‘P-Valley’ star Elarica Johnson says colorism seen on show is ‘authentic’ and similar to the kind she’s faced
One of the more controversial aspects of 'P-Valley' has been its willingness to address color bias. The practice of referring to people as “light-skinned” or “dark-skinned” within the Black community is referred to as "colorism", with the implicit understanding that mixed-race, lighter-toned people of color have it easier than their darker-skinned peers. In an earlier interview, Brandee Evans who plays Mercedes on the show spoke about how she has been rejected for acting jobs because she could not pass as "ethnically ambiguous".
Elarica Johnson's character, Autumn Night, is the main figure that highlights the tension around skin tone inside stripper culture, especially since a lighter-skin tone is deemed more sexually attractive. Mercedes in particular is very insecure around Autumn, deflecting a rejection by Andre Watkins by saying that not everyone can handle a "Melanin Monroe" like her.
Speaking to MEA WorldWide (MEAWW), Johnson spoke about the timing of the show as the entertainment industry is coming to terms with its covert, systemic racism and communities across the US are introspecting about internalized color biases. "I think Katori [Hall] has done an incredible job to flush out a lot of these conversations. Colorism is deeply set within the Black community and in communities in general. Within the [Black Lives Matters] backlash, colorism is a part of the wider conversation. So it's perfect timing for that reason. We have characters like Autumn and Miss Mississippi encountering it but in different ways. Miss Mississippi, for instance, favors a lighter skin color than her own. Autumn Night is a mixed-race woman and she is called certain names [by the other girls] -- which happens in the Black community and within society in general. So what Katori has done, which is really great, is she's pinpointed all of those moments that happen, all the different ways in which this bias plays out."
Johnson hopes that the show, moving forward, will help drive conversations around questions like, "What does that mean for Black women? What does that mean for Black men? How do they feel about a lighter-toned [Black] person and how do the light-skinned people then feel about men and women with darker skin?" The trick to it not coming across as offensive despite being such a sensitive issue, according to her, was that the dialogues and situations "feel meaningful and really authentic".
According to Johnson, she grew up in "quite a multicultural area" but she has also lived in areas that weren't as cosmopolitan. "So I have faced racism from all kinds of people from different places. I have also been pointed out for my lighter skin tone by both Black people and White people. I've been called all kinds of words. There are descriptions of Autumn in the script as 'light-skinned' and 'high yella' [yellow], and, you know, she gets poked and targetted because she's light and all she does is just lay there. So it's interesting to be a mixed-race woman playing a mixed-race woman."
Speaking of the experience on set, she says: "When you are hearing it [dialogues on set], it's like, 'oooh.... like, I know how this feels... this isn't nice'. But I know it's important to show this."
According to Johnson, the cast did have conversations, and "everyone was very open". For her, it is heartening to see how those same topics are now being discussed by the wider world. "What we're showing is real people. And so I hope they [the audience] take away a better understanding of this world. We are giving them a keyhole [view] into this incredible world, but it is also just about understanding people in general," she signed off.
The next episode of 'P-Valley' airs at 8 PM ET on Starz on July 26.