Black Is Beautiful

      I listened with rapt attention as the voice note played, quietly absorbing it's content,it spoke about a man who vehemently denied his citizenship of Nigeria on the basis of his light colored skin, the speaker in question found this really absurd as she knew not only was he certainly a Nigerian but he was also from Edo state, having trashed out that issue she then proceeded to the topic of bleaching
and the supposed stereotype that being light skinned automatically made you beautiful and this of which the speaker was in clear opposition.
           Thinking about it, I asked myself really, why do people bleach? I use the term "people" as opposed to "women" because in recent times men have begun to emulate this practice. If it's inferiority complex, why? It's sad that even after the departure of the European colonial masters, some of us still haven't emancipated ourselves from Western oppression , attributing to the Caucasian skin color the pinnacle of beauty because why else would a black beautiful girl  decide to "tone"  (As this is the preferred term) their skin  color sometimes to the point they resemble something out of a horror movie. Initially I assumed it was the heavy influence of the media , considering the girls most often seen on music videos , models and cover photos are light skinned, now, as to whether it's natural or not that's not for us to Judge. The media as a chief propagandist of this said propaganda, I slowly rejected, as much as the influence had a heavy hand in the matter there's a popular saying "Nobody can make you feel inferior apart from yourself" we tend to see a lot of action movies, but we've not been motivated to the point of stealing cars, guns blazing driving through the streets, if this is the case then why this peculiar situation .I found out to a large extent the death of pan-Africanism and the love of all things foreign gave rise to this problem, the cause is still yet unclear but the above stated, is definitely the effect, the preference of European names and the constant quest to look and talk like one, people of opposing school of though would tend to in buttressing their defense, state how barbaric our culture is if practiced to the letter, hence, I often respond, is  the need for cultural evolution not a total abandonment of what is truly yours, these days people are trying to adopt Halloween but would disdain the new yam festival saying it's a pagan practice, this I usually find amusing considering the origin of Halloween but that's not the crux of today's matter.
             Bleaching, if I proceed to outline the really harmful side effects of skin whitening I doubt it will make much effect, but I'd like us to understand that black is beautiful, why else do Caucasians tan, our full lips the flat nose and our tough hair, that's what make us unique, own it accept it and be proud of it, you can never be whiter than a white man so why bother, you're beautiful just the way you're and never try to change it, the moment you accept who you're are and see yourself as such, a strong black and beautiful woman the world has no choice but to be a reflection of what you've chosen to be .
                                                            EjaleVI.