Our Black Is Beautiful

Black people come in all shapes, sizes, shades, and skin tones. It's what makes us unique as a people, I only wish we all embraced each and everyone of us and valued our differences instead of putting each other down for them. While watching Girlfriends this past weekend, an episode came on that touched on this very subject. It was an episode where Toni decided not to date a guy she'd met online because she felt he was too dark for her. She went on to explain that she didn't want to have a dark skinned little girl who would be told she was pretty for a dark skinned girl or be teased and called "tar baby" because her skin was so dark. This is something that is very common in the black community and is something I have never been able to understand. Is a person less beautiful or handsome because their skin is dark? Is a person of color more beautiful because their skin is lighter? I even have a friend who explained to me that she was taught to only date light skinned guys for that very reason. She was raised to believe that getting married to/having a child with a dark skinned man would be bad because they could end up with a dark skinned child as if that child would be any less lovable because of the color of his or her skin. We are all beautiful regardless of whether our skin is dark, light, cinnamon colored, etc. Black is beautiful and it's a shame that we are not only discriminated against by people in other races, but we're discriminated against by our own people. Why do you think we discriminate against one another? Do you think we'll ever be able to see how beautiful and unique each of us is and embrace it? Why do you think dark skin is typically perceived as a bad thing?