Assimilationist colorism resurfaced among Black Americans after the Black Power era

Evidence

In 1989, Public Enemy recorded one of the most popular songs in Hip Hop history, “Fight the Power.” The song headlined the soundtrack of Spike Lee’s critically acclaimed 1989 urban rebellion flick, Do the Right Thing. “Fight the Power” tied together the commencement of the socially conscious age of Hip Hop and Black filmmaking and scholarship. Do the Right Thing was Lee’s third feature film. His second, School Daze (1988), addressed assimilationist ideas related to skin tone and eye color (the lighter the better) and hair texture (the straighter the better), a theme suggested by the fact that Black Power’s Afros were being cut or permed down. — Ibram X. Kendi, Stamped from the Beginning, 1107

Categorization

• XREF: Contrasts with the reader’s stated unfamiliarity with assimilationism as a central force; School Daze stands as the classic cinematic example of colorism Kendi is categorizing. — connects to: Black institutional separatism aimed at transforming, not escaping, America — Evelyn Brooks Higginbotham, Righteous Discontent: The Women’s…, 245