Pretty. Brown. Girl.

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Growing up in a Caribbean family, you see all kinds of "color issues".  My mom didn't hide the fact that her side of the family was very "color conscious".  My dad never mentioned it at all.  I can't even remember him ever commenting on the shade of a person.  Ever. He said I was pretty, I believed it, and that was that.

Somehow I ran across the story about the Sammy Sosa's skin lightening cream "therapy" last week and it got me thinking.  If this 42 year old Dominican MAN isn't over this mess... if money and fame can't help him be okay with himself... what are us "regular folk" still dealing with and passing on to our kids? Are our kids still dealing with the same color (light skin vs. dark skin) issues that we dealt with as kids?  Are the adult "role models" introducing the issue to kids who had never even thought about it before?

So as I am looking through my pics for today's blog topic, I see some pics I took at a beauty supply store near me back in January.  I took them because I couldn't believe there was such a large selection of these products in this area.  Does this mean there really is a demand for them?  And the names! So sad.

I read this a while back on Wikipedia: "Hindustan Unilever's "Fair and Lovely" is the leading skin-lightening cream for women in India. The company was forced to withdraw television advertisements for the product in 2007. Advertisements depicted depressed, dark-complexioned women, who had been ignored by employers and men, suddenly finding new boyfriends and glamorous careers after the cream had lightened their skin.  In 2008 Hindustan Unilever made former Miss World Priyanka Chopra a brand ambassador for Pond's, and she then appeared in a mini-series of television commercials for another skin lightening product, White Beauty, alongside Saif Ali Khan and Neha Dhupia; these advertisements were widely criticised for perpetuating racism."

Today on Facebook: In a post in a group I am in on Facebook (check out the radio show on BlogTalkRadio) a group member posted a painting of a woman peeling off her light skinned green eyed face to reveal a deep brown, equally as beautiful face.  The reactions to it were stunning.  Women with beautiful dark skin that had been teased by other children, family members, and even teachers!

I remember being teased about being black because I went to a VERY white school.  I was very rarely teased by other black people for being dark skinned.  I knew, growing up in the South, and hearing stories my mom told me about her childhood, that there were people who thought lighter was better, but I wasn't one of those people.

Today on Twitter: @TheRealViChick retweeted @LadySmood - "Gah dis DJ in 426 always on the mic sayin 'S/O [shout out] to all my light skinned girls" *** does piss me off cause all types in deh.."

I remember as a younger adult, asking a bouncer at a nightclub in DC what I would have to do to work there as a hostess.  He said, you are pretty, but - too dark.  The owner only hires light skinned women.  I was not surprised.  I thought it was silly - but not at all surprising.  I heard in college that I was too dark to be an AKA... after I already was one... by people who were not in the sorority or even greek at all!

I tried to go back to find the tweet that I mentioned above and put in "light skinned" into the search.  Seems like young people are still harping about and hanging onto this issue of light skin vs. dark skin.  What do you think it will take to make this madness become a non-issue?

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Author Profile: Eva Wilson  - Website

Eva is the administrator and blogger for SocaMom.com. Follow her on Twitter at @socamomdc.