Light Skin vs. Darkskin: Vis Versa and In Between

Dark Skin vs. Light Skin and every shade of black in between. The issues that come with these classifications are, at times, unbearable. This issue is nothing new, it started way back in the days of slavery with field slaves and house slaves and we all know how they went. As African American women of color, I think it is safe to say that we have all experienced some sort of classification based on our skin tone. If you haven't, you may have seen skin tone classifications on Instagram, Twitter, or even in media. Don't get me wrong, a lot of the social media memes are pretty funny, but the problem starts when people begin to take these classifications seriously. As in people beginning to actually look at someone who is dark skinned and truly believing that they are uneducated, ugly, or not good enough or looking at a light skinned girl and truly believing that she's cocky, fake, or conceited. Apparently, the "prime" skin tone of the day is Brown Skin because it is the skin tone in between both Dark Skin and Light Skin. They do not embody the "light skin" characteristics or the "dark skin" characteristics. The fact of the matter is, that these stereotypes can be applied to anybody, Dark Skinned, Brown Skinned, or Light Skinned. There is no "prime skin tone", well at least there shouldn't be. To be honest with you, I believe that as African Americans we are simply doing the same thing White Americans did to African Americans in the early days of discrimination. When White Americans saw someone of color, (without distinguishing between dark and light skin), many assumed that we were uneducated inferiors who had neither a future nor a place in this world. Together, we fought hard to break the barriers set against us. However, today, we are dividing ourselves into sub-groups. Like I said, I didn't have a problem with these categories, as i believed that they were just silly posts on Twitter or Instagram. But as I began to look more into it, I realized that many people took these classifications seriously. At the end of the day, we're all BLACK, whether you like it or not, beauty is defined by inner character, and every shade of black is beautiful. Today, we have beautiful representations of each skin tone, from the gorgeous Lupita Nyong'o and Kelly Rowland, brown skinned beauties like Gabrielle Union and Kerry Washington, to the light skinned stars like Beyonce and Rihanna. Every shade of black is beautiful, never feel ashamed of your skin tone because that is what makes you beautiful. What makes our African American culture beautiful is that we come in so many shades of brown. Not many races can say that. Embrace yourself for who you are because no one could do you better.What's your stance on the Light Skin vs. Dark Skin and every shade in between issue? Comment your thoughts below.

-L.A. 

photo source:

"Dark Girls." 5 Pink Ave. N.p., n.d. Web. 10 May 2014.      <http://www.5pinkave.com/tag/society/>.