My black beauteous beloved bought everything she needs to be white: cream, cleanser, soaps, solutions, lotions, gels, oil and all. I heard she’s bought some medications too. Her more beautiful skin sucks. Black’s beautiful’s dead. She’ll fight to be white. But, if you whiten your skin, would it lighten the burden of being born black?
Black’s beautiful and my boo is, too. Look at her: 5 foot 8 tall. Just see her dreamy eyes: the black is black – unlike her skin; the white is white – not akin to the skin she’s keen on. Lovely like Lailah, do you see Mona Lisa smile, her smiles are just as sweet. Hidden behind her luscious lips are teeth even at the tips. Full firm round bosom that burdens not in size’s cleaved not far apart. She’s no bulky back but roundly proportionate to her slightly slender physique.
Her thigh gap is an envy of Victoria’s Secret. She’s long succulent shanks beautified by fat cute calves. Hair may be long or short, but hers – dark brown – couldn’t be bettered by both. Does she walk like a queen? No, a goddess on the runway. She’s shy like a leopard, awesome like a lioness. A beauty with brain – bright as light. Alas! All that matters not, but the thin layer of depigmented skin. Is beauty only white? No. Black’s beautiful.
But she has no role models but bold influencers to behold. And they all are white – fake white. The first ladies are white. The Senators are white. The Honourables are white. The CEOs are white. The actresses are white. The singers are white: Ayra Starr tones her skin with the skincare Tems tones hers too. The hottest girls guys go after are toned white or whiter. Counterfeit white.
When she turns her screen on, she’s shattered by demeaning white is light, black’s darkness ads. They sell ‘white lie’, baby, don’t buy. The phone she’s glued to, every swipe reveals a classy chic-looking white. The billboards on the streets scream to her to get her skin tone white. When will these racist colourists rest?
The clerics on TV preach not to bleach, but what they preach and practise disagree. Don’t they use filters to look so toned? Black isn’t beautiful, they seem to say, and heavens have no dark dames in them. The best there’s in heaven’s Houri. Houris are Houris because of their eyes. The eyes are black and white. If the black bleaches to white, the Houris won’t be a sight for sore eyes. Black’s beautiful anyway.
Wait, who doesn’t bleach? Asiwaju’s skin’s black. “But Buhari bleached”, she shrieked. “Just like Bobrisky”? I asked. “Aye, him and his best buddy at the Bank did – didn’t they bleach our naira bills”? That bleaching hurt a lot and so would your toned skin.
Mother loves you the way you’re, why make her feel guilty for giving the only skin she could have given? Would you say sorry to the seeds you’d bear when your skin and theirs compare?
My eye sees a million reasons why whitening wouldn’t beautify you more than heightening your skin-cancer risks. Did you reflect on the damage bleaching does to your skin, liver, kidney and nerves? The damages don’t stop at you. Experts say it causes abnormalities in your newborn baby. Do you think it’s right to harm yourself and your unborn child? That’s not right.
Toning? Can she even turn white? White like chalk or white like cheese? I see bleached skin more like pig skin than white. But my eyes can deceive. Isn’t the limits of human language to blame for this white-and-black mistake? Black’s beautiful.
The one big reason she has won. She admires her white skin so that the man she desires falls in awe. But does she know what men most adore? Much more than the colour of skin? Character. Care. Love. Warmth. Understanding. Empathy. Kindness. Loyalty. Beauty. And all the things she wants in a man. Women and men are just two sides of a coin.
My beautiful beloved, black and white are just different, not that one is better or greater than the other. So, embrace your skin, tone it no more. Black’s beautiful.
Saad, a lawyer is the Acting Chairman of APC Publicity Committee, Bauchi State and former Director-General of BASEPA.
