The Hate, That Hate Made.

First off, good afternoon hope everyone is enjoying their Memorial Day as much as possible. Now granted this isn’t necessarily a recent issue, but it’s gotten more light within the last few days. I normally don’t delve too much into what celebrities have going on. But if you use social at all, you can’t help but to see the dust that Doja Cat kicked up. Regardless of where you stand on the issue whether it be that it’s old news or you really don’t care about it. One thing that needs to spoken on is this constant thought of “the lighter the better” or someone being held in higher regard based on their complexion. Being someone who never really subscribed to any of these thoughts, it’s hard for me to understand how a Black person can look at another Black person and say “I’m better than you because of….”. When we see examples of people that look like all of us being treated the same regardless of your complexion, hair texture, place of birth or gender. Whether you’re extremely light or extremely dark, YOU ARE NOT LIKE THEM!! And you will always be reminded of such. Can it sometimes work in your favor to be light skinned? Yes, but what are you losing in return? Dignity? Integrity? The ability to truly connect with people and have them fully understand you! Same with being of a darker complexion, yes you may across as being somewhat more rigid when it comes to dealing with certain obstacles. But in the end you want the same “love” others receive. Some of my opinions may be a bit off but hopefully the gist of what I’m saying is understood.

We’ve all heard of the horrible ways the darker slaves were treated in comparison to some of the lighter ones. If you were dark you stayed in the field or potentially were used solely as a breeder. The fairer skinned slaves got to work in or around the house or could be a driver. In turn the overseer would constantly push the fact that the ones that worked in the house were better, simply of their complexion. Move on the turn of the century, yes slavery is “over” but you still have those same thought processes that kept you separated amongst each other. So bad people began wanting to bleach their skin and straighten their hair to look more “white” as opposed to accepting looking like the original people of the planet. Even when it came to moving to certain neighborhoods, if you didn’t look a certain way you weren’t even allowed to look at houses there. Even with some of our “idols” we’ve seen and heard stories of people being pushed into the background because they weren’t as “appealing” as someone else that had equal or less talent. It’s almost to a point where, people don’t even have to push that mindset on us anymore. We do it to ourselves. Granted everyone may not be in a place mentally where this can be comprehended and that’s fine. But at least make an attempt seek the knowledge to understand the line you’re pressing and what it does to people. It’s a shitty game that’s been played for hundreds of years, that in my opinion can be cancelled in very little time. If people stuck to it.

Some of which I think begins with making people understand that, pride in myself doesn’t mean I dislike you! So if I say “I’m Black and I’m proud.” I’m speaking as Black person not as a light skinned person. That phrase in itself is all encompassing. I don’t care if you’re as dark as the abyss or as light as melanin it should be worn with the same amount of pride! It needs to be shown that this thing can’t be boxed in. I didn’t choose what shade I was born with but what I can choose is how I feel about myself and how I show that to the world. The entire concept of “Light vs. Dark” in terms of skin tone is completely mental! Self-hate is a very real and present thing, that I don’t think too many people acknowledge. Crazy how something instilled by another race, can manifest into hatred of self huh?