When is a color racially offensive?

The recent controversy surrounding the aboriginal costumes worn by Russian ice dancers Domnina and Shabalin raises questions of cultural theft, authenticity of the steps, and appropriate costumes. Some Australian aboriginal leaders have claimed that the pair’s brown-toned costumes adorned with leaves and white aboriginal-style markings were offensive and far from authentic. On the other hand, the Russian duo’s coach explained that the term "aboriginal" translates from Latin language and means "from the beginning" and that they tried to represent a picture of the time when aboriginal people were in the world - with no reference to any country or custom. Nevertheless, in spite of changing the hue of their original costumes from a dark brown (intended to make their skins look darker) to a paler shade, which better matched the Russians' natural skin tone, the controversy still rages.

This inspires me to write about the topic of "color racism" – something that I’ve been pondering ever since reading that the word "negro" is used on the 2010 U.S. Census. From a historical perspective and my experiences living in the South, it’s an obsolete and offensive word that many African Americans associate with segregation and a regrettable chapter of American history. My outrage mellowed a little after learning that the census box includes all 3 racial identifiers – black, African American, negro - all placed next to each other and next to the same check box. Census officials explained that some older African Americans identify themselves that way and they're trying to be inclusive. If I take their word for it, I’d have to put this to rest. In this case, how you define yourself is subjective.

An interesting contrast is the color term "flesh" when it’s used as a synonym for a light color. Crayola got the message back in 1962 and changed the name to peach (recognizing that not everyone's flesh is the same shade). In spite of this, a recent AP story described Michelle Obama’s dress as "a gleaming silver-sequined, flesh-colored gown." The writer - or someone - evidently got the memo and changed "flesh" to "cream" in later versions of the story. Source

Two weeks ago, yellow made the news. No one can justify naming the train route in the Asian community the "Yellow Line" – as was the case in Atlanta, Georgia. Although transit officials claimed that naming it the "yellow line" was part of color-coding the entire transit systems by using primary colors, this was racially insensitive and quite different from the census example. Yellow has never been used as a racial identifier for Asians. It is used as an offensive racial slur and it also carries historical baggage that can’t be ignored. After considerable protest, the route was changed to "Gold. "

A web site included this comment on the Atlanta situation: "It's becoming a sad, sad world when some find names of colors racial and the powers that be bow down to them."
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What do you think?

By the way, green is just a color … not a virtue.

There’s More Than Love at the Heart of Red

"Monkey Butt Red" and "Flaming Fuchsia" made the news recently - at least in the automotive industry. These are the names of colors created by Toyota and Dodge for the debut of their elite sports cars. Consider the possibility that these colors and their names were intended to generate a lot of press.

In the spirit of Valentines Day, the colors red and fuchsia (aka magenta, hot pink) generated considerable excitement in other arenas in the past year. Here’s some recent news about these two loving colors:

1. Scientists found that red seems to improve attention to detail while blue sparks creativity.
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2. Marine biologists discovered that a lot of fish in the sea glow a fluorescent red. This is startling news because scientists believed that fish don’t see red very well or not at all because red light does not penetrate below a depth of 30 feet. Why develop a skill that you will never be able to use?
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3. Red is the #1 color in advertising design.
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4. Companies see red over rights to the color magenta.
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5. When 877 members of USA TODAY's CEO panel took an online personality color test, they were three times more likely to favor magenta than the public at large, three times less likely to select red, and 3 times less likely to choose yellow.
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6. India's "pink panties" revolution for freedom from Indian women's sexual prisons begins.
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This Valentine's Day, think about your red. What does the color mean to you? Remember that color is like sex. It's mysterious. It's unknowable. No two people see the same thing. No two people feel the same thing.

Shattering a Colorblind View of the Past

For nearly two centuries, scholars have been arguing that beige and white were not the true colors of antiquity. The Parthenon in Athens and the Forum in Rome might have been almost gaudy. Unfortunately, such ideas have never influenced Hollywood or many experts. For example, in "Gladiator," when Russell Crowe strides down the streets of ancient Rome, circa A.D. 180, he's backed up by the proper complement of white marble. In almost every view of the past, textbooks included, the ancient world comes off as monochrome.

A flood of recent exhibitions has put color back into the vocabulary of antiquity. Last year, "Gods in Color" in Boston and "The Color of Life" exhibition at the Getty featured multi-colored sculptural masterpieces from the Greek and Roman eras.

However, not all scholars are pleased. Of note, Fabio Barry, an art historian at the University of St. Andrews in Scotland, is not overly fond of the Prima Porta sculpture's colored reconstruction. "Can you imagine the family-values, back-to-basics, republican emperor Augustus . . . represented by something that looks like a cross-dresser trying to hail a taxi?" raves Barry, an expert on the history of marble. He insists that the Romans cherished the whiteness of fine marble as an important symbol of light and purity.

On the other hand, Getty Curator Kenneth Lapatin "For the Greeks it was all about mimesis," says, using the Greek word for realistic imitation. Beauty depended on it.

A week ago, scientists revealed something else that shatters our preconceived notions about the drab and dinghy colors of an even more distant past. A team of British and Chinese scientists found evidence that a dinosaur that lived about 125 million years ago had a feathered mohawk with orange-brown bristly feathers around its tail. By examining and comparing tiny structures (melanins) in the feathers, they found the color associated with red-brown. Source

While this colorful development in the lost world of dinosaurs is quite exciting, it will still be left up to our imaginations to create the colors of popular dinosaurs, like Tyrannosaurus rex - at least for now.

As for antiquity, we also need help visualizing and accepting a colored world of architecture and sculpture.

Perhaps this century will colorize the past in amazing ways.

Color Karma for the Next Decade

Where will color go in 2010? What about the next decade? Will we be under the influence of trends or will the timeless powers of color rule? I’m sure you’ll agree that it will be both - and it all depends on many factors. The good thing about trends is that they inject new life into the color wheel. Yes, but what goes around comes around again and that’s my first take on color karma for the next decade.

Several trends gurus proclaim that mauve is back. It’s a subtle shifty hue that a painter described as “the color of a dead prostitute’s lips.” With that aside, here’s how I remember this color’s popularity in the past: The interiors of homes, offices, and even hospitals were drenched in mauve – and it was usually combined with teal (a blue-green). This new color combination was a sophisticated switch from the organic avocado and harvest gold hues that dominated the previous decade. Note: Pantone has declared that turquoise is the color for 2010.

Consider this: The mauving of America in the 80s followed the avocado refrigerator days of the 70s. Do the math:

Yellow-green / avocado: 1970s + 30 years = 2000 - through the decade
(Note: Shortly before the year 2000 yellow-greens became the cutting edge color for products and advertising.)

Mauve: 1980s + 30 years = 2010 - ?

In retrospect, it seems that one or two colors emerge as the most powerful new trends and this trend lasts about a decade. Also, after a color has dropped off the radar for at least 20 years, it’s a good time to resurrect it.

However, we live in a different world today. It’s so complex that no one dares to proclaim that any single color has the staying power for a decade. Alas! Those who dare to predict trends limit it to one year – as is the case with the recent proclamation by Pantone and others.

Time will tell.

In conclusion, I can now disclose my most recent project. The next generation of Xerox printers has debuted. I was part of an international team that came up with one color (the accent color for the front panel) for all the printers, from the small business models to the huge production machines. Guess what? It’s a classical color that was tweaked with subtle undertones for the next decade.

A word of advice for all aspiring colorists: Build a foundation in timeless color concepts. And have fun!