Lightskin vs. Darksin

By: Alexis Ditaway

“Got a light skin friend, look like Michael Jackson. Got a dark skin friend, look like Michael Jackson.”
This line was originally heard in Kanye West’s verse from the song “Slow Jamz”. Hearing it as a younger child, I laughed thinking that it could only mean a jab at the famous singer’s change in skin tone.

Now, as I have grown older and have grown to love my own shade, I think Kanye West may have unknowingly given a message that all black women need to hear. Whether you are lighter or darker, no shade is greater than the other, nor does it dictate what really matters: who you are on the inside.

The “lightskin vs darkskin” debate has been a topic of discussion for years now, and has grown in ridiculousness almost every day. This debate about which is better seems to be full of assumptions that are not true, and fueled with the opinions of men who, at the end of the day, do not matter. Everything from light skin girls don’t text back, to dark skin girls are “always dry” (what does that even MEAN?) has been said, and enough is absolutely enough. On the topic of dry skin, this insightful article got me to purchase some hemp sanitizer.

One of the mottos that I live by is “Beauty is something that breaks color barriers.” Beautiful is beautiful, and that is what ALL black girls are, no matter what shade we may be. Though our beauty may look different, it is all equal, with no one shade being better than the other. To try to make black girls compete and make assumptions about us based on something we can’t even control is just another way of society trying to bring us down. At the end of the day, we are black women. We all have something different, but we all possess beauty.

To those who still insist on making this debate bigger than what it even needed to be, consider this. To base an assumption on an entire person based solely on what you see on the outside shows an inability to look deeper than the surface. Who a person is on the inside is quite often more beautiful than their outer appearance; the shade of melanin is just an added touch. To anyone who lacks the ability to understand this concept, they do not deserve your time anyway.

So ladies, love the skin you are in. Whether you are as light and brown as a piece of butter caramel, or as rich and defined as a piece of fine dark chocolate, you are beautiful. And so is your sister who is standing next to you. Don’t let society and Twitter debates try to dictate and tell you otherwise. Our beauty is our beauty; it may all be different, but it is all equal.