I think I’m one of those rare black people that think that dark skin is beautiful. I’m brown skinned, but I wear makeup shades that are at least one shade darker than my natural skin color just so I can look darker. I also prefer to date dark skinned men.
I remember when I was in high school, a light skinned girl in my class said, “Your rarely see a pretty dark skinned little girl. I didn’t like that. First of all, that isn’t true, and second of all she had a dark skinned friend sitting right beside her who was beautiful. I think that was very disrespectful to say that in her presence.
What made me want to write this article was a line that rapper Lil Wayne said in his song. He said “Beautiful black woman, but I bet that b*tch will look better red.” For anyone who doesn’t know, “red” or “yellow” is a slang for light skinned.
Even though I’m not dark skinned or “red”, I felt offended and hurt when he said that. He isn’t the only black man that feels that way. There are obviously lots of black men that think a black woman will look better red.
I understand that everyone has a preference, and that’s fine. Some white men prefer blondes over brunettes. That’s okay, but the problem with black men is that they prefer lighter skin even if the person inside the skin is a real a-hole.
We always go back to the same argument about light skinned slaves being preferred over the others because they looked more white than the other slaves. Of course, this is where the mentality comes from, but I want to add to it to help black women understand it more.
White skin or light skin is not about beauty-it’s about status. Back in the day, if you were white or light skinned, that meant you got better housing, cleaner bathrooms, a better bed to sleep in, etc. You got those things because you were thought to be valuable. It wasn’t because you were beautiful. I think we can all agree that there are some ugly light skinned people. However, those light skinned people would get special treatment because they looked nearly white-not because they were beautiful.
White people always had high status in this country. Yes, women of all races didn’t have as many rights as white men, but white women were still valued more than black women. All whites were thought to be more valuable than blacks-and light skinned blacks were thought to be more valuable than darker blacks.
Let’s think about football player Chad Johnson. He says he prefers to date white and Hispanic women, yet his three baby mamas are black. How did that happen? Well, when black men reach a certain status, they believe they should have a woman that matches. They upgrade everything: their home, their car, their neighborhood, and their woman. His three black baby mamas were his women back when he felt less of a man, but now that he’s Mr. Ocho Cinco, now he wants a white or Hispanic woman.
Black men equate light skin with prestige. When they see light skin, they see the woman with the things that I listed above: better housing, cleaner bathrooms, a better bed to sleep in. Basically, they see a trophy. The rich or successful slave master had a white woman-not a dark skinned one. The rich and successful slave master had light skinned girls serving him inside the home-not a dark skinned girl. That’s when black men saw white and light skinned women as something to aspire to have.
Having a woman that looks like that means you are somehow successful or prestigious like “the white man”. It means you’re running with the big dogs. They walk around with their light skinned women like, “Yeah, look what I got.” It’s about feeling big.
When I was in school, the light skinned girls didn’t act like they were better than anyone. Black boys treated them like they were, but I don’t think they felt like that about themselves. I did notice that light skinned girls were much more loud and outspoken than the rest of us. I’m thinking that they were so expressive because they felt no pressure to bring anything extra to the table. The rest of the black girls had to look a certain way, act a certain way, smell a certain way, or do whatever in order to be viewed as attractive by black boys. The light skinned girls knew they didn’t have to do anything except be light skinned-and that was good enough.
If black men want to keep chasing after light skinned women, they can. I think that black women are now reaching out to other races nowadays as well. I just want all dark skinned women to know that you are beautiful, and please don’t let these sorry ass black men tell you any different. Most of the men that are saying these things are either broke, ugly (Lil Wayne) or low lives. They have no reason to say anything to anyone. Don’t let these good-for-nothing men make you feel worthless, when in reality, they are the ones who are worthless.
