Right Where You Left It

Light

I'm light skinned, yes. I'm one of the lightest of my group of friends, in fact, I think I am the lightest of my friends, and I am honestly just now realizing that when my friends make snarky comments about the fact that I'm light skinned...they might actually mean them.

Now don't get me wrong, they don't hate me or even dislike me in any way- at least, I don't think they do- no, it's more that they kind of envy me. Don't think me conceited, like "oh, I'm so much better than everyone else", no. There has always been a little tension between the darker shades and the lighter ones.

We have this one friend that we make fun of all the time because she's so pale (note, I said I'm the lightest. She is the whitest lmfao) but today I was looking up facts about light skins, so I could get my hair dyed the perfect shade of red for my skin tone, and Google led me to the prominent issue of colorism. Mostly present in the black community, basically there is a war between the lighter hues and the darker ones. Most people believing that just because one person is darker than the other person, that the lighter one is more competent. This causes those of the darker skin colors to hate those of a lighter skin.

I reiterate, that I am light skinned, and I have like two friends that are dark skinned, and they often make comments about how life is easier for me because I'm light skinned. One of them is light-hearted about it, while the other tends to be a bit more malicious. I always just thought she was a dick. But that's not the case.

Well..she is kind of a dick, but that's beside the point.

ANYWAY, cuz I could write an entire book about that girl...actually, I have. But still, anyway, you know what I hate to hear? "You're pretty for a dark skinned girl", this doesn't even apply to me and it pisses me off. Like, that implies that most dark skinned girls are ugly, or even worse, you hold dark skinned girls at a lower standard than light skinned girls.

That's dumb, because there are ugly light skinned girls, and there are ugly dark skinned girls. And why do people assume that if you have a dark girl and a light girl, that the light girl is more intelligent and more qualified? If the other girl is more qualified than me, I don't want to get an opportunity just because I'm lighter.

Now me, I'm so light that I'm like about 4-5 shades darker than white. Like literally, I got a tan this summer and I'm still light, so I benefit from the colorism. But I still don't like it. It's just another way to turn black people against each other, making dark people hate lighter people due to the privilege that the white man has bestowed upon us. It is not our fault that we are light skinned, and it is not our fault that people treat us better because of it. Darker ones hating us because of something that we cannot control is just another way for the man to control us. To keep us under them, like animals. I say that we should end it, and see each other and family, and not rivals. The only reason that we have this colorism that the man gave us, is because we choose to accept it. I don't want opportunities because of my color, I want it because of my abilities, and my talent.

So yes, I acknowledge the fact that I have lots of privilegd because I am lighter, but I'm saying that I don't want it. I want everything to be equal.

And you know I'm right because I'm light skinned, and I only have something to lose

A/N: that's me and my light skin in the picture