Introduction: From Ferguson to Geneva and Back Again

Abstract

Discrimination based on race is becoming increasingly harder to get away with in modern society both in America and overseas. This Essay addresses the hypothesis that a different form of discrimination – that of Colorism – has largely overtaken more ‘traditional’ forms of racial discrimination. Colorism is the process by which light-skinned people are privileged over dark-skinned people in areas such as income, education, housing, and marriage. This hypothesis was explored at a Symposium convened by Professor Kimberley Norwood in 2015, entitled ‘Global Perspectives on Colorism.’ This Essay introduces that Symposium and the Articles contained within the Symposium Volume, which reveal that discrimination based on skin color is a reality faced by millions of individuals appertaining to a wide variety of religious, social, and ethnic groups both in the United States and around the world.

Keywords: discrimination, race, skin color, anti-discrimination, anti-discrimination legislation, international law, Fourteenth Amendment, Universal Declaration of Human Rights, International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights, Title VII