50 Shades of Brown

Is beauty really skin deep? For as long as humans have been on this planet, we’ve spent so much time and energy on our differences in the shade of skin color. We’ve spent so much time in school learning about slavery, the Civil rights movement, the Paper Bag test and Scientific Racism. The reason for all of these topics from our history is skin color. Not only do we hear about these issues in school, we live it. The justice system is not color blind, the job market is not color blind. No matter how far we’ve come, the color of our skin is still very prevalent. Not only is this an issue with different races, but also within cultures. At the end of the day we are all human, and guess what?! We all have a skin color.

In many cultures it is favored to have lighter skin, and this is something that is taught to children at a young age. There’s a popular children's fairy tale where the evil queen sets out to answer the question of, “who is the fairest of them all?” As kids we are told to believe that this means that she wants to know who is the most beautiful or pretty but the word “fair” means light. So the evil queen wants to know who is the lightest? After all SNOW WHITE is her name, and as the story goes she was named Snow because her skin was “white as snow.” By this logic we should all be pale, white and cold… ? That one little word teaches us about our history, and how it shapes our impressionable minds. The Fairy tale tell us that in order to be considered beautiful by the masses we need to be “fair.” You may be thinking that this one little thing cannot have such a great impact. As young people, we internalize that lighter skin is what is preferred by society. To this I say that it is a series of little things that affect how we view the world around us.

As we look into American History we learn about the nasty history of slavery. We learn about how slaves were used and what tasks they were responsible for. There were slaves who did work in the fields and slaves who did work in the homes. In conjunction to this information we also learn that the slaves in the homes were lighter in skin than those who were working out in the fields. There was hierarchy among the slaves and it was determined by the color of their skin. In that time there was a lot of “mixing” happening which resulted in lighter skinned children, however, as time went on these views have stuck with the community. I was speaking to a friend of mine and he was telling me as a teenager he thought that darker women were “sexy” but lighter skinned women were “DAMN Sexy.” Now, as an adult he knows better and understands that there was some conditioning that happened as a child that lead him to believe that “lighter was better.” Part of this conditioning happened during the time of slavery, where the slave owners split up the slaves and created a hierarchy. Many people don’t even realize that their views are connected to this event in history. Who is to say? These views may even go back further.

I grew up in a culture where we are born into our social status, however, India has the biggest market for “skin lightening creams.” Whenever I mention this to some of my friends, they do not even know what that is, because where I grew up there is not a market for such beauty items. Instead we call it by a different name, spot corrector or a toner! Yes, I am sure I am not to only one guilty of considering adding this to my skin care. It is all the same crap in different bottles with different names. Why are we so fixated on the color of our skin? India is a very diverse country. Every skin tone can be found there, I mean EVERY skin tone! I will look at someone who uses these and see nothing but beauty, but society has made this person literally hate the skin they are in to the point where they are willing to do something so drastic to change it, like putting BLEACH on their skin! Chances are, strangers are not even paying attention to the color they see. I am paraphrasing Martin Luther King Jr. when I say; do not judge people on the color of their skin, but on the content of their character. If someone was judging me on my skin I do not want to have them in my life.

The human form is beautiful no matter what color it comes in, but not everyone is worthy of seeing that beauty. After all, we still admire the moon, does it not have spots on it? When we walk through a forest, we do not like a plant more than the other because it is greener. We appreciate nature’s beauty for what it is. We do not seek to change the face of the moon or work to paint all of nature the exact same shade of green do we? If not, then why do we seek to change our skin color to match that which we think is more desirable? In the African American and Indian communities (just to name a few), there is a desire for lighter skin, whereas cultures that are the “lighter” color, wish to be more tan and like to go to these places called tanning salons (that’s how you end up with orange politicians). Humans are diverse and nature has made us different so that life would not be so boring. Accept everything and everyone as they are and find the beauty in everything around you.