I don't care either. Sounds like most of her experiences were in India. I'm not sure what relevance that has here. http://www.huffingtonpost.com/entry/im-indian-im-dark-and-i-dont-care_us_5813829be4b096e8706964e9 Im Indian, Im Dark, And I Dont Care You dont have to be fair to be pretty. 10/29/2016 12:34 am ET | Updated 1 day ago 6.2k Aswathi Thomas Writer, Hard-Worker, & Mom of the Group ASWATHI THOMAS I love being an Indian, truly I do. With the countrys powerful history, one of a kind culture and to-die-for food, how could one simply not? But behind Indias beautiful face, there is a growing disease that our society continually fails to recognize: colorism. Colorism is a term coined by author Alice Walker, and is defined as a discrimination against individuals with a dark skin tone among people of the same racial and/or ethnic group. Also know as internalized racism. Growing up, Ive always had dark skin. I, personally, didnt see anything wrong with it and ― heck, to be honest ― if you ask anyone I knew back then, it was no secret (with my plaid cargo shorts, above ear length hair and buckteeth) that I gave absolutely ZERO flips about how I looked. And to be quite honest, why should I have? I had great friends, saw the glass half full, and went to bed at 9:30 every night. There was nothing in life that could stop me! LOL and then middle school happened. Yeah, no offense, but Im so happy I dont look like you. Everyone laughed, but my blood boiled... As I got older, I really began to start noticing the things people said about my dark complexion. I remember times when the lights would be turned off in a room and people would say Wheres Aswathi? or Aswathi, smile so we can see you! Or the times relatives that I hadnt seen in years would greet me with Oh my goodness, youve gotten so dark! and then suggest skin bleaching products or face masks for me to use. Yeah, you read that right. Skin bleaching ― its actually a thing. I distinctly remember one specific summer night when, after a church basketball practice, some of us girls had gone out to eat. While enjoying our snow cones, a few girls began looking at their arms and began to complain about how their skin had gotten darker over the summer. I can clearly recall one girl saying to another, Just be thankful you dont look like Aswathi, followed by another girl saying, Yeah, no offense, but Im so happy I dont look like you. Everyone laughed, but my blood boiled and my eyes burned. Never have I had to bite my tongue so hard. I couldnt believe that someone had actually told me they were happy because they didnt look like me. Those eight words have, to this day, hurt me in unexplainable ways. That night when I got home, I ran upstairs, closed my door, sat on the ground, and cried. I cried like I had never cried before. Hours and hours had passed and there were still tears running down my face. I didnt want to live. The words and comments those girls had said to me made me hurt in ways I never knew I could hurt before. The things those girls said to me changed the way I saw myself forever. None of it was truly mean-spirited. The girls at my church are very kind people. But as Indians, ever since we were young, we are embedded with this false idea and mentality that to be fair is to be pretty and to be dark is not. Indian media only further adds onto this fallacy by whitewashing (literally) celebrities and actors, along with advertisements that promote the usage of skin lightening creams and products. But as a young girl, these comments had really brought me down. All those stupid things people had said hurt me and the adverse effects they had on me while I grew up made me see the world, and myself, in a twisted way that I would never wish for someone else. We as a society have to stop putting people down for the things that make them unique. I spent far too many summers inside and out of the sunlight. There were summers where I didnt go swimming at all. I constantly tried out many face masks and skin bleaching products. I thought something was wrong with me. I edited pictures of myself to make me look lighter just so I could be pretty. I hated taking pictures at night and avoided wearing bright colors at all costs. There was time when it got so bad that I hated even looking in the mirror or would start crying while getting ready for school. I would even try to physically scratch the dark from my face. Yeah, it was pretty bad.
Its very sad that kids have to sweat about the color of their skin either in this country or another.
I say people look best in whatever colour skin their birth dictated for them. I was born in lily white skin, so I work to maintain THAT colour. I avoid all sun exposure between the hours of 9am and 4pm, unless it's a very cloudy, non-summer day. My husband was born medium-dark brown, and looks best that colour. When he gets too pale during winter, he doesn't look right. When he gets too dark during summer, same again. People only look bad, or wrong, when they alter their natural skin tone. Either by 'tanning', or by bleaching etc. I feel the same way about hair colour. I really don't like dyed hair, it never ever looks as good as our natural colour ... whatever that colour is at whatever stage of our life we're at.
There’s a certain bitter irony to you declaring that this has no relevance because (you think) it isn’t happening to people like you.
" Default Im Indian, Im Dark, And I Dont Care I don't care either. Sounds like most of her experiences were in India. I'm not sure what relevance that has here." After a comment like that by the Original poster, I tend to ignore anything else that person has to say about anything after. It is relevant as I have seen People in many other Countries and here in the U.S. express themselves that way. Most People use Relevance as a device to discount any dissenting point of view or to disenfranchise others out of hand, or as a convenient manner of pretending ignorance of the topic under discussion.
