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A Detroit-based DJ and party promoter met with an avalanche of furor when he tried to sponsor a party that would allow only "light-skinned" black women into the club for free.
Word of the party's shade-based policy quickly spread across the Internet and soon, irate folks were bombarding the party's promoter, Ulysses "DJ Lish" Barnes, with angry calls and emails.
"I made a mistake," Barnes told the Detroit News. "I didn't think there would be a backlash."
Needless to say, Barnes ? an African American who describes himself as a "dark-skinned" - canceled the event after witnessing the size of the uproar.
"I didn't mean to offend anyone," he said. "I had planned a party for other shades (of black women). We were going to take a shade of color each week. Next week was going to be a party for 'Sexy Chocolate' and the week after that 'Sexy Caramel.'"
Black blogsites quickly joined the chorus of boos, with some urging a boycott of the party and filing a lawsuit against the party's promoter.
A Los Angeles-based activist who goes by the name of Pearl Jr. was able to reach Barnes on the phone and explain to him the historical pain behind his actions.
"I had a good conversion with him and he understood," said Pearl Jr., founder of the Black Women's Movement in Los Angeles and the author of the book "Black Women Need Love, Too."
"Ignorance can't always be an excuse," she told the Detroit News.
"Colorism is real in the black community. It's especially very degrading to dark-skinned black women."
The party's discriminating tone harkens to the day of the "brown paper bag test," which compared the complexions of blacks to a brown grocery bag before they could be admitted to social clubs and affairs, said Pearl Jr.
