A Walk in The Dark
Not so dark stories
One day after school when I was about fifteen years old, I stood at the bus stop with a group of friends. There was a girl (a fine looking sister) standing with another girl whom we all knew. My friends decided it would be hilarious if they went over to the young lady and told her “Duane thinks your friend is good looking”. Her reply was that I could not check her out because I was too dark. Guess she was thinking way ahead that we would probably have “ nappy headed kids who were too black”. Hence my first lesson in Shadism ( a term I picked up from a lecturer of mine in college). Fast forward a couple years later: Several experiences in particular stores saw store clerks who had darker skin than myself give preferential treatment to people of a lighter shade. Hmmm!
A dark skinned man I knew who lived in a very nice neighborhood told me a story once of an experience he had. This gentleman after working hard for years to build himself a nice home etc. woke up one morning to find a man in his yard stealing mangoes. So he shouted to the man to stop and the man’s reply was why you don’t go back to your gardening or something”. Clearly he must have been the gardener who else could he be? Anyone in that part of town who was black surely could not have lived there. Oh no! They could only have been hired help.
Here is another story. A good friend of mine went downtown Kingston to shop. While she was in a haberdashery a woman came up to her and asked her if she was looking for some bleaching cream. The woman then went on to say my friend really needed because she was too black. The lady then proceed to show her some cream and on the label it said “ whitens lightens and brightens.
Oh yeah how could I forget this one? A few years a go my Choi Kwang Do instructor went abroad and left myself and another black belt in charge of the school. One evening after class we (students) all sat down in our civilian clothes just hanging out. A lady walked into the school to make an enquiry about classes. She stepped past all of us and went up to one guy who was half white and started to talk to him as if he was the instructor. This brother had the lowest belt rank there and you should have seen her face change colour when he pointed to me saying that I was the one in charge. I mean her expression changed to one of shock and disbelief.
Beauty is in the eye of the Bleacher
Shadism has become more and more popular especially since this bleaching craze. Oh yeah! Dark skinned people are bleaching out there skin to get a lighter . There seems to have been an upsurge in this kind of ridiculous behavior in spite of constant warnings by medical practitioners about this. Everyday I see some hideous creature with their face bleached out and I am wondering if there is a shortage of mirrors or shiny surfaces in this country. But then I suppose beauty is in the eyes of the beholder or rather the bleacher and ugly goes straight to the bone. Now this ugliness goes beyond appearances. It’s the ugliness of self-loathing and the ugliness of believing that darker is inferior to lighter.
Too often I have heard the comments like “She looks nice for a dark skinned girl”. This just makes me sick to my stomach. It’s not strange to be on the streets and see men and women with their faces covered with these skin-bleaching agents. Now you have a culture of bleachers who think that light is right. Hmmm kinda makes me want to use some words that I would not dare publish here.
Sadly shadism is alive and well… a little too well. This kind of nonsense I suspect is coming from way back in colonial times when we were taught that because of our dark skin we were inferior. It is unfortunate that so many of us have not broken loose from these chains.
It’s always funny too how Caucasians are trying to get tanned, while many black people are trying to become pale.
I am one proud chocolate coloured brother who would not have my skin any other way. It’s time we all saw the light and realize that this shadism is nonsense.