Wednesday 16 January 2013

Darky to Darky

 
 
physical beauty is embedded in the features
Busisiwe was at the airport waiting in line to check in her luggage when she overheard a conversation between two ladies behind her talking in Zulu.

Lady 1: ooh shame look at how dark she is.
Lady 2: Which man would approach her?
Lady 1: I wonder what country she comes from. 
     
Even though she heard the conversation, she decided not to say anything and what was said hurt her immensely and I can relate to it. Skin is a part of who you are, it does not make you who you are but in this shallow world so many are judged, loved and even loathed just because of the color or shade of their skin. As a rather dark skinned South African male I am all to familiar with the way skin shade can influence the way you are treated by some people.

We spoke about this incident and my opinion was "The reality of it is that we both know that our skin colour is looked down upon, I can even go as far as saying frowned upon in SA.  At some point in our lives we were made fun of and dissed about it. In SA a lot of people are shallow when it comes to that area, they would call me all sorts of names under the sun, from Kwerekwere to charcoal to Prince of darkness and because of that mind set we become outcasts. Whether we admit it or not it does get to us and affects us. Coming to this country (UK) we found acceptance and people love our skin colour but when we go back to our people we still feel the stigma because they still have that mentality. Now that Ive grown up and see things in a different light, I love my colour and I'm very comfortable in it (well atleast now I am), I wouldn't want it any lighter or any darker. 

So next time someone passes a demeaning comment about your skin colour bear in mind that maybe there is a good person inside there somewhere but the stereotype of dark skin being a bad thing rages within their mind. Also always remember that physical beauty is embedded in the features of a person not in the shade of their skin."