African American people have been struggling with colorism from as far back as slavery. There have been many incidences where standards of beauty, intelligence and even the lifestyle of black people have been put in a box by others and labeled inferior.
African Americans are the most diverse group of people on the planet. Black people come in a spectrum of shades no matter the nationality. Black people are not limited to being African American. Our features are so broad, distinct, and beautiful. The earliest statues and monuments of Egypt are also African people. Cleopatra in fact was an African woman. It is shameful that the media has portrayed her as a white woman. I mean, Egypt is in Africa, duh! Nothing is worse than when someone of African American decent discredits their ancestry. You can ask a black person their nationality and they’ll say there’re everything but black. Don’t get me wrong, specifics are great and all, but it becomes ignorance when you think you aren’t black because you’re Dominican or even of West Indian descent.
What does that mean? If you’re Dominican, Puerto Rican, Mexican, West Indian, Jamaican, Trinidadian, Guyanese, Hawaiian…*NEWS FLASH* YOU’RE STILL BLACK WITH ORIGINS IN AFRICA! The major difference between between the countries listed above are the boat stop from the slave ship. Black people are the most diverse group of people on the planet. This is what makes us unique, go us!
Let’s dig a little deeper! According to credited author, Yanique Dawkins, just like the United States, most countries were colonized by either the Belgium, French, Spaniards (Spain), British, etc. For example, prior to the Spanish invading what is now known as Trinidad, Trinidad was made up people of known as Amerindians. These people were a mixture of Caribs and Arawaks. By 1784, the Amerindians were exterminated and over 10,000 enslaved Africans were brought to Trinidad. Later on, Trinidad was ruled by the British with slaves working on cotton and sugar plantations.
Society’s standard of beauty has been and for the most part still consists of straight hair, light complexion and a slim body image. While there are some who can’t quite embrace who they are and will go as far as to bleach their skin or have some type of surgical procedure to make their nose less wide or lips less full, people of other races are enhancing their features to look more ethnic. Our features are so broad, distinct, beautiful and different; from the color of our skin, to the texture of our hair.
We are ALL unique on this planet and there’s room for all of us!! Our ancestry determines who we are. Embrace it!! Love yourself! Set your own standards of beauty!!