First of all, I never said Colombia was ever exempt from racism or colorism - that was not the point of the post, in which I solely pointed out outsiders (Usamericans for the most part) think of us as a static group of people with a specific set of physical characteristics, and deviating from said stereotype is often considered “whitewashing” or even “racist” when it couldn’t be farther away from the truth.
With that said, I’d like to let you know the afrolatino representation was handled by Edna Liliana Valencia, an Afrocolombian woman who’s a fierce advocate for afro communities and who inspected every single aspect of the film to ensure the afrocolombian representation presented in it was on point. She has constantly emphasized the diversity of Colombian culture, even saying “Colombia is an extremely diverse country […], where there’s even differences between afro people of different regions, since there is no homogeneity in what constitutes the afro community in Colombia” (a fragment from this interview:)
Not only that, but she’s also gone on record in this radio interview to say she was also consulted for general Colombian representation, not only for matters exclusive to afrocolombians. She, the rest of the cultural funds consulted by Disney and the Colombian members of the Encanto team (because they actively participated during the film’s development, too,) oversaw the design and development of every single character so each represented a part of Colombia’s population. Pepa’s final design being pitched as lighter skinned was greenlit by Valencia (on top of the rest of the consultants), and it was not an act of colorism, but to represent the lighter skinned population of places like Antioquia as well, a region whose culture was one of the main influences on the town’s setting.
I understand the need for more afrolatino representation in media, and I wholeheartedly agree. However, you must also understand Colombia is one of Latin America’s most ethnically diverse countries, and it is physically and genetically impossible to find an afro person who isn’t mixed in some way, something you can even see in Valencia herself (or if you look up predominantly black areas in Colombia, like Chocó or Guajira). Encanto’s goal with its representation wasn’t only to represent Afrolatinos, but to display how rich Colombia’s culture and people are, which includes showcasing how a single family can be a wild mix of darker skinned people and lighter skinned ones, and allow Colombians to see themselves reflected in the movie regardless of their skin color.
Again, I understand the concerns you might have in regards to this topic, but please understand Colombia’s culture and historical context is completely different to that of the US and other such places. Hell, it’s not all that uncommon for two black people to have a light-skinned child and vice-versa because of how mixed we are. Not only that, but pushing these strict “black / white” perspectives onto us is incredibly harmful to our identity, as a huge chunk of us aren’t one or the other - you might make the argument that a Colombian is “white passing” because of their skin color, but they’ll immediately be flagged down by racists anyway because of other psysical attributes or even their cultural practices, and this isn’t even a foolproof method for people who are right in between. Again, this doesn’t mean Colombians can’t be racist to each other, but it’s definitely a lot more nuanced than just deciding to add a lighter-skinned character in a children’s film, and, in general, we’re often misjudged by outsiders who aren’t aware of our history and the way our society works.
In short, Pepa being changed to a lighter skinned woman in her final design isn’t colorist, but an attempt by the Actual Colombians working on the film (inclusing afrocolombians) to better reflect our cultural heritage. I guess I can see how it would read like that in a different context, but, in the context of *Colombia*, which was the main focus, I’ve seen nothing but praise and joy at what Disney did to represent us, even from afrocolombian people.