Science’s Beef With Dark Skin
Welcome to This Black-Ass Life! We know we are very late but we’ve been doing life in the motherland and needed to be fully present and immersed in wonder. In this newsletter, we’re talking about trifling ass science and dark skin.
I. The Facts
Let’s start with the basics. If you have dark skin, it means you have more melanin, which is a group of different pigments found throughout the natural world. Different types of melanin are why you see brown spots on bananas, or even the dark ink found in squids.
The most common type of melanin in humans is eumelanin: a brown-black pigment responsible for the color of your skin, eyes, and hair. Essentially the difference between lighter and darker skinned people is the amount and distribution of eumelanin in the epidermis, the outermost layer of skin. You would think something so basic in humans wouldn’t be a big deal. However, in infuriating ways, and with very real life consequences, the powers that be are very loud and clear about not giving two shits about the needs and safety of people who simply have more eumelanin than others.
For example, pulse oximeters are a crucial tool that measures the amount of oxygen in a patient's blood. In the last few years, we’ve also learned that oximeters are wildly inaccurate when measuring oxygen levels in dark skinned people. One doctor said of the tools we were all sold on early in the pandemic, "we were given the false impression that the patients were okay. And what we showed… is that we were giving them less oxygen than they needed.”
I (Jumoke) am someone who sometimes needs supplemental oxygen for non-Covid related reasons and it’s the difference between being in debilitating pain or being able to move my body freely. That there are dark skinned Black people who desperately need readily available oxygen but are unable to get it because of flawed design is 🤬.
To say that dark skinned people get sicker and even die because of false oximeter reading is not a hyperbole. Worse yet, pulse oximeters overestimating darker skinned people as healthier puts them at risk with insurance companies who often make the argument that oxygen is not needed based on the readings. So you get sicker and then also pay more.
If that doesn’t make your blood boil, there’s also the field of Dermatology, the branch of medicine concerned with skin. The problem starts in medical schools where doctors admit dark skin is not part of the “core teaching on common disorders.”
This means that in the today of things, doctors aren’t taught how to even recognize or diagnose everything from acne to psoriasis to rosacea in dark skinned people. When actually discussed, we come up only in relation to dermatological rarities (say vitiligo).
While medical students have raised alarm that they are only being trained to treat white skin, there have been no fundamental shifts in dermatology. Black doctors and medical students are literally having to create their own books on diagnosing diseases on darker skin. Good for them but what in the separate but unequal fresh hell solution is that?!
All of this is even more troubling given that Black people desperately need dermatological care. We are more likely to die from skin cancer and have higher rates of common skin disorders. And yet, we are being forced to live with an incredible amount of unmet dermatological needs.
From the doctor’s office to the street: they are really still out here trying to put self-driving cars that keep hitting dark skinned people and do not recognize us as humans on the road. Like?! Again, what the hell?
Finally, this one may seem innocuous enough but how insane is it that some soap dispenser can’t recognize dark skin?! How many times have y’all had to find the lightest part of your palm to wash your damn hands?
Why does it matter?
Darker skinned people are people. We all deserve a world that isn’t dictated by technological advancement and science that puts us at risk due to computational and human bias.
It’s also literally not in anyone’s best interest to discount a whole world of people. Factoring technology to be sensitive to the darkest shades saves all our lives - whether we’re dark brown, dark skin, light skin, beige, fluorescent beige. It simply improves the technology! Simple maths!
As we shared in our newsletter, “Beep boop robots no are coming for your Black Asses 🤖,” AI and machine technology affects how people access the ability to clean themselves, healthcare, “justice,” physical safety crossing the street, loans, job security, and more. Every aspect of our lives is affected by computational bias.
What can my Black ass do?
If you are a dark skinned person, understand that you are not, have never been, and will never be an anomaly. That the world continuously treats dark skin, a feature so fundamentally human and natural as an aberration is insidious.
Non dark skinned Black people, check your colorism! Colorism exists across cultures and countries, and we have to be honest about the treatment of darker skinned people globally.
Search for directories of caregivers and physicians like this one of Black dermatologists who have a higher likelihood of being able to care for darker skin tones.
Learn about the Algorithmic Justice League, an organization advocating for more equitable and accountable AI.
II. Other Things
Black-ass happenings:
Ryan Coogler on his final conversation with Chadwick Boseman. Heart-wrenching.
Shout out to Lizzo, Bey, MJB, and every other Black artist nominated for a Grammy.
Speaking of the Grammys, LOVE the way Halle rides for Chloe.
Dwyane, you’re doing great, sweetie.
Listen to Imani Barbarin on how weird ableism can be.
We need to discuss Quinta’s fashions!
If Tiffany Cross’ show was a success, then why was it canceled?
Our Black-Ass song(s) of the week (Jumoke):
There is too much good music out right now. Wizkid has never made a bad song. I’ve listened to KU LO SA a total of one million times. Victony’s Soweto and his rendition of Dami Duro is gorgeous. Omah Lay’s soso is equally gorgeous, and finally, Odunsi’s In the Morning is the perfect 4 am song.
Things we look forward to:
I (Jumoke) look forward to being in places where every aisle is the Black aisle.
I (Mitu) look forward to all the holiday movies - ‘tis the season!
lll. Text From A Black-Ass Granddad
My (Mitu’s) dad reminding the family group chat what grandparents do after receiving adorable photos of my nieces.
Stay Black, have a snack, and take a nap today.