Since when? You've never seen beautifully blue-black black folks walking around? I have and not all of them are from overseas.

Are you talking about a larger concentration of extremely darkskinned people in one African nation or culture?

Of course I have, but those who believe they have not seen a beautiful black person where they are should broaden their horizon. What better place to consider than Africa? It is well documented that African populations are the most diverse in the world, and African Americans are but a tiny percentage of their diaspora. There are countless opportunities to find black beauty there, if one can not seem to find it at home.

:confused:

There's nothing saying these people have to think black people of any color or characteristic are beautiful. It's not a requirement, just like thinking Halle Berry is beautiful isn't a requirement. Going to Africa could make these people look around and say "oh great!! A continent full of ugly people!!" That's their perogative.

Lol, good point.

They may be presumed to be mixed, but they may necessarily be not. I am not exactly talking about being light-skinned, but more of a different shades of brown among Africans all over the continent. The image that pops up in someone's head about people of a certain region is a misconception for the most part. I know in Somalia/Ethiopia/Sudan/Eritrea, there was no mixing. They've been this way for generations. And People for the western countries are thought to be "extremely black skinned" but I will guarantee you they have many shades of brown there as well. I've met light, non-mixed West Africans, and dark-skinned North Africans.

Also, you'd be surprised how colour is still an issue even in many parts of Africa.

We've already acknowledged that Africa is a diverse continent in terms of physical appearance with or without "mixing." It isn't safe to assume that there was no mixing in Somalia/Ethiopia/Sudan/Eritrea. Being a certain way for generations doesn't preclude mixing (but it also doesn't assume mixing). Afterall, many African American families' appearances can be traced back to an era when white men forced themselves on black slaves or when blacks intermingled with Native American cultures.

The fact of the matter is that many people assume that being "straight from Africa" implies that you are less mixed with voluntary or involuntary "white blood" and that your physical appearance is stereotypically "pure African." I've been hearing that eversince elementary school when darkskinned children with defining features were called "African booty scratchers," especially after Shaka Zulu aired.

I'm not surprised at all. "Color" is an issue in almost every society.

There is no such thing as a pure race. Eventually, we are all mixed. However, I guess what I'm saying is how immediate this mixture is. From Colonial days? 500 years ago? Different regions have different experiences. When someone says mixed, I'm thinking like going back maybe 100 years, from a traceable perspective.

lol@color/colour <---canadian spelling

Exactly. ;)

How immediate it is doesn't really matter. And traceable shouldn't be the guideline because that would negate a majority of people in the African diaspora in most continents including many parts of Africa. Sometimes that's only the difference between consensual mixing and nonconsensual mixing because you have to consider the impacts of slavery and colonialism. Unless the African society wasn't that interrupted and existed in a bubble, and of course some African societies can claim to be more pure than others, I wouldn't be surprised the dynamics going on there.

As an aside:
The average African American family are of diverse shades, hair textures, and facial features. Sometimes these traits aren't apparent based on the lineage that the family knows about and sometimes it comes from way back. Kids used to get teased for taking on the fairer traits of grandmothers or great grandmothers. They were told they're the milk man's baby until their mother said "you look just like my great-great grandmother's side of the family." Many families can't trace their lineage much further back than that.

^^^TRUE. I my cousin and her husband (both dark skinned) have 2 babies who are light skinned and one has green eyes. Yeah...my cousin was trying hard to get a DNA test on both of them. Both of them are 99.98% his. My grandmother used to say that the "baby reached waaaay back" to get those features. Whatever color, WE are beautiful people.

^^^ I know someone with in that very same situation. Both parents are dark brown and their daughter is "high yella". It's funny, but my Bio Prof told me it takes more than about 15 different genes to determine a person skin tone will be.

Time to step in...

The older the human population is on the planet, the more diverse their genetic code based on population genetics.

Right now, it various "groups" in sub-Saharan Africa in specific locations, such as Mali, Twe, !Kung and one other group, I forget.

And if anyone wants to explain to me the genetic mutations and SNPs in tyrosinase gene family, I would really like to know. It is still a mutation process that actively occurs in some parts of The Congo and elsewhere.

I've had similar experience. I'm quite content with how I am, don't get me wrong. I just find that it's frustrating that people cannot identify what part of the world I'm from or make comments that I find quite unnecessary. I'm always having to find that I have to explain to people here that A) I'm African B) No, I'm not mixed C) No, I'm not Indian, Hispanic, Arab, etc. D) Defend that I am, in fact, black. My sister is a few shades darker than me, and she used to get negative comments from her own people when she was a kid. It was hard for her because her sisters were lighter than her.

Ethiopia? According to this article, "no region in the world has a larger genetic diversity than East Africa and Ethiopia." http://www.afrol.com/articles/15984

Just a matter of preference
 

I read a couple of pages of this and forgive me in advance if I should not be posting here, but I believe that it is just a matter of preference for a majority of people. I have a friend who only dates light skinned women. He just isnt attracted to dark skinned ones and is dark skinned himself. Another friend only dates dark skinned women because he does not like the way that light skinned women look. I personally prefer brown skinned women, but I have dated those darker and lighter.

I think another thing aside from just color are the features of the people involved. Afrocentricity and all. We do tend to focus heavily on European looks.

Just my two cents. . .

I agree. Whether someone has something such as "good" hair is often a bigger issue, at least that has been my experience.