"God, you are darker!": the fear of blackness in the land of the blacks (Sudan)

I pinched this from the good folks at Afro Spear. Its a short essay, written by a Sudanese sister, about the preference in Sudan for light complexion and straight hair. This is a near-universal challenge for African people. GI

Abang Othow, South Sudanese model (image source: http://abagond.wordpress.com)

Dark-Skin and Afros- Our worst nightmare

I’m not going to generalize this to all Africans. I’m going to speak about my nation. Inferiority complex is implanted in every Sudanese. We constantly bring ourselvesdown. We dislike ourselves. We are always trying to be something we are not. We view ourselves as inferior and others as superior. We need to emancipate ourselves from mental slavery!

The dream of the average Sudanese girl is to marry well and have a lighter skin. Lighter skin is viewed as beautiful (Sudan is not the only one in this case!). We bleach our skins, use lightening creams and use harmful skin-damaging products as long as we become “lighter”.

Read more Dark-Skin and Afros- Our worst nightmare «

Also dig:

• "Who taught you to hate yourself?"
• The DR Congo at 50- "I would like to become white" (Dap @ Jemima)
• Why the scourge of skin lightening needs a pan-African response
• Skinny vs. Fat : An African Woman on the Politics of Feminine Beauty
• Segun Gele: Master of Nigeria's gravity-defying headgear

tags: aesthetics, race, Sudan, internalized racism