To Pinky from Your Student

Dear Miss Pinky,

Are you happy with your choice? Truly? Don't you get tired of the prejudice and ill treatment you receive everyday in the South? I don't imagine the white people in our town accepted the fact that you got the estate even after the judge's orders. I reckon white folks come by to harass and disrespect you any chance they get. Could it have been possible to move West or North and stay true to your identity? I would assume that living your life as a fair-skinned colored woman in the West or North would have been more tolerable than as a colored woman in the South. Leaving your neighborhood doesn't have to mean cutting ties with your family either. See, you could move and visit Granny anytime you want. We love you Miss Pinky, but we see how sad you look sometimes. I see you all alone and wonder if it's possible for you to find love. Finding a husband would be difficult in any location I reckon. If you married a black man and were out in public then white folks would surely try to kill him. If you moved away and married a white man then you wouldn't be able to live as a colored woman.

Would you say being fair-skinned is more of a burden than benefit compared to being a dark-skinned woman?

Your student,
Sally

Comments

  1. Anna GreeneMay 22, 2018 at 12:27 AM

    From my perspective, I think a lot of people might be immediately resistant to the question you've posed - "Would you say being fair-skinned is more of a burden than benefit compared to being a dark-skinned woman?" I like that your letter nuances the idea of whiteness and blackness as a gradient for privilege and oppression, which in turn points out the absurdity of anti-blackness and racism; something of course the movie Pinkie does as well.

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