The Mrs Club
Tuesday, November 10, 2009 Just say no....

Whenever I see someone bleaching it blows my mind. Firstly because the end result is never better than the former and if they like what they see in the mirror then they better get their eyes and their mind checked by a good psychologist. It is amazing how many of us are colorstruck.
My younger sister is lightskinned as is my brother, I remember people used to say inane things to me about my skin color being too dark so I should improve upon my other aspects so as to snag a husband. Laughable if they weren't dead serious and I wasn't an impressionable child. Kudos to my mom, who always described us in varying degrees of chocolate, so we knew that we were all equally sweet. I was a dark, milk chocolate mix.

It is amazing how this darkskin phobia is present across all parts of the diaspora. Sammy Sosa is dominican but he could just as easily be from Iboland


I know its mostly due to postcolonial mentalities and the dominicans have an interesting history with their Haitian siblings see Edwidge Daniticat's Farming of the Bones for an stunning glimpse.

In Nigeria we have our fair share of skinhate, and there are even those that wish they were part white. We still use the term halfcaste. I said it the other in the presence of a white mom of a Nigerian son and she cringed and though she didn't take offense because she chose to see my heart, I made a note to self to be more sensitive.
I had a dear friend who used to have very strange ideas about beauty. I say had because she is still my friend but like all of us, she has grown past her past crazy ideologies. I remember once she couldn't believe that a guy had chosen me over her, some random dude now, but she couldn't believe he didn't gravitate to her light skin and long wavy hair or when she asked if my boyfriend at the time was half caste becasue he was too handsome to be otherwise...What, what now! But we remained friends because I know her heart and what a loyal, good one it is...and you know what even though my response was "Hey now, we brownskin peeps are beautiful too" it was so vehement I could see that deep down I had issues too.

Hopefully one day soon we will all come to terms with our beautiful selves no matter how white or brown we are!

Be well, my dears...with your fine selves.

Posted by Naija Babe :: 7:25 AM :: 1 comments

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