adminCatherine Murombedzi
IT appears they are not happy in their original skin colour. Born original, they die photocopies.
In his best-selling book titled “Black Skin White Masks”, author, Frantz Fanon is at pains to show how the black man is plagued by an inferiority complex which makes him feel inadequate in relation to the white man.
It appears the book was originally authored as a means of combating oppression.
The author shows how embedded in our minds the problem is even from an early age through the use of comic books and cartoons which cement the idea that blackness is associated with evil and inevitably attaching blackness with wrong.
The book inadvertently speaks volumes of the craze, which is skin bleaching, that has gripped a large number of black women.
A large number of black women are possessed by the thought that being light skinned is the true definition of beauty. This sort of thinking is not new at all, but simply a matter of the proverbial: “Old wine in new wine skins”.
Way back in the 80s countless women had their skin burnt after using skin lightening creams with the chief culprit brand being, Ambi.
Today it is very simple to spot a “victim” of the 80s skin lightening craze as these are usually the women in their 50s or 60s with dark patches around their cheeks which appears like an orange peel.
There is something so wrong in watching a black woman trying to be a dark ghost of a white person.
Fast forward an odd 30 years and the skin bleaching craze has returned with a vicious kick.
Take a stroll down the road and you are bound to bump into a handful of “skin bleachers.” One would think that the problem only affects the younger generation, but of late even the elderly have been gripped by the craze.
In my home, my domestic worker has tried to be a shade lighter, but she now has two different shades, brown neck and a pink face.
Unfortunately for her we are well aware of the dangers of skin lightening creams and have warned her without success. She answered that everyone is doing it, so why should she not look “lovely”.
So big has the problem become that the BBC carried out a documentary of the ever increasing craze of skin bleaching among black people. It appears everyone wants to be lighter by any means necessary oblivious to the dangers and consequences of such.
My teenage son told me that incarcerated dancehall singer, Vybz Kartel is the pin up poster boy for skin bleaching. The singer who also bleaches his skin venerates the craze and has taken advantage of the craze by setting up a self named line of skin lighteners ranging from cake soap, lotions and even sunscreen.
It appears most “bleachers” are either unaware or do not care about the health risks inherent to skin bleaching. The Medicines Control Authority of Zimbabwe has banned the manufacturing or importation of the so-called skin lighteners into the country.
However, this has not stopped the hordes of smugglers who are evidently making a killing as the creams are abundant to the extent of being readily available on every street corner in the city centre.
Most of users of skin lighteners know very well of the potential dangers of using such as they run the risk of having their skin damaged or contracting cancer but alas to them these dangers are far-fetched as most seem to be gripped by the “it will not happen to me mentality.”
As I see it, the problem lies in the mindset that being lighter skinned is being more beautiful. I strongly feel that although we were physically freed from colonialism some decades ago our minds remain imprisoned.
The line in Redemption Song by Bob Marley: “ . . . emancipate yourself from mental slavery, none but ourselves can free our minds . . .” speaks volumes of this problem. As black people we have somehow been programmed to loathe what we are. It comes as no surprise that everything black is associated with evil, black dogs, black Friday, black rose, black cat and black is even the official colour for funerals.
On the other hand everything white is venerated as being holy and desirable. As I see it the problem is more deep rooted than it appears, a lot of black people presume that if something is headed by a white man, it is bound to be professional and successful.
There is need to re-educate our minds starting with the toddlers in crèche because for so long as we look down upon ourselves as a people, our chances of succeeding are virtually nil.
The skin bleaching is a manifestation of a deeper problem black people are facing which needs to be urgently addressed through entrenching a sense of black pride and appreciation.
It appears the skin bleachers are not happy in their original skin colours, they would rather be the white-man’s ghost.
Online Reporter