As a little girl,
I would sit and wonder why I couldn’t be … better
Lighter skin, straighter hair.
Pretty in the eyes of an ugly society
In my eyes …
The kinks of my hair and the tone of my skin were hindering
And praise of the “Pretty Red” only showed that my brown skin was nothing to be proud of
TV showed no one like me, no one for me to see and say “that’s what beauty is”
Videos and magazines soon made the complex worse…
Make up and photo-shop showing that “flaws” and “imperfections” could be hidden and …
Cleaned up. Dark skin made as light as they saw fit.
And I would sit and cry, and wonder, and pray, and hope that someday I would be lighter, with straighter hair
Pretty in the eyes of this ugly society
I didn’t understand that my brown skin was just the same as the light skinned girls everyone said were prettier than I
And I didn’t understand that they felt the same sense of despair and shame that I felt
Being told that they weren’t perfect or pretty enough either.
It took years for me to understand that we are all the same, all black …
High yellow with short hair, Light Skinned with long hair, Dark Brown with no hair, or Black As Night with nappy hair…
We’re all the same.
Born into this world to do something great, not dwell on the differences in the way God made us.
I love my pretty brown skin. Love yours.
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