CITY DIARIES... "Coke or Fanta"

There was a picture I saw on the internet that has continued to provide comic relief for me; a fair lady trying to stifle her yawn with her hand...and that hand, in comparison with the rest of her, was as dark as a Mallam's hand. The caption under the picture was "No be by force to bleach".

This craze of whitening our skin tone didn't start today. It can even be traced to the English women. Having white skin signified that you didn't do manual labour,that you were genteel born and had class. A tanned complexion was for the common folks. Beauty is what is perceived. We see slim ladies walking down the runways,being featured in magazines and everywhere one looks,one sees slim,tall ladies. So,the idea we are left with is that for one to be perceived as beautiful,one has to be slim and tall..the kate Moss look. 

But if you look at the sculptures from the ancient era,the women were usually volumptous. One can even term them fat! "Mona lisa",that Da Vinci painted,please was she slim? Now,as if that isn't enough, Africans are fighting to be white. Upon all their talk of "Black is Beautiful", people still rush to cosmetic stores to buy toning creams,skin lightening lotions and so on. If Black is as beautiful as "they" claim,why are the manufacturers of such lightening creams banking millions yearly? I had been watching an International Fashion Show on Television with Monalisa,a friend. As all the numerous models struttled their stuff up and down the runway,I only spotted two Black models. Naomi Campbell had commented in this regard before in an Article I'd read; about the scarcity of Black models on an International runway. I was incensed,being an African and an ebony black at that,I felt a bit slighted.

"Which kind yeye show be this?" I said in annoyance. Mona,who had been munching her pringles,while mooning over the clothes on the runway glanced inquiringly at me.
"How is this show yeye?" She queried.
I rolled my eyes at her,"how many black models have you counted on the runway?" I asked

She raised her brows,"I wasn't looking at the models,but their clothes"

"Only two!" I continued,getting into the fever of the talk. Mona was looking warily at my tone

"So?" She said

"So? Did you just say so?" I cried,I'm sure I was looking a bit crazed because she shifted away from me.

"Where did this one come from Sam? Abegi leave me lemme watch the show" she faced the Tv and resumed viewing the show,leaving me to fume silently by her side.

The issue of White versus Black not only happens to humans alone! Even phones are affected,come to think of it. A white phone is more expensive than its black counter part. So at the end of the day,the white man wins. They have placed in our mentality that anything White is better than Black. We don't want to accept it,but subconsciously we do.

"Me,I prefer my ladies to be tall,slim and very fair oh!" Ade,a colleague of mine said. "Why?" I really wanted to know.
It baffles me the way our girls would do anything to be lighter in complexion. Some even go as fair as swallowing pills that promises complete whiteness in 2weeks!! Some of our popular celebrities have already turned half caste with the products they use. Everything has a side effect oh,but they won't listen. A guy would marry a fair lady and after a while,her true chocolate skin would come out,worse than ever! Why put stock on the colour of a person's skin?

"Fair ladies are attractive in a very charming way oh" he continued. "If I go with her to any occasion,do you know how people would be envying me?!" He smiled.

I rolled my eyes in exasperation. 

"So it all boils down to impression?" I asked.

"More than that oh! The koko be say,they are always the first choice" he said.

I don't really blame him for his myopic views. The world we are in now is the white man's world and we the Blacks,no matter how often we deny it,dance to the tune. Even in the so-called liberal America, their Black Power-women are almost turned White!! Even popular female celebrities are drinking from the same cup of "White madness". No names being mentioned oh....
And really, why is anything perceived to be bad called Black?.... 

Black sheep, 

Black list, 

black friday, and so on... 

It is really something we need to look into and correct. If you have watched the 2014 movie- "Noah"; Ham(according to the bible is the Father of Africa) and in the movie he was "the Black sheep!!" Should we stop fighting for our equality even when the bible itself says we, Africans(descendants of Ham) would be under our "Brothers"? Just a thought!. But well, in the end,it definitely is a White man's world.

By Vivian Barth