Navigating the Constellation of Restraints on Black Life

Scholar Dexter Voisin on Whiteness, Colorism, and the Societal Narratives We Inherit

“The true focus of change is never merely the oppressive systems we seek to change but the oppressor that is planted deep within each of us.” —Audre Lorde

In the 1960s, I spent my formative years in the West Indies before migrating to the United States for college and then to Canada 33 years later. My beautiful, elegant, brown mother taught me the importance of cultural pride, starting when I was as young as 5 years old: “When you leave the house, always make sure that your shoes are shined, your …