The Pride We Africans Should Have In The Colour of Our Skin – By Alexis Ntsiakoh
This note stems from a comment someone made to me recently. He said “You’re pretty for a dark skin girl”.
Not only did this remark make me extremely angry, I was also saddened by the fact that in 2012 people still think in this way. You, Kojo Blackie want to delve into this ‘LIGHT SKINNED GIRLS ARE PRETTIER THAN DARK SKINNED GIRLS’. Eventhough its a slave mentality that “THE FAIRER THE BETTER“, Our own people are the ones who make the girls and women of today feel inadquate in many ways. Sometimes I still blame YOU MEN….even the ‘educated’ ones still seem to share this view. Shame on you.. Because of people like you, many girls have resulted to bleaching their skin which not only looks unpleasant after sometimes, it also has serious health issues such as SKIN CANCER…especially with those who live in the hot countries.i.e. Ghana, Nigeria, Sieria Leone etc. Its a topic that really gets to me and I’m hoping to make a documentary on this issue to help raise awareness in order to help restore many womens pride in having BROWN SKIN!!!!!!
A lot of women I know, regardless of their location seem to fall victim. London, New York, L.A, Nigeria, Ghana, Gambia, Sengal, You name it! You would think when one migrates from their country one origin to a more developed part of the world they would be more enlightened. It seems not to be the case at all. Many MEN and WOMEN still believe the fairer the better.
It sickens me to the stomach when some ‘Light skinned’ friends I have and know, seem to think they are more priviledged in terms of job prospects, finding rich men and generally becoming more sucessful in life. In the modern appearance conscious society in which we live there is a myth that lighter paler complexions portray beauty, riches and success.
During my secondary school days, the ‘mixed race’ or ‘light skinned’ girls were the pretty ones. It made ‘us’ the ones who had braids, spots, and DARK SKIN feel extremely inferior to those who were ‘pretty’. This misguided belief led my close friends and my self to buying banned creams on the black market containing ‘hydroquinine'( a severely toxic and very powerful chemical used in photo processing, the manufacture of rubber and is an active agent in hair dyes.) and sometimes even ‘mercury'( in the form of Mercury Chloride & Ammoniated Mercury is carcinogenic. They appear on the list of toxic substances that can only be purchased via pharmacies with prescribed labels of toxicity) to use to ‘tone’ our skin!!!!!!!
I remember vividly my best friend was extremely repulsed and ‘he’ used to tell me ‘you should be proud of who you are’. My experience was short term as I was ‘woken’ up pretty quick and I’m grateful for that. I am not ashamed to say this because I want my fellow sisters to also WAKE UP….
There is no way bleaching your skin can make you lighter for a long period of time. Rather, it causes hyper-pigmentation and damages the skin severely and causes serious health problems… I know too many ‘aunties’ with yellow face and black toes or fingers. I think its high time we educate our family and friends that bleaching your skin is not pretty…. Many people die and no one seems to know the ’cause’. They fail to look at certain things they consider normal such as bleaching. It also causes, SKIN CANCER, LIVER DAMAGE, KIDNEY DAMAGE OR POISONING. So leave the ‘witches’ to rest because some of the ‘unexplained’ deaths can relate to this.
My main concern is those who live back home where the heat only makes things much worse. The melanin we have is to protect us from the sun. God is not stupid. He made you who u are for a reason. So pause and think for a moment. Chemically peeling off the layers of skin you’ve been blessed with is extremely dangerous and life threatening…..
I KNOW SOME OF MY FRIENDS ESPECIALLY ON FB WILL DEFINITELY DISAPPROVE AND STILL CONTINUE….AT LEAST I WARNED YOU!!!!! FEEL FREE TO UNTAG YOURSELF….. THAT WILL SHOW HOW MUCH YOU CARE ABOUT THE PEOPLE AROUND YOU!!!!!!
Thanks alot..You made many Points..May God strenghten You to let people Appreciate their God given colour..Thanks..Pls enlighten me how it Affect the lungs and Liver bcos i thought it is outward polish!
Thank you for this! I am a very dark woman and a thousand times in trying to compliment me, people say all sorts of things. Like ‘tuntum broni’, black beauty, etc. People have actually said things like ‘ I never knew black could look this good.’ And whiles I know these people only mean well, it never ceases to upet me. Why can’t I just be ‘tuntum’? Why must I be called ‘broni’ by people who find me attractive? And ‘black beauty’? I have never heard ‘fair beauty’. I’m probably going to be called insecure and petty but you see it’s hard not to be. When you live in a black nation and you constantly are reminded that it’s a miracle to be black and fine, it’s hard to be ‘not petty’. One day I paid to sit in a seminar. There was a respected motivational speaker in town. And the crowning part of his message? Youngmen should work hard so they can make enough money to take care of light-skinned women. Then he goes ahead and says something like ‘ have you ever seen a successful man marrying a dark girl before? The light-skinned girls are better, only they are more expensive to care for!’ I almost lost it. For some moments I thought I had made it up! So thank you Nana! Maybe if us dark- skinned women would speak up, this nonsense would stop. For I too almost fell into the bleaching trap. And the story goes thus: I had acne. So I bought a product that was supposed to take it away. Instead it made me lighter. And much to my suprise, folks started saying stuff like ‘ u look lighter and nicer!’ So guess what I continued to use the product and every day I’d see the difference. Fortunately, I got me some sense and stopped using the product. Anyways to cut a long story short I’m black and really proud! Thank you Nana!
excellent piece Alexis