I then began to look around and noticed that all of the gardeners were darker complexioned Indians. The maid, Ronnie, was a beautiful dark Indian woman. The street children pointing to their mouths with their hands extended were all dark brown. The security guards at the gate: all dark. The drivers and hosts at the high end restaurants: middle to olive brown. The hosts at the pizza corner, subway, pizza hut delivery man...all dark. I began to become irritated as I thought back to the extremely beautiful, extremely fair skinned stewardess on the plane. Could it be that not only Africans and Black Americans had a social class stratification based on how closely one is to being physically European in appearance? Could Indians also be plagued with this insipid epidemic? And if this holds true, does it hold true for all of the brown people over the world?
I was shocked to see how many fair lightening products there were on the shelf in the Health and Beauty shop that I stopped in. My Fair Lady: skin lightening creme. Garnier: lighter skin in just 10 days. As a media student, I'm always interested in the influences that media has on a society. I've spent the last few days, researching and recording all of the commercials which have fair skin Indians as their lead. The results were astonishing! There was not one, not one (and I'm up to 37) commercials which have a middle brown to dark brown Indian in the commercials. All of the actors/actresses are so fair that they almost appear to be white. McDonald's, Stayfree, Ads for colleges and job recruitment sites, there are literally no brown to dark Indians to be found! How is that when the majority of Indians (like Africans and Black Americans) are not fair skinned? I guess it's the same way that most Black Hollywood films, videos, commercials show case lights skinned Blacks with wavy weaves. Although, the chocolate brothers have been "in" for quite some time now, the chocolate sisters have yet to make a debut in the world of the "exoticized" beauty.
L'Oreal, Garnier, My Fair Lady, Kava Skin clinic are the most circulated ads on tv. Every commercial break has a segment of at least two of these ads. It became down right depressing. Although, I relished in the fact that hey, I'm not Indian, I'll never look like that, I'm Black. After a few days, and several hours of these ads on heavy rotation, I start to think: gosh, what I wouldn't do to clear up these dark blemishes on my face. Maybe the skin lightener could help with that?
Maybe it can, maybe it can't. The fact is: I felt pretty damn good about myself until I saw ad after ad of commercials selling me the ideal of "lightness" and clear skin (something I've always yearned for.) Sure, my desire stemmed from wanting unblemished skin, but how would this affect darker complexioned Indian women who may think that there is a possibility for them to bleach their ski? There must be a market because literally every skin commercial advertises and showcases the beauty of "fairness."
I remember reading something of an anthropologist who created this ridiculous stratus. He went to Sweden and saw the blonde hair blue eye people and thought them to be extremely beautiful, so, he placed them at the top of the stratus. And then placed the African with the darker skin and wooly hair at the bottom. The yellow, brown and red people feel in between. His name eludes me now, however, if you know, post it so I'll remember.
So, as I continue to witness the "color issue" as not just a black thang, I gotta wonder: are we dark because we're out in the fields, or are we in the fields because we're dark?
Check this article regarding color, class and class in the Americas. I found it very interesting.
http://www.afrigeneas.com/forum-world/index.cgi?noframes;read=95
3 comments:
based on what I know, I think it's "you're in the fields becuase you're dark".I may be wrong, or am just looking at it one way...but I really think it's on every continent that fair skin is seemingly more desirable. Even in Africa...if you've ever seen those Nigerian movies...the girl who is the lead is usually unsually light skinned. There is this one girl who is in a lot of movies and they call her "Beyonce" because she is pretty and light, and has those features that are not the "typical" West African features. I believe in Africa the british,french, and dutch that colonized the continent started the whole color thing at least in Africa. The whites chose the fair skinned, taller, thinner people to work most closely under them, and so forth...It has never left us. I'm gonna read that article when I get the chance...just thought I'd comment before I had to get back to work.
You know...I noticed that in Puerto Rico! I was shocked to find the various shades of native Puerto Ricans from near white to almost african looking. I don't know why I was so shocked because that's what the slave trade did, the Carribean was a stop over for many Africans. But I had a conversation with a client who was very fair. She was upset because her daughter liked a dark boy and she didn't understand why. She then made reference to herself as being white. I then noticed the difference in the few darker Puerto Ricans and they all were in "blue collar" for lack of a better term jobs. What is with this color complex across nations??!!
You know, this is definitely an exciting and intriquing area of topic for me. I'm always interested in the color, race, inferiority/superiority complexes across the world. My Kenyan friend, Adega, who is a darker complexioned woman and very expressive African woman, once rolled her eyes as our male friends were oohing and aaahing over this lighter complexioned African girl who walked by. Adega then said: aahh, you men kill me. Imagine that girl dark and if she's still fine to you: then she's really fine. When I returned to the states and showed family and frinds pictures from Kenya, they commented on the pictures with my Ethiopian friends: wow, they don't even look like Africans. Thus, Ethiopians, generally, tall, thin, curly hair and light to middle brown brown Africans, don't look like what they deem to be "real" Africans. I definitely heard a tone of these Africans being more "beautiful" probably due to their curly hair and less Western African facial features.
It really is starting to blow my mind. The more and more I travel, the more I see more of the same self-hating.
Is it a matter of personal preference or is their an influential self-hatred? When I see a black woman with a blonde weave and blue eye contacts, I can't help but wonder: my sister, why? But then I have to stop and wonder: maybe she does love herself and is just expressing herself. I'm an artist, I can understand expressionism. But something in me is a little saddened. However, when I see black women who relax their hair, I don't feel like their trying to be white, I feel like that that is their personal preference and that they are just as black as I am. But...if/when I hear them make a comment like: uhhmmhh girl, I can't go natural...I don't have hair like you. This stuff is way to nappy, then I'm saddened...once again.
Post a Comment