It seems like the whole world has an issue with color. The Asian people want white skin. The Arabs want white skin. The Indians won’t marry you if you’re too dark. The black Americans and the Jamaicans want to be “red” or ”high yellow”. And I’m sure the list would go on if I met more people of different nationalities. I recently read an article about how Jamaican women are using skin whiteners to lighten their skin, even they have been warned of the negative effects. It’s becoming a major phenomenon with results ranging from discoloration due to creams mixed and sold on the streets to stretch marks, even from the creams bought in stores. While this obsession with being lighter doesn’t apply to every person within a specific race, it’s definitely an issue that is prevalent in many different ethnic backgrounds.
But, I don’t get it. What makes White so right? If it’s right at all. Some people attribute it to slavery days. In America, the lighter slaves were allowed to work in the house, which enabled them to keep their light skin tone because they weren’t working outside under the hot sun. Some might say the same of Arab countries, as they too owned slaves. The slaves, being of a lower class (if they were considered a class at all) were forced to work outside, while those who could afford slaves and those from better homes were kept indoors, living their cushy lives.
Then we have India, of course, which still operates on a Caste system, clearly separating people by social class and hindering one’s ability to “move up the ladder”. Not surprisingly, the upper caste, is of a lighter complexion. I still don’t understand how Indians stare and point at black people because of our skin color when many of their own are just as dark, sometimes darker than us. But I digress; again, one would argue that it is the difference in their traditional jobs that causes the change in complexion. Clearly, a farmer would be darker than a priest as he spends much of his time in the sun. But all in all, I’m not buying it. There’s more to it than that.
As for the Asians, I don’t know if the desire for lighter skin is as popular as it is in other countries but I know it definitely exists. I saw it and discussed it briefly with a Thai woman while visiting Phuket. But why? It’s a worldwide “belief” and in the many years since slavery, the years since the whites invaded countries and took over, the many years since blacks were freed and started pro-black movements to raise their own self image, things haven’t changed much. Unfortunately, in the eyes of many, white is still right.
.
