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Is Black Really Beautiful?
November 20, 2007 |  Patricia Daboh (Archives)


Is Black Really Beautiful?

 

   

  “And if the teacher does, it is only just for a few minutes and we move onto something else.”

 

 

 

 

  

  Is the saying, “I’m Black and I’m proud” just a cliché? I am afraid many Blacks do not mind being Black, as long as it is not TOO BLACK.

 

 

 

 

       

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    Responses So Far ...
    Dominic
    11/20/2007 6:38:37 pm
    		Ancestral and cultural poverty! That's quite a mouthful. But let's move on. The question is: does history matter? Does black history matter in a black kid's education?

    I am as proud an african as you will ever get, and I always say that nobody ever regretted reading a book. But I am still not too sure how much black-american history I should pass on to my kids, and more importantly, at what age.

    I remember this one time we tried to watch that old famous movie "Gone With the Wind" . After about 3 minutes, my daughter asked, totally innocently: "but why are those black folks serving the white folks?"

    What the hell should I have answered to an 8 y    (more...)

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    pmdaboh
    11/20/2007 6:43:48 pm
    		Your point was well taken. But my point is that many Blacks (young, middle-age, and older) are ashamed of the blackness of their skin color (unless, of course, it is light-skinned or brown-skinned). Where are we getting that from? Are we as parents handing it down to our children? When I was young and I would go to the beach during the summer months day-after-day with my friends, my brown skin turned a darker shade. My mom would say to me, "Patty, you are going to be black as midnight if you don't stop going to the beach so much!" I learned my darker colored skin was not pleasing to mom, for I had become TOO BLACK. When my children were young and we would come home after a day at the(more...)

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    Dominic
    11/21/2007 12:15:12 pm
    		I totally agree with you on the issue of skin colour. I can't say for other parts of africa, but when it comes to pride on skin colour, north americans might actually be doing better than some of their nigerian counterparts. In north america, I don't run into ladies who bleach their skin. In Nigeria, you run into that all the time.

    Also, while groups like the Yoruba remain culturally authentic for the most part, I run into Igbo Nigerians, even living in Nigeria, who want their kids to speak nothing other than English (yeah!). They give and call their kids by the most bombastic English names available ("Alfred")!. Of course, by default, Africans worship western deities these d    (more...)

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    MoAl
    12/01/2007 6:03:53 pm
    		Good question ... Black is beautiful, but depending on where you live, that statement can mean two completely different things --- Some places, dark skin is most desired and while lighter complexions are given less attention, and vice versa as you've said.

    Media and pop-culture unfortunately tint all of our senses towards what is accepted as "beautiful", and the more impressionable the person's mind is --- in this case, school-children --- the more their opinions will reflect the media's.

    Reply Directly to This
    vitaminD
    12/01/2007 11:14:20 pm
    		I'm so glad I stumbled on this article. It's exactly what I'm struggling with as I'm coming of age as a Nigerian & an American female.
    Sadly, I think that it'll be whatever the media reinforces to youth. Media says Alicia Keys is pretty, then she's pretty regardless of cornrows.
    Would most women have even thought about Seal as "sexy" until he became the husband of supermodel Heidi Klum?
    And the list goes on...
    Maybe if I hire someone to do my PR, then I could popularize my look...hmm...

    Reply Directly to This
    odere
    12/09/2007 8:43:48 pm
    		There's a phrase in "The Women of Brewster's Place" novel that says "Black is neither beautiful nor ugly. Black is just that: Black." I am inclined to associate thinking of being Black in this world with this phrase because the moment we start to romanticise our color, the real tendency is there to lose sight with what's really important to do, both individually and collectively, as a race of people, for our greater good and the good of mankind at large. Blacks in America, generally speaking, may be chronically ignorant about their history and less comfortable with their identity but what would you say about the continental Africans who are consciously running away from their own identity, a(more...)

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    pmdaboh
    12/09/2007 9:14:30 pm
    		@Odere

    Thank you for commenting on my article. I believe your point about being confused is very real. I comment on various topics on other boards as well, and one in particular talked about Nigerians who feel the need to change their names when they come over to America, for they feel they will not get a job if others know that they are Nigerian with so much focus on activities coming from that part of the world right now. Ironically, some do what they must in order to "get their foot in the door", and if that means disassociating themselves from their country, even temporarily, then that is what is done. It is a shame that a reputation can cause some of them to be asham    (more...)

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    Juanita
    1/03/2008 2:17:47 pm
    		Patricia, seems like you'd already know why some blacks do not want to be referred to as African Americans. It's because they recognize how Africans truly feel about this so they're ready to move on and forget about Africa and the Africans in it. No more no less.

    Reply Directly to This
    EMEKAEKWUE VICTORIA IFEOMA
    7/25/2008 8:11:40 am
    		Thanks for reminding Africans who they are, regardless of geographic location. Africans should unit and build a great and better AFRICA. Lets stop running away from our root.

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    antoinette
    8/05/2008 10:01:17 pm
    		First off all, "black americans came from mesopotamia and not africa. some filterated into africa and some into what is called the u.s. second, we did not come from slavery, every ethnic group was in some type of bondage but everyone is trying to stick black america into a slave box. alex haley, the writer of "roots" lied about his story so it can sell. the real truth is coming out about how the first slave ship that came over where indentured white slaves and how slavery was going on in africa.

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    Leye Ige
    8/06/2008 12:23:26 pm
    		There is a difference between indentured slavery, where the slave is not Personal Property and "chattel slavery" where the slave is. I don't know where you got your history from but I do know that the Atlantic slave trade plied the Africa-US route.

    Reply Directly to This

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