Darkie vs. Light Bright

It was when I hit High school that my conscious awakening slowly began. I began to look at both sides of every spectrum. I questioned everything. I wanted answers. Not everyone in my circle was experiencing the beginnings of this awakening that I was going through at that time. So, a lot of people around me couldn’t help me. A lot of people never even heard of the subject matter that my inquiring mind wanted to know about. One particular question I wanted to know the answer to was why is there a silent dark skin/ light skin war?

Behind the jazzy talk and rage, there is pain. Who is better, dark skinned or light skinned people? Why is this an issue? I remember growing up wishing my skin was darker. I was tired of being called names like, “light bright” and “low white”. I was tired of being asked if I was something other than a black girl. I got tired of feeling like I had to prove my blackness to everyone else. Thank God I grew out of that mind-state. I’ve truly grown to not give A FUKK about what anyone else judgment.

It wasn’t until I got into high school that I learned of the name “Willie Lynch” and his successful plan that further shaped the division within my own community. The setting took place in 1712 at he banks of the James River in Virginia. Numerous slave owners in America were having problems with keeping their slaves in order. They reached out for help. They reached out to Willie Lynch. Willie Lynch was a successful slave owner from the West Indies. He somehow created and devised a plan that would not only control his slaves but further break them down and keep them divided for at least 300 years. All the slave owners had to do was follow this plan for one year fully. The slaves would keep the plan working and further disconnect future generations of black America. Read the Willie Lynch Plan here: http://thetalkingdrum.com/wil.html

It was there at the bank of the James River in Virginia that Willie lynch plan was taught to these hopeful slave owners. Plantation riots and rebellions were costing them a fortune. The plan starts out basically from A to Z. The goal was to pin the slaves against each other. The Letter “A” was age. You pin the younger slaves against the older slaves. When it came down to “C” it was color. You pin the light skin slaves against the dark skin slaves and so on. This plan outlined ever different characteristics amongst the slaves. Even hair texture and plantation status.

Now I gave you a little history, here’s some food for thought:

In 2012 why do we give an issue like this power? Why do we allow something a simple as skin color to divide? Why do we need to further categorize ourselves. Isn’t being a “black man” or “black woman” good enough. Why do we have to break down our blackness further with shades? I see so many people and even more celebrities bleaching their skin and getting chemical peels. For what? People are willing to put an unknown chemical on their skin in hopes of becoming lighter. How does light skin make you better? What’s up with the stereotypes: Light is right and dark is wrong? There is an unseen but well known hierarchy that is there. Why do we feed into it. I was bold enough to entitle this post two of the largest racial slurs used within the Black Community. Both of these names hurt.