Love the skin you're in: Colorism

COLORISM

High school students and even adults are making videos of light skin vs dark skin (including brown skin sometimes) and showcasing their prejudice attitudes towards groups of people based on their skin color alone. The competition of skin colors is an civil war of humans. Men and women alike have heard it all.

"too light to be black" "too dark to be pretty" "too pale, you're a ghost" "you're black as night" "too dark to wear that"

The favoritism of light skin and straight hair/ Texturism and colorism stems from slavery/ colonization. For example, light skin slaves often worked in the house. Dark skin and coily hair was deemed as dirty, undesirable, and violent. Obviously this is not true but we can help the victims of those these harmful words are said to.

Whiteness is often the default in magazines, movies, books, social media, art in America and even other countries full of people of all shades. How often is it that you see a black dark skin woman with coily hair as the shy main character next door in popular movies?

While some people tan their skin to get darker, others use lightening products to get lighter. A lot of people unfortunately turn to lightning products as a way to fit into a society that hates them OR to correct skin disorders. The ones that try to fit into society are usually in a culture (ex some of India, Korea, America) that deemed pale or light skin as desirable and beautiful and dark skin as the opposite. These lightning products and also tanning products and beds are full of harmful chemicals that can damage the skin.

So, the lesson of all of this? Love the skin you're in. Someone may be paying to have skin like yours somewhere while others are paying to not have it. But at the end of the day, why must skin color be so exaggerated? It's literally just a beautiful color of the covering of our insides.

Grouping people of the same skin color together is like saying all trees are pine or all cats are orange. The people that try to push you down because of your skin color lack the knowledge that all skin is beautiful. All skin colors, all skin disorders, all skin textures and acne is normal.

There is no such thing as too dark or too light to wear a certain colored lipstick, outfit, or hairstyle. Do you and do it proudly! Do it even if no one is cheering for you or appreciative of your style and your uniqueness. All skin colors are beautiful!