Quote:
Originally Posted by rhoyaltempest
Girl, that happened when I was in my teens and I was so used to being discriminated against (yes, by Black people both light and dark) that it didn't bother me anymore. For one thing, I knew that I was fine  and my family and others always told me how beautiful I was but I admit that I did wrestle with self-esteem as a younger child...kids are cruel ya know. I was also always taught to be proud of being Black, we all were in my family and I have family members of all different shades. That is the only way this kind of thing will stop. We have to teach our children that "Black is Beautiful" no matter what shade it comes in and you have to teach your kids to be proud of their African American and African heritage while they're young. Knowledge of self can really make the difference and until we get that thru our heads, there will be more of the same. |
I agree.
Kids pick that nonsense up from adults and not always their parents, as well as from popular images. My first overt exposure to it was from my elementary school classmates who had gotten it from the adults in their lives. I remember when I was little I wrote a short story about a "pretty lightskinned girl with long hair and an ugly darkskinned girl with very short hair" (
). I had the nerve to read that story to my best friend at the time who was dark skinned with short hair. She thought I made the story about the two of us. She said "so...you're saying I'm ugly?" and she started crying and was depressed the rest of the day. I was so ashamed and my parents definitely gave me a TALKING TO about that. I got in trouble and I should've. That nonsense was fed to me and my parents were trying to dispose of it before it was too late.