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<\/p>\nPauline Bourke remembers when skin brighteners became popular in the early 2000s.<\/p>\n
She now sells beauty products to Tongan youth who are continuing the trend.<\/p>\n
“I believe they use these products to become more beautiful, their skin becomes more clearer \u2026 [they hope] their girlfriend or their boyfriend will also see them as more beautiful,” she told ABC’s The Pacific.<\/p>\n
Skin whiteners and brighteners are common in Tonga.<\/p>\n
Whiteness is a beauty ideal some Pacific people strive for, while those with darker skin tones are often discriminated against.<\/p>\n
It is defined as colourism \u2014 the prejudicial or preferential treatment of people, usually of the same race, based on their skin tone.<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
Pauline Bourke says young people in Tonga continue to buy skin-whitening products. (ABC News: Marian Kupu)<\/p>\n
The issue of whiteness can be traced back to the region’s colonial past, and today some are fighting back against it.<\/p>\n
‘My offence is that I’m Black’<\/p>\n
As Apple TV’s Chief of War cast accepted the best ensemble performance award at the Film Independent Spirit Awards, Black-Hawaiian actor Moses Goods spoke in Native Hawaiian.<\/p>\n
The celebration was short-lived when he was targeted by online trolls.<\/p>\n
“I know we should let these things go and pay them no mind, and usually I do, but this one was different,” Goods said on Instagram.<\/p>\n
“This one was rooted in hatred and racism and not only that, it was from another Native Hawaiian.<\/p>\n
“I’m a f****** popolo [Black person] with no koko \u2014 no Hawaiian blood, using the N-word freely and laughing about it.<\/p>\n
“It’d be one thing if I did something offensive, but what was my offence? My offence is that I’m Black.”<\/p>\n
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<\/p>\n
Moses Goods has spoken out against the hate he received online. (Supplied: Apple TV)<\/p>\n
The issue does not only exist online, with 531pi radio host Carolanne Toetu’u noting it had permeated parts of Pacific culture.<\/p>\n
“Growing up into a teenager, you’d say things like, ‘what a waste, they’re so good-looking but they are Black,'” Ms Toetu’u said.<\/p>\n
Pacific’s past linked to colourism<\/p>\n
Maile Arvin, an expert in race and settler colonialism at the University of Hawaii, told the ABC that these attitudes were influenced by the Pacific’s history.<\/p>\n
“It’s most obvious in the name Melanesia which refers to the Black islands,” Dr Arvin said.<\/p>\n
“Polynesia, the word just means many islands. And then Micronesia means small islands. So, the actual names are not racial in the sense that Melanesia is.”<\/p>\n
She said 19th and 20th century anthropologists like Louis Sullivan portrayed Polynesians as “whiter and nobler”.<\/p>\n
Sullivan took physical measurements and photographs, compiling data such as hair types and nose lengths to justify his claims.<\/p>\n
Despite the work being debunked, Dr Arvin believed this history of elevating whiteness continued to influence Pacific societies.<\/p>\n
“There is sometimes some understanding that Melanesians are understood to be folks with the darker skin, and therefore have a particular history with really explicit racism against them, which is tied to that,” she said.<\/p>\n
“I think it’s important to see it as an origin story of the way we often unconsciously believe certain racial ideals in contemporary life.”<\/p>\n
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<\/p>\n
May Hasola was left hurt and disappointed by the abuse she received. (Supplied: Solomon Islands Government)<\/p>\n
Melanesian contestants competing at beauty pageants have also experienced colourism in recent years.<\/p>\n
May Torowi Hasola represented Papua New Guinea at the regional competition in 2024 where she received a torrent of abuse for her skin tone.<\/p>\n