Who taught you to hate the colour of your [dark] skin? Skin-lightening/bleaching is a problem, but its only really a sign of much deeper inter-related issues, namely, self-hatred, a race-based identity crisis, and the internalisation of western-created cultural ideas that are inimical to the mental health of black people everywhere. At least with hair weaves and fake accents (other manifestations of an identity crisis), no one is in danger of kidney damage, or damage to the nervous system, or skin rashes, skin discoloration and scarring, or reduction in the skin’s resistance to bacterial and fungal infections. And, rather than the practice dying out as African economies boom, it is reportedly on the rise (partly thanks to increasing urbanization). According to the World Health Organisation, 77% of Nigerian women use skin lightening products on a regular basis (I suspect the study was done among Yoruba women), as do 59% in Togo, 35% in South Africa, 27% in Senegal and 25% in Mali. These products are also used in Zimbabwe, Ivory Coast, Gambia and Tanzania. These figures seem unusually high, but even if theyre overblown, the problem is more than just cosmetic, it is culturally destructive. Will we manage to emancipate ourselves from mental slavery (in the words of Bob Marley) or will the problem eventually just go away as the world turns beige from increased interracial marriage? Its going to take a long time for the latter to happen, so weve got no choice but to do the former because most Africans are dark-skinned, and we have to see the beauty in that for our own psychological well-being. Our thinking seems to be: the darker we are the more African we are, which wouldnt be a problem if some of us didnt think there was something wrong with being African. Why do we think that? Malcolm X once asked, “Who taught you to hate yourself? Who taught you to hate the texture of your hair? Who taught you to hate the colour of your skin? To read the rest of the article go to thisisafrica
Posted on: Sat, 19 Oct 2013 14:55:46 +0000