(ThyBlackMan.com) As I sit here and think about what’s going on in my mind today, I became more aware of an issue that has greatly bothered me over this past year: colorism
One of the biggest weapons that The System likes to use to divide us is “The Light Brown Skin vs Dark Brown Skin” thing that was greatly glorified in a few songs by corporate puppet Lil Wayne a few years ago when he said this lyric “I like them light skin, lighter than a feather.”
The rapper’s newfound “devotion” to dark brown skinned women is questionable because he has drawn much criticism in the past for offensive remarks directed at darker brown skinned women.
Many melanated women were angered over a particular lyric the “How to Love” artist rapped on the track “Right Above It.” On the song, Wayne said, “Beautiful melanated woman, bet that b—h look better red.”
Lil’ Wayne is saying through this line that a dark skinned woman would look better and prettier if light complexioned.
Lil’ Wayne was also featured on a Eric Benet track called “Red Bone Girl” that has also gotten him a lot of heat for promoting a “Eurocentric beauty standard.”
In “Red Bone Girl,” Wayne raps, “I like them light skin, lighter than a feather.”
On the outro to the Dedication 4, Weezy made certain to “respectfully” dedicate his album to dark brown skinned women.
“This is also dedicated to the bad b—–s” Wayne said. “First off, them chocolate women. I know I talk about them yellow b—–s all the time. But this is dedicated to them dark chocolate women. You see I ain’t say b—–s or h–s or none of that. And then it’s dedicated to the yellow b—–s and the red b—–s”
And that lyrics set off a huge backlash from melanated women and that’s when a lot of people (not all) in conscious community took this “light brown skin vs dark brown skin” and basically uses this very divisive tactic to insult and shame any body (non-biracials) whose skin wasn’t “dark” or “brown” enough.
For example when a light brown skinned non-biracial person speaks out or takes a stand on social issues affecting our community, a lot (not all) of people in the conscious community are the first in line to attack this person by saying stuff like their skin ain’t “dark” enough or they don’t have enough melanin enough and all this other bullshit and it really pisses me off.
Many of us are psychologically trained by the mainstream media and society that who we are in terms of who we are is never good enough, so it causes many of us to hate ourselves to the point that some people in The African Diaspora have deliberately bleached their skin to chase this falsely unattainable beauty standard the mainstream media perpectuates.
The Conclusion – Love the beautiful melanated skin you’re and NEVER allow society and the mainstream media tell you otherwise.
Staff Writer; Joe Davis
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