BLAME IT ON THE WHITES ? I DONT THINK SO

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Sammy sosa, famous baseball player in 1989,2004 and 2015.




 “I would like to be light skinned like my friend  Praise” these were the exact words coming out of my  nephew’s mouth, who is as black as ebony with remarkably good features yet he doesn’t like how he looks. He thinks having a lighter skin colour would make him extremely better than the darker one, but where did he get this mentality that being light skinned is better off; well it is everywhere, the vocabulary of the people around him, the movies he watches, songs and the society which acknowledges light skin and anything close to the Caucasian as being better and associates it with great intelligence, richness and beauty.

A lot of black people have gone extremes to appear as white as possible; the never ending purchase of Bleaching crèmes to lighten complexion, straighteners and relaxers to straighten the curly hair or cover the hair up in wigs and extensions which are among the natural features of Blacks and the list goes on. Unknowingly, we paint a picture and create an illusion which is passed on to our children and get stuck in their minds and creates a lasting impression hence making it exceptionally difficult to erase it.
The prominent black celebrities are in no question role models for millions of children in the world including black children around the globe. A lot may question some of the effect of the decisions by these celebrities, you look at them, these are the people who should be the first without question and doubt to proudly embrace their natural makeup not shun from it but what do you see a lot, nose jobs, hair extensions and lightened skin complexions filling up the magazines, television and other media.

 The argument we put forward is that most of the blacks are aspired to look white because of racism and segregation and say if a long time ago we were allowed to freely mix with the whites this sense of inferiority complex would finally vanish but really this ended almost like some ten decades ago and we behave as if it’s still there of course it is known that during the slavery period the Blacks who were lighter and long haired were in favour of the whites and could be employed as house servants while those  who were darker were employed in the farms or outside the house. Some defensively put forward backing points like it’s all about looking smart, who said straight hair looks smart anyway and some other defending points which are not concrete at all are put forward. This desire to look white is costing us a lot, more money is spent in this whole business and sadly people are doing anything possible at the expense of their own life and expenditure since some of the many products used are harmful and toxic to the skin and hair and very expensive.

 This habit is like a deadly disease which is gradually killing us and if not soon gotten rid of will engulf us all and we will lose the entire urge to be ourselves .I can envision a generation when we will hardly see any naturalness among us black people. We can defend ourselves however we can but deep down we know the truth about whatever we are doing. If we could only take a little time and look at our reflections in the mirror and accept our features which we badly want to get rid of and take a moment to proudly call ourselves beautiful the way we are because in truth that’s what we are, black people with squashed nose, big lips and short kinky curly hair.

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