I didn´t see the movie yet, as a tv producer dealing with migration from Latin America - I am based in Mexico - I would love screenwriters like you to take a look at the worldwide nature of racism.  Anti black racism that is, black at the bottom of the desirablility scale.  from USA pov its easy for us to assume the rest of the world shares our somewhat liberal universal beauty sentiments, truth is NOT SO...mixed in with economic dreams that fuel immigration are all this racial white is right success symbol stuff, even inadvertant as it might have been the Syrian mom spoke just like many Mexican mom´s I hear every week...encouraging their kids to marry up - that is lighter skinned.

Zapf... thanks for your comment and you make a very interesting point. But with that said, I wished Thomas McCarthy had given context to that anti-black statement.  I'm thinking he doesn't understand the nuances of the immigrant and his/her dreams for success. Therefore the statement just came off as harsh and out of place.

I am a dark-skin black American woman, so I probably would have cringed at the "shes' black. very very black," statement, too.  I hope that Mr. McCarthy was trying to show that colorism is an issue in other parts of the world as well as here in the U.S. I haven't seen the movie, but its clear from your column that the young Syrian character didn't have a problem with his girlfriend's color. Let's look on the bright side, no pun intended.  It's good to see that a woman of Ms. Guirira's color has a starring role as the love interest, which is not often seen in films.    

I saw the movie and loved it. When the mother commented on the girlfriend's color, I laughed. It was exactly what I expected that character to say. Here's why: the mother is pleased that her son has a Muslim girlfriend. Imagine her shock when she finds out the girlfriend is black - and they're not. It was so in character!

Also, Keith, remember that the relationship between the mother and the girlfriend grows during the course of the movie. The scene where Zenaib (the girlfriend) learns that Tariq has been deported is heart-rending. I Ioved the way the two women bond at that moment.

I am an African-American female, brown-skinned and I was not offended at all by the comment made in reference to the decidedly beautiful, yet black Zenaib.  As a matter of fact, my boyfriend, who is also black, and I laughed at it.  I found it refreshing that color was mentioned because it is typical and not atypical that that Arab woman would react like that to a dark-complexioned African woman.  Darfur, anyone?  That whole conflict is based on Arab's who have come into the region and wish to cleanse it of its native, dark-skinned citizens.  Whereever Europeans have landed they have left the caustic conditioning of "light is better, white is right" on the indigenous peoples.  It is evident in Northern Indians to Japanese to Nigerians to African-Americans.  This is not a new phenomena, come on people, wake up!  I was happy that he dealt with something so little acknowledged, which is race and color in everyday living talked about by ordinary people.  When Hollywood doesn't touch on race we're in an uproar, when they do touch on race we're in an uproar.  We are not the only people in the world who have issues with racism and depth of color and you would know that if you had friends of other races.  And if you do, then you are missing out on the whole reason to have genuine relationships with people of a different race, discovering that we have many more commonalities than dissimilarities... Peace

romanic1 - you wrote:  "Whereever (sic) Europeans have landed they have left the caustic conditioning of "light is better, white is right" on the indigenous peoples".

With the unprecedented level of National and Racial awareness and pride in the world today, fostered by global communications and travel, don't you think that any "white induced" self shame could be overcome, normally, by the affected societies? The Moslem are not currently subjugating or enslaving the dark skinned man on the scale they once did. The British Empire and the idea of British (that is, white) superiority, and its' world spanning influence is fresh in historical terms but is rapidly becoming an historical footnote. Asian cultures have a history spanning thousands of years where the shade of a persons skin denoted status or the lack thereof. Ancient North Africans (think Cleopatra) worshipped lighter skin because the darker skin tone denoted slaves/workers.

If you will study your world history, you will find that skin tone based prejudice has existed in cultures long before contact with any Caucasian race. “Whites” did not create the (skin color based) caste system in India. The British worked to abolish it - unsuccessfully. They did not invent the color or Religious bias among Africans or Muslims. These poisons existed beforehand. What did occur is that the rapid rise (from a historical perspective) of the fair skinned Northern races to technological/military/world power gave the

existing prejudice a clearer demarcation line. The difference in pigmentation that causes divide between, say, a Chinese and Japanese person, may not be immediately obvious to someone unfamiliar with the culture and its' biases. To them, the Asians, it has served or thousands of years as a basis for racial identity, for conquest, murder, genocide - and not a "white" man in sight. It was the lighter skinned Spanish that conquered, enslaved and in some cases, exterminated the darker skinned Mexican race.

The rise of the Northern races made it possible to simplify prejudice (I am not implying any racism is correct or that there is one root cause; I am just making a point) and reduce it to a good/bad, us/them, black/white, lighter/darker argument. The racist/slaver/hater is freed from making any moral value judgments about differences in Religion or social customs. It was now possible to condemn a person(s) based on an easily observable, irrefutable fact.

The point I am attempting, rather poorly, to make is that it is no longer acceptable to blame anyone, be it an individual, a group, a society or a race for what occurred decades or centuries ago. Yes, many deplorable things happened and still do. Every race, every class of people, has been "wronged" at some point in history. The constant repetition of the mantra that the "white man" is responsible for (fill in the blank) is hogwash. The vast majority of "white" American families did not even live in the U.S. during the period when slavery and the social wrongs existed on American soil. The largest migrations of Caucasians occurred after 1900 - that is, AFTER the War between the States, AFTER Lincoln, a racist and a believer in the inferiority of the Negro, freed the slaves, AFTER Fredrick Douglass, etc. Many of these Europeans were fleeing racial prejudice, class system induced poverty or the slaughter (we now use the PC term "Social Cleansing") of their people.

We are the first generation to live in a time when there is a difference, one that has never existed in Human history. Modern communication and travel has created an embryonic World community/consciousness/gestalt that enables us to shine a cleansing light on this pestilence and helps eradicate it through awareness and education.

Peoples should address their energies towards combating the NOW and work for what might be; not the immutable what was.

Forgive me - I ramble. I will step down from the soapbox now.

I have not seen the movie, but it is something that as a dark black woman in this world I deal with on a daily basis. As Americans, we have beat the "color dead horse" until we are just used to it. Remember when it was the thing to be light, then the thing to be dark?  

Well, if you work in a diverse area you come to realize that it is not just "us" who has these issues, it is quite common among other cultures. I was asked recently by a young Chinese immigrant why white people want to tan themselves. Well, now, ain't that just the question? She couldn't understand my laughter. I told her that I had the same question all my life. A Filipino woman I know aspires to be a light as possible for her: NO TANNING ALLOWED.

This reaction is not new or news, this is the world that we live in. No matter the culture, the decade or anything to be dark is not the thang. At this point, we can laugh and hear comics and dj's on the radio say things like "light or dark skindided", but then we had to get there through deep thought-provoking discussions.  I would fathom to say that it is going to take a bit more time for other cultures and our own, to come to a true appreciation of the "Chocolate Rainbow".  

I have seen the movie and am not at all shocked by the reaction of the mother.I think that it was a realistic scene and dialouge. I dated a Muslim man from Turkey, I know that it was a shock to his family that he chose to date an African-American woman. After getting to know me, I know that their opinion changed. just as it did for the mother in the film. Once people allow themselves to form a relationship with a person of another ethnicity,culture or religion they learn to appreciate their differences yet also see their commonalities.

I've yet to see the film ( I live in a small southern town), but the colorism presented is no suprise. I'm a almost caramel colored Black woman, and have had to deal with it from blacks, whites, and most recently, Latinos.  I hate colorstruck Black men who comment on my skin tone. I hate the ignorant white coworkers that have felt that I am "safe" or a "good" black person because I'm not that dark.  Most infuriating, though, are the ignorant Latino people I've come across.  They remark that "I could pass for Dominican," which is another way of them saying that I look black, but somehow being Latino is supposed to be an upgrade.  The lack of knowledge about the existence of Afro Latinos, about darker skinned people (phenotypically more African) whose native tongue is spanish is downright appalling. Yes, there are dark Cubans (insert most other Caribbean, Latin, and South American country), and have been since the 1500s.

We have to wonder don't we ?

if this was over looked because the bigots are chameleons these days

My significant other was raised or survived the riots at 7th and H Street, the ground zero of the day.

He is German and Irish. He was Sportsman of the Year, and had many beautiful girlfriends. He was deeply hurt by his mothers rejections of these beautiful women. Upon meeting my to be mother in law, she shunned me,insulted me and later told everyone she thought I was an easy women due to the fact I wore a dress and lipstick. My husband was blown away he commented to me his mom didn't like the other women because they were black. He added and your white. He was truly puzzeled. I think his Irish Mother never wanted him to leave her, he was 34.

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