In some of these areas it's only been changing recently, and even then, some of the things that we consider evil, they consider good, and some of what we consider good, they consider evil (LGBT rights in how we view it for example, in many of the nations of Africa are seen in a very different way and light).
There are many things people in the West take for granted as being the moral high grounds, which are not necessarily seen as the moral high ground in other lands. What may be important to us morally, is not necessarily what other places consider their morality, or moral to them.
IRONICALLY, the West still plays as having a savior complex where OUR morality must be the RIGHT morality. You can find countless articles condemning the laws and practices of African nations because they do not share the same values as Western society.
Where we see things in one way, they may see things in a completely different way...but I think there is ONE overriding principle that we all agree upon and that is freedom. The freedom of a people or group to determine their own rulers, laws, and regulations rather than having others put them down and try to determine it for them.
Too often I think the West is STILL trying to dictate to the various peoples and nations of Africa what they must or must not do. Africa is incredibly complex and diverse and while some places are rural, there are also great cities with technology that surpasses what is found in some parts of the US even. In some parts of Africa (more in the Northern regions from what I've seen, though it may also occur in the Southern regions more as well...excluding of course, South Africa which is in a realm of discrimination in and of itself brought on by the West's incursion in it's culture much like what happened in North America) skin tone is still a measure of beauty and favoritism, as well as at times, discrimination. However, it is the same and different than what we see in the West and as a Westerner, I am unable to give it the appropriate description as it would be too colored by my Western Bias.
And with that, though it is overly broad (Africa is a MASSIVE continent with many different nations and people, try describing the entirety of Europe or North America in one post and trying to discuss the peoples there of...and as I said, Africa is more diverse than Europe by far in regards to peoples and cultures) I suppose the post is done. It has nothing to do with the discussion of this thread, but too often I think people think ALL others must think and act the exact same way and hold the same things important that US, Canadian, Australian, and European peoples do.
I addressed this because the last statement...and perhaps it is what you consider jet black vs. what I consider jet black are different. Saying jet black skin is common on the Continent of Africa may be perceived as offensive, and most of the time what people consider "jet-black" skin is actually just a rather dark shade of another color (normally brown) rather than actually being..."jet-black".
I have never MET a "jet-black" individual who was "jet-black" naturally. I've met those who have more melatonin in their skin, or various other things (darker hair...lighter hair...different eye shades...etc), but never "jet-black" to be honest, but what I consider Jet-black and what others do may be different.
www.polygon.com
In 2020 WotC made a public statement about how they would be treating drow and orcs going forward -- "Throughout the 50-year history of D&D, some of the peoples in the game—orcs and drow being two of the prime examples—have been characterized as monstrous and evil, using descriptions that are painfully reminiscent of how real-world ethnic groups have been and continue to be denigrated. That’s just not right, and it’s not something we believe in. "
dnd.wizards.com
