Blanchissez-moi tous ces Nègres (review)

Serge Bilé, the Michael Moore of Francophone literature and film, has done it again. Scarcely a year after stirring up controversy with his Au secours, le prof est noir! (co-author Mathieu Méranville), and Et si Dieu n'aimait pas les Noirs? (co-author Audifac Ignace), Bilé turns his attention to a largely clandestine practice among individuals of African origin: skin whitening. The resulting work, Blanchissez-moi tous ces Nègres, is, in keeping with Bilé's previous works, a true eye-opener.

Beginning in the 1980s, pop culture icon Michael Jackson, brought the practice of skin lightening into the public eye: Jackson's healthy chocolate complexion appeared to wane as he entered his twenties, and the singer had become nearly devoid of all color long before his 2009 passing. Although Jackson never publicly admitted to bleaching his skin—he attributed his lightening to a degenerative skin disease, vitiligo—the dramatic and uniform change in the color of his skin created speculation. Bilé cites not only Jackson, but also more recent public figures, including pop star and model Beyoncé, and baseball great Sammy Sosa, as examples of the troubling practice. Lest we assume that the attempt to lighten the skin of an individual of African descent is a recent phenomenon, Bilé takes his readers on a historical journey from the inception of the practice centuries ago to its modern day ramifications.

According to Bilé, the desire of some individuals of African descent to become whiter can be traced back to the French colonial empire and attributed to a number of historical and cultural phenomena; phenomena which become the focus of his first chapter: "Changer un Noir en Blanc" or "Changing a Black to White" (17, my translation). Interestingly Bilé notes that among African ethnic communities that remain isolated from whites, the desired skin tone is the deepest, darkest complexion possible. Those whose skin is lighter are viewed as possessing a less desirable physical trait, whereas those whose complexion is darker are lauded. A reversal of values occurs once the triangle trade is instituted, and Africans become a source of forced labor for individuals possessing a light complexion. Light skin becomes synonymous with power and freedom. The pale appearance that was once shunned in African ethnic communities is suddenly coveted. The official French religion of Catholicism further reinforces the preference for a light epidermis. In the eyes of the Church, a "Black" individual is a fallen "White": The former once possessed a pale complexion, but sinful acts have caused his skin tone to darken. Soon scientists and businessmen contributed to the growing social and religious pressure in favor of lighter skin. Deeply influenced by Biblical teachings, Western scientists viewed albinos born to parents of African origin as proof that white was the original color of all humans. Bilé traces the horrific practices—from the use of x-rays to acid dips to volatized silver nitrate—which were praised as scientifically proven ways to "save" those of a dark complexion by giving them a pale tone, and with it, a new start in life. Perhaps not as shocking, but just as disconcerting, are the advertising campaigns for bleaches and soaps, in which manufacturers claimed that their cleaning products were so effective that they could even whiten the skin of a black man. The global reach—from Geneva, to Paris, to Quebec—of this early twentieth century publicity campaign is both daunting and disturbing. It is not long before ads targeting "white" consumers, including one in which a black man happily displays his bleached right arm after dunking it in a powerful detergent, are transformed into publicity campaigns which target the "Black" population. By the middle of the twentieth century, Ebony, a traditionally "Black" magazine, is running an ad for skin lightening cream which promises everyone of dark complexion "a lighter, brighter" appearance. According to Bilé, skin-lightening campaigns aimed at "Blacks" began over 150 years ago in the Antilles in 1849—one year after the abolition of slavery—where on the island of Guadeloupe...