Dark Skin In The African American Communities

Recently there has been many stories in the media that are very disrespectful to African American people with dark skin. Here is the shocker, it is not Caucasians that have been so bluntly disrespectful it has been our own people making these outrages comments and airing out the dirty laundry of black communities all over America.

First on my list is the horrible comments that a rap artist (not so well known) named YungBerg made, here is an a bit of the conversation that he had with a radio DJ.

I'm kinda racist ... I don't like dark butts .... You know how some women prefer light skin men or dark skin men. It's rare that I do dark butts - that's what I call dark skinned women ... I [don't date women] darker than me. I love the pool test. If you can jump in the pool exactly like you are and you don't come out looking better than you looked before going in the pool - then that's not a good look.Any woman that uses brown gel to set down her baby hair is not poppin'!!!

Next on my list is R&B writer, producer, and singer Neyo, who was recently quoted saying that light skinned babies are better looking than dark skinned babies.

Now Tyra Banks has recently done a show on African American Women who bleach their skin. In case you missed it here is a description of the show that has already aired:

Skin whitening is a billion-dollar worldwide industry, and the "Tyra Show" addresses the drastic measures some women are willing to take to achieve their ideal look. African-American women talk candidly about why they bleach their skin to lighten their complexions. Plus, meet a mom who puts bleach on her three small children every day before they leave for school.

Let me just say that this is a pressing issue in our community and I did some research to see what people really think. There are so many people hurt by these comments. I found that people started boycotting YungBerg and if you go on youtube you will find many of upset people. I saw mostly lighter toned women really angry at YungBerg, what he didn't realize is that he attacked all women of color with these statements. I also came across some young chocolate brothers from D.C. (which is where YungBerg is from) they wanted people to know that in D.C. that darker men have a disadvantage as well and that the term "Dark Butts" refer to men as well in their community. They went on to say that they felt hurt that the women there only go for brown skin or lighter complected guys. They also talk about white women and how chocolate skin is more appreciated among asians, latinas and white women. Funny that some chocolate women have the same experiences.

As far as Neyo goes, I think he is just as ignorant as YungBerg, both of these men have openly apologized, YungBerg goes a little further apologizing to his mother and grandmother b/c they are both dark complected.

Tyra show on skin bleaching really struck a nerve with people black and white. White people can't believe that we would bleach our skin, they find black skin very exotic. Many white people also go through the same issues as far as being too white, they were very candid on tyras blog about white people who risk skin cancer to get a great tan.

I would really love to see people like Gabrielle Union, Kelly Rowland, Lauren London, Latoya Luckett, Serena Williams, Naomi, Mary J. Blige, Keisha Cole and other brown to dark brown people that have a standing celebrity status speak out on this issue. I would also like to hear from the men with the same status, a lot of black actors and musicians have brown to dark brown skinned daughters that will face the same issues.

Here is a young man speaking his mind on YungBerg