Death By Colorism: Woman Burned Alive for Being Dark Skin

In today’s episode of shit, I wish that women didn’t have to worry about. We are going to look at the tragic case of Lakshmi—a beautiful Indian woman who was murdered by her dog shit husband in 2017. Now, domestic abuse and the death that accompanies it are tragic in all of their forms. But this one feels especially horrible because Lakshmi was killed for having dark skin—another victim of colorism.

What is Colorism

Colorism is one of those subcategories of racism that is often dismissed or misunderstood by people who don’t experience colorism. No matter your complexion or racial makeup, most decent people can spot overt acts of racism in slogans, slurs, and the covert ways modern language separates communities. If someone is from an “urban area,” you understand that as code for someone being Black or Latin, usually poor from the hood. If someone is from the suburbs, you know that this often implies being white and middle-class.  But colorism can be even more covert because it is usually wrapped up in the words of beauty standards and backhanded compliments.

These are supposed to be compliments because they compare you to a lighter skin tone. As a Black american Woman who can’t pass the paper bag test — no, that spelling is not a typo. I capitalized Black and left american lowercase because I’m on my bell hooks, and y’all are gonna learn today, but I digress.— If I had a dollar for every time someone told me that I was cute for a dark girl, I would be so much hotter if I weren’t so dark, laminting that I would be much more attractive if I had a lighter skin tone, compared to apes and various other jungle creatures, because of my darker skin, I would sadly be a lot closer to being independently wealthy. 

Colorism and Abuse 

So, it isn’t hard for me to imagine the kinds of awful colorist things that Lakshmi would have heard from her husband from the moment they were wed in 2016. Since most of the people reading this are going to be american or somehow associated with the Western World, I know what you’re thinking: if this asshole isn’t attracted to women with darker skin, why would he marry her? We need to keep in mind that in India, arranged marriages are still widespread, and this might have been an arranged marriage between Lakshmi and her husband, where neither of them had a choice in the matter. And his hatred of women with darker skin and preference for lighter skin tones wouldn't have been taken into consideration.

Lakshmi is looking stunning in pink

Lakshmi’s husband never tried to hide that he was a colorist jerk. Throughout their short marriage, he made a habit of making snide and cruel remarks about her darker skin, praising women with lighter skin as beautiful while telling her that her darker skin was ugly, in addition to body-shaming her. Knowing that she was married to a colorist, Lakshmi wouldn’t have been surprised when he came home with skin-lightening treatment on June 24, 2017. 

While skin lightening and skin bleaching are not as common in the Western World, skin lightening treatments are very popular in India, some African countries, and throughout the Caribbean. Many of these skin-lightening treatments are linked to cancers and have caused severe disfigurement in some people. To keep it in an american context, Lil Kim may be the most famous person we know of to use skin-lightening treatments.  

Colorism and Murder 

Being a good wife, Lakshmi humored her husband and let him rub the skin-lightening liquid onto her skin. As he rubbed the liquid on her, Lakshmi commented that the liquid smelled like acid. As soon as Lakshmi commented, her husband pulled out an incense stick and set her on fire. Lakshmi screamed and tried to put herself out, but her husband threw the rest of the accelerant on her. Engulfing her body in flames, before running out of the room and locking the door behind him.

Lakshmi’s sister-in-law and her parents-in-law heard her screams, put her out, and rushed her to the hospital. While at the hospital, Lakshmi told doctors and police that her husband routinely called her “kali”, which is an Indian slur for having dark skin. In addition to body-shaming her nearly daily. Within days of giving evidence to the police, Lakshmi would die from her injuries. 

It would take eight long years for justice to catch up with Lakshmi’s husband. As the case made its way through the legal system, her husband maintained that burning his wife to death was a freak accident. Thankfully, justice would prevail, and this colorist trash would be sentenced to the death penalty in September 2025. The courts would call Lakshmi’s murder a crime against humanity.

Lakshmi's murder is a horrible tragedy that illustrates how deadly colorism can be. However, as I look at pictures of Lakshmi, she has a lighter skin tone than I expected. She would definitely get a better score on the paper bag test than I would.

I've searched the entire internet and haven't been able to find any published pictures of Lakshmi's husband, which is fine. In this tragedy, I would much rather the news focus on the tragedy of a life cut woefully short and the evils of colorism than give that asshole any shine. That being said, something in my gut tells me that Lakshmi's husband wasn't someone with a lighter skin tone.

All too often, the worst elements of colorism come from people with darker skin tones within your own community. They experience the bullying and exclusion of colorism as well. Still, they push that to the side so that they can use their privilege, usually male or economic privilege, to bully and exclude another person with darker skin to take some of the pressure off of themselves, only for them to be bullied for their darker skin when they are in spaces where lighter skin is preferred.

To illustrate how colorism works within communities of the same race, we will take a trip back in time to my misspent youth. In high school, there was a Nigerian girl in my class. Now, neither of us was going to pass the paper bag test, but she was several shades darker than I am. And yet, she would join in with the white kids making fun of my skin tone and lack of European features. I know what you're thinking: "Why is an African kid joining with white kids to participate in colorism?". Another cousin to colorism is classism. Being that this kid was Nigerian, she had a negative image of Black americans as being low-class, poor, and dirty. Because she perceived herself as from a higher class than Black americans, she had no issues with joining in on skin tone discrimination, though she had one of the darker complexions of the rainbow and would never pass a brown paper bag test.

 As we moved through school, it was clear that if I wasn't around, she was often the victim of skin tone discrimination among the white kids whose company she coveted. But as long as I was around to take the heat of skin tone discrimination off of her from time to time, she was OK with bullying me because she felt I was lower class.

Thankfully, I grew up and learned to embrace the body that I live in. Stopped chasing European features, aesthetics, found my own beauty standards, and got better at navigating the places where colorism and racism exist. Unfortunately, Lakshmi wasn't allowed to learn those lessons. Sadly, Lakshmi isn’t the last victim of colorism to meet a sad end. 

Colorism and Suicide

While all forms of racism and colorism are abhorrent, we don’t treat the abuse, bullying, and exclusion that comes with colorism with the same weight that we give to overt racism. I can’t speak for all women of color, of course. Still, my brushes with colorism are typical of what women of darker skin tones experience, and how difficult it can be to defend oneself against these particular attacks.

If someone says you’re pretty for a dark girl, and you tell them to fuck off, you’re told that you’re overreacting, that people are allowed their preference. No one thinks that this is a form of skin tone discrimination. These types of comments are the most insulting to darker-skinned people when people expect you to take this shit as a compliment. These people seem to sincerely believe that comparing darker-skinned individuals of different racial groups and ethnic backgrounds to lighter-skinned people of European backgrounds, and with European features, is a sincere compliment. They don’t realize that this is a compliment that comes with conditions. The minute something about your look or the way you wear your hair no longer mimics European beauty standards, you will no longer be considered beautiful to them, you will fall in status, and that means they can treat you like people who share your features that they probably don’t find attractive or hold in very high regard.

San Rechal Gandhi

Such may have been the case with San Rechal Gandhi. San Rechal was an Indian model and beauty queen who had won Miss Dark Queen Tamil Nadu in 2019—a title that is colorist as fuck—a two-time Miss Pondicherry in 2020-2021, Queen of Madras 2022, represented India in the Miss Africa Gold Pageant in 2023, and that is before you get into her courtless runway modeling and influencer gigs. But what really made San Rechal stand out was her anti-colorism activism. 

Throughout her life, San Rechal had been bullied for her darker complexion. As she saw success in the beauty and fashion industries, she said, “My vision is to create an environment free of unrealistic beauty standards... I want to inspire a generation that believes they can achieve their dreams, no matter their colour, size, or shape.”

Sadly, San Rechael died of kidney failure after she overdosed on blood pressure pills in her father's home at 26. While she placed no blame on anyone specific in her suicide note, those close to her suspect that a combination of financial issues, the fight against colorism, and the pressure to conform to European beauty standards and pressure to use skin-lightening products may have contributed to her decision to commit suicide.

Fighting Colorism in Culture 

Colorism is a byproduct that many African, Caribbean, american, cultures experience. And it doesn't stop there; throughout Latin America and South Asia, all have issues with colorism as a result of centuries of colonialism. And as tragic as the deaths of women like Lakshmi and San Rechael are, there is light at the end of the tunnel. 

Amara le Negra

Singer/model Amara le Negra has been breaking down colorism walls since she was a kid. Born in the Dominican Republic and raised in Miami, FL, Amara got her start on the Spanish show Sabado Gigante, where she was the only dark skinned performer in the cast of children. As she got older, she was a dancer for the legendary Celia Cruz and Tito Puente. Now you can see her in commercials and as one of the most lovable and trifling pick-meishas on Love and Hip Hop Miami, where she has taken on story lines around colorism, in the Latin American and Black american diaspora. 

Jameela Jamil, a longtime advocate for body acceptance, body positivity, and feminist issues, has also been an anti-colorism activist. Much like San Rechael, Jameela focuses her anti-colorism work on the Southeast Asian community and the different ethnic backgrounds within those communities. While her activism is less than perfect, and she has been called out for centering herself in activist spaces, every time I see a headline where she pushes back against photographers who lighten her hue, my heart smiles. 

Jameela Jamil

Colorsim Among White People

Now, I have spent the bulk of this story talking about colorism and how it affects the Black community and other racial groups that do not share physical characteristics with the European diaspora. But colorism is something that can affect white people as well. With white people, colorism affects people with lighter skin tones. White people with lighter skin tones may not experience the same discrimination-based treatment that some of their darker-skinned neighbors get, but the bullying and cruelty in the social hierarchy are still there. Think of all the kinds of jokes that redheads who can't tan get. And while the cosmetic industry has gotten much better at being more inclusive of people with darker skin, I can't confidently say that they have made the same strides for white people with lighter skin color.

Colorsim and Class

But unlike that colorism that people from non-European racial groups experience, the colorism lighter skin white people get is almost 100% class-based. For this kind of colorism, it's more about how your skin reacts in the sun. In the 1920s, the term red neck referred to the red bandanas that union coal workers wore to show solidarity. Over time, it became a derogatory term for Southern whites who did manual labor, and the back of their necks would turn red in the heat. The 1920s are also when tanning became a popular trend. Being a white person with the physical characteristics that allowed for a golden tan was a sign of wealth and leisure.

As California surf culture began to sweep the nation in the 50s and 60s, a tan began to symbolize that you were living a healthy lifestyle.

While colorism among white people may not come with the same bullying or racial bias that non-Europeans receive, the ability to tan is a form of colorism that denotes your station in life. If you're whiteness hasn't blessed you with the ability to tan, you may always be seen as sickly. If your whiteness dictates that you burn in the sun, you may be seen as somehow defective because your skin will not tan. However, if your whiteness allows you to develop a healthy, glowing tan, you'll be perceived as a healthy person with sufficient time and money to maintain your tan.

But I've noticed that in the world of whiteness, tanning can be a double-edged sword. If you overdo it and come out looking like a pro-wrestler from the 80s, you will be mocked as weird and told that it is much better to embrace your lighter skin rather than destroy your skin by being unnaturally tan.

Next Steps 

Fighting colorism is an uphill battle for darker-skinned people. No matter which non-European racial groups you belong to, centuries of colonization have warped whatever our cultural beauty standards darker-skinned people may have had, and mimicking European beauty standards is what we have been left with. But what we can do is pick up the mantle of Amara le Negra, San Rechael, Jameela Jamil, and countless others who are fighting against colorism, and for more inclusive beauty standards for varying shades of people that don’t require you to mimic beauty that is impossible for your genetics. Work on loving yourself, your skin color, and the skin you live in.

 And for my brothers and sisters who happen to be white, who understand that European beauty isn’t the only kind of beauty. If you ever find yourself saying that someone is pretty for a dark skin person, take a step back and examine that thought and why you have it. 

To my brothers and sisters in the Black, Latin, Indian, Asian, and all of the diasporas in between; the next time someone says that you’re pretty for a…..just get up, straighten your crown, and walk away. I don’t care if you’re pale as a ghost, whiter than fish belly, brown as the soil, or black as midnight, you’re beauty is not conditional. See what I did there! I didn’t tell you to punch them in the face; that is what we call growth, kids!

Life is hard enough as it is. Everyone is hustling and doing their best to live their best life, and no one should be harassed or killed because they were born dark of skin. 

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