A Story of Identity

For our second installment of Where We Belong, we hosted TK Saccoh – the creator of Darkest Hue and an avid advocate against colorism. TK shared her story as a Sierra Leonean-American immigrant, her experiences with colorism growing up as a dark-skinned Black woman in America, and how she works to uplift dark-skinned Black women, girls, and femmes. 

–

Jalen:
So, TK, you're the founder & creator of The Darkest Hue – tell us more about what inspired you to start that.

TK:
Being from Sierra Leone and having moved to the States when I was very young, I got to see how colorism played out in both worlds. Being an immigrant from Sierra Leone, I grew up seeing the use of bleaching cream, and I've grown up seeing the discomfort people feel around being darker skinned.

And when I moved to the United States, I saw a similar pattern. I grew up in Philly, where I went to a predominantly-Black middle school. Everyone had tons of similarities. Most of us were Black. We all lived in the same neighborhood, and yet there was this obsession with who was lighter, who was darker skinned, and I had my run-ins with colorism.

But when I was younger, I didn't really have the context or the language to appreciate [or identify] what was going on. When I got older, and I became more well-read, I connected with other darker-skinned Black women who had similar experiences and started connecting with other people. It made me realize that colorism isn't this niche, mysterious thing that only a few people experience. It made me think and see that so many more people are experiencing colorism than we know.

So I really created The Darkest Hue to create a web of experiences, where people can connect and see themselves and make colorism something that's not super hush-hush. To make colorism something that is worthy of a platform – like Instagram or like The Darkest Hue – worthy of being an open conversation, rather than kitchen table talk, or a family secret.

And I really created The Darkest Hue to bring these conversations that were always happening in the dark into the light.

Jalen:
Instead of like, a behind-closed-doors sort of thing. Yeah, for sure. I'm really glad you said that, because I think colorism is one of those things that kind of gets glossed over compared to things like racism. Really doesn't get talked about that openly, like you said. Overlooked and kind of swept under the rug. And it's not just a one-race thing. As a Filipino, I've seen that sort of thing in my community as well. 

So I think it's really important work you're doing – highlighting something so prevalent but also so under talked-about.

-

Jalen:
So you were born in Sierra Leone – talk a little bit about your experience with colorism in Sierra Leone and also your experience with colorism here in America.

TK:
So I was only in Sierra Leone for five years, but those are five pretty important formative years of my life. The first place I moved was Washington state, and that was really interesting because where I went to school in Washington was predominantly white. So there, I experienced more of racism. I was really one of only a few Black students there, so I, along with the other Black students, was really tackling the issue of racism.

And it was not until I moved to Philadelphia – where I first thought I could breathe a sigh of relief because I was around people who looked like – where I had run-ins with colorism and xenophobia and things of that sort. It was hard, because as I was going through this, I had to remember that these were all other kids, and kids are just, kind of, sponges. So I had to give them grace, and also give myself grace as the person who was receiving those [colorist] comments and receiving whatever condition from the kids who had mean things to say.

So it was just really interesting, living in really different states and different environments during those formative years, and just sort of, tracking what different experiences with oppression I ran into, because based on the setting, it would change. It’s not like when I moved to Philadelphia, I stopped experiencing racism. It's just because of the new setting I was in that colorism was highlighted, because most of us were Black.

-

Jalen:
So being a Sierra Leonean-American, how does that influence the types of content that you discuss on your platform?

TK:
Having lived in America for most of my life, I'm very familiar with American pop culture, particularly Black American pop culture, because that's just the dominant culture here in the States, especially where entertainment goes.

Being on social media, I see a lot of the ways in which colorism manifests, especially in terms of misogynoir in music, movies, TV shows. And being African, it helps me contextualize media within the larger context and larger history of colonialism and slavery and history that I've read about.

It's really interesting living in both kind of worlds, because I can see how they manifest in very similar ways, and I can see that there's so much overlap. So, having this dual identity has really been very useful and helpful in creating thought-provoking content.

––––

To watch the full interview, visit us @dspraofficial on Instagram and TikTok. To learn more about TK & her work, visit @darkest.hue on Instagram.