(Essay originally posted on Hy-Lo News Publisher, Janey Tate’s Facebook page.)
As a certified Martin Show Stan I’ll come on my own page and discuss this…. But we gonna have to talk abt this Martin & Pam colorism thing because to me the Mr & Mr Boaz episode blows up many of the arguments I’ve seen. 
… Martin’s character wasn’t a colorist, he just didn’t like Pam as an individual (even that is kinda up for debate to me. Ill explain.)… If you recall the episode where the beautiful Kenya Moore played Mrs. Boaz, Martin is literally falling and drooling all over her. If the Martin Show is rooted in colorism through and through, then we don’t have the beautiful Dark Skinned actress playing the role where she’s the standard of beauty. Can he only be a colorist when it comes to Pam? Don’t people who have issues of colorism dislike the complexion and features of all people of darker color? If that’s so, then why isn’t Martin repulsed by Mrs. Boaz?
Also when Martin and Gina broke up in Season 1, he dated Lark Voorhies’ Character. She’s not a light-skinned woman in my opinion (however, based on my heated discussions with my very light-skinned fiancé, I’ve learned that different people see shades of skin color differently. This was proven by an essay on this same topic where the writer said that Claire Huxtable and Wanda Mac (Bernie Mac’s wife on the sitcom were light-skinned. I never saw them as “red or yellow” women as we call it in Miami. They were women whose phenotype and skin color I related to. But back to the matter at hand…) Martin dated a woman who had a darker skin color than Gina. To me he wouldn’t do that if he were a colorist. And another time Martin attempted to get with a Dark Skinned woman was when he tried to sleep with Shenehneh, his across the hall neighbor played by Martin (lol). Although he proclaimed to be drunk when he tried to hunch her. Just keeping with the colorism claim, that wouldn’t have been a thing either. Because if you favor light-skinned women, then there’s no time when you ever want a darker-skinned woman. The show didn’t consistently keep this energy.
In a past interview that resurfaced since this became a topic of discussion again, Tichina Arnold herself has said she didn’t think the jokes were rooted in colorism. I would hope that with self-reflection and time, she would be able to understand that for herself if that was a thing on the show. Also in a past interview, Tichina, the actress who brilliantly played Pam James on the Martin Show, said behind the scenes, one time her hair wasn’t all the way done or something to that extent, and Martin saw her “buck shots” and made a joke about it. She said they then wrote it into the show because they all thought it was funny. I’d just like to think that Tichina, at this point in life, could speak for herself if she thought anything was off-color or offensive about the jokes made about the character Pam. She hasn’t, and to me, that further proves that maybe there was no foul play there. I think she’s a smart woman who understands colorism… But I know someone is going to say she’s a part of that culture and world, so she might not see that she was the butt of colorism jokes. I just don’t agree that she couldn’t make the revelation herself after all this time.
Also since many of yall chiming in on this colorism argument seem not to know the Martin episodes as deeply as I do, I’d encourage yall to rewatch season one. I remember watching it as I got older and could understand the jokes more, and I was surprised at how much Martin commented on Pam’s beauty and body. There’s a joke where Gina mentions a tight dress Pam wore to get raises, and Martin replied Yeah she gave me one too. If he were a colorist, would he have found her even remotely attractive? From my understanding of colorism, he wouldn’t. Side Note: I’ve lived my life in Miami as a Dark skinned black woman, and I’d like to think that after clubbing on South Beach in my 20s, that I know all too well what colorism is, so I feel like I can speak on this topic authentically… Also I know someone is going to come say he just played into the stereotype of objectifying Black women as sexual objects by the example that I made, but I don’t see it that way because in the early episodes, he comments on Pam’s looks in a way my man couldn’t talk about my friends. The writers eventually stop that and make it what we know Pam and Martin’s relationship to be– them tearing jerking, rolling on the floor hilariously cracking jokes on one another. However, I shared this to note that their “frenemy” relationship didn’t start that way. Also, wouldn’t it be kinda odd to watch a show where the lead man is commenting on his wife’s friend’s attractiveness all the time? We wouldn’t want to watch that. Also their banter was the style of 90s sitcom writing, which was to be over the f*ckin’ top, and each year they wanted to top the previous year’s jokes. To me, the jokes on Pam intensified because they were trying to top the previous season’s jokes. They went in on Martin too, each season as jokes about him intensified as well.
But trust I get why some ppl think the jokes on the show are rooted in colorism. Many people felt free to chime in on social media after R&B Singer Ari Lennox’s recent comments on this. There is a history of colorism in Hollywood and in our society. It’s a real thing, and I can see why someone could feel like the jokes are only being made at Pam’s expense because she’s dark skinned. However, we’re all viewers watching art and interpreting it based on our own lived experiences….. For me, as a Dark skinned woman, I never saw or felt the jokes were rooted in colorism, and Pam/Tichina Arnold was/is my standard of beauty. And the show is the reason why I looked at her that way because of how fly and beautiful they allowed Pam to be. It very much felt like Martin Payne was the only delusional person on the show because everyone in the Martin universe thought Pam was BAD AF. She is! (SN: There’s an episode where Martin and Pam have an affair. It ends with them each tricking each other and dropping a huge dumbbell on the other. But a show that was rooted in colorism wouldn’t make that storyline in my opinion).
I didn’t take it as Martin is making these jokes because Pam is dark-skinned. I thought it was because the show was following in the footsteps of Fred Sanford and Aunt Ester and JJ and Thelma-style jokes. And many other shows with different races as the stars have done this trope throughout TV history. It was just a formula that shows followed back then. To assumed that all those Black writers and producers were intentionally trying to belittle Pam ONLY because of her skin color doesn’t seem plausible to me. I think they made Pam an empowered, desirable, and quick-witted character for balance because of Martin’s jokes and she never felt like a victim to me. I think if she wasn’t dealing out the jokes just as hard and potent as Martin, then maybe I could agree with the colorism argument. And to me, Tichina Arnold is a top 3 all-time best comedic actress, and she was getting Martin a** together every time he came at her! And she even made jokes many times at his expense, unsolicited. Both characters were jerks to each other.
Also no one EVER talks about the jokes made at the expense of Gina in these arguments about Colorism on the shpw. It’s always “Poor Pam” but in reality, Gina is the only character on the show who is made fun of consistently because of her complexion. Her features and body are also made fun of as well when she’s been called apple head, told her bottom lip is too big, called no hips, too bougie, too soft or weak (by Shenehneh) and of course big head. There’s even a time when Martin makes a joke about her “kitchen.” There’s a conversation to be had about whether it’s ok to make jokes about Gina’s complexion because she is light-skinned and therefore “privileged.” Why were those just jokes when it came to Gina, but Pam’s jokes are something deeper and insidious? Why are we ok with a light-skinned Black woman getting called all the stereotypical “light-skinned” jokes on the same show, but we rally behind Pam to save her? We gotta keep the same energy if that’s how we’re going to dissect and judge this show all these years later.
To me watching the Martin show with 2025 eyes, I can see that Martin Payne was an insufferable d*ckheaf at times but that was also a part of what made the show funny AF. But I do understand Black shows don’t just get to be funny. They’re automatically made political or a statement that reflects the entire race. To me, it’s a vestige of systematic racism that OUR shows don’t get to be “just shows.” I wish this show could just be funny like Seinfeld is considered “just funny.” White shows aren’t these examples of deeper things that reflect their entire race. They just get to be shows. That in itself is a problem we don’t talk about… And yeah not all the jokes aged well on Martin, but overall I believe the actors, writers, and producers made a well-intentioned show that highlighted professional, beautiful, and handsome Black people in a positive light, especially during a time when Hollywood was constantly making us drug dealers and crack h*es. Martin and the cast at their root were best friends who became a loving family who always had each other’s back. I love that. It’s also a “cartoon” to me, that’s meant to be exaggerated AF. That’s the comedy!
I just wish the discussion for the people who don’t agree with me wasn’t, “yall don’t get it and you’re wrong if you don’t see that this is colorism.” If that’s your view and opinion of the show I respect that and totally get it but to say that because I don’t agree with you that I MUST be lacking critical thinking skills or some deeper level of understanding of colorism and societal norms just isn’t fair or true. Martin, for you could be a show based on Colorism and for me, it’s not. You coming to that conclusion doesn’t make you a more evolved person or right. We just saw the art differently… Now, if news comes out later that y’all were right, I’ll easily stand corrected. But right now we’re all projecting and throwing out OUR OWN OPINIONS on a show that aired more than 30 years ago… But the Martin show STAN in me is glad y’all are giving me another reason to write a Martin Show FB essay.
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