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I'm reading this book and I couldn't help but get stuck on this quote. This is a light skin lady with "white features" speaking:

"You got mo' nerve than me. Ah jus' couldn't see mahself married to no black man. It's too many black folks already. We need to lighten up de race." This qoute is from Their Eyes Were Watching God by Zora Neil Hurston

Anyhow, I know this book was written years ago and all, but it echos today. The words said by this character isn't far fetched atall. I still hear people complementing "light skin" babies, etc. for example on that show, Kevin Hill...there was a whole cotraversy because the baby they used for the first show was too "dark"...so by the next show, they of course replaced the babies until the shade was "acceptable"...but yet we proclaim "Black is beautiful"....that leads me to ask, is it really?

Be honest....b/c I feel this is a societal thing, that we never got over being told that we were ugly, that are skin tone was ugly, too dark...features: big lips, nappy hair, etc. wasn't good enough, that we just started to believe this notion and preach it to our children.

[QUOTE=Hotgirl11226]I'm reading this book and I couldn't help but get stuck on this quote. This is a light skin lady with "white features" speaking:

"You got mo' nerve than me. Ah jus' couldn't see mahself married to no black man. It's too many black folks already. We need to lighten up de race." This qoute is from Their Eyes Were Watching God by Zora Neil Hurston

Anyhow, I know this book was written years ago and all, but it echos today. The words said by this character isn't far fetched atall. I still hear people complementing "light skin" babies, etc. for example on that show, Kevin Hill...there was a whole cotraversy because the baby they used for the first show was too "dark"...so by the next show, they of course replaced the babies until the shade was "acceptable"...but yet we proclaim "Black is beautiful"....that leads me to ask, is it really?

Be honest....b/c I feel this is a societal thing, that we never got over being told that we were ugly, that are skin tone was ugly, too dark...features: big lips, nappy hair, etc. wasn't good enough, that we just started to believe this notion and preach it to our children.[



Ofcourse Black is beautiful, are you black? it is not just something that is said. I believe it and I mean it

Black is beautiful regardless of...if it's one drop or whatever! Black will always be beautiful to me!

Is this the same society that is hell-bent on tanning skin to get darker hues and on collagen injections for fuller lips and butts?

I think the whole point of the movement was to stop believing what society tells you in the first place. When are we ever going to get past the notion that there has to be one standard notion of beauty applicable to everyone? Sheesh. Light skin will be attractive to some, dark skin will be beautiful to others. Thin lips to some, full lips to others.

Who ever feels that beautiful chocolate skin, a lovely set of locs, and thick full lips are ugly, hey, more power to them. More gorgeous Afrikan sistren for me.

I agree

Also

We see in society there are women who get their lips done to make them fuller. People are constantly trying to get tanned. People strive to get certain features that most blacks posess.
As far as TV goes since certain folks like to look at people closer to their complexion so they like to lighten things up.

of course it is... it is 100 percent a society thing. i was wondering are these attitudes that more "blacker" features are less desirable, i thought that was more in areas like here in the states or in europe where it stemmed from jimcrow days and trying to "pass"... but this attitude is also prevalent in many caribbean countries?

it happens in many south american countries too, i guess anywhere were there is a mix of colors living.

beauty is independant of race

definitions of the word BLACK -

marked by anger or resentment or hostility; "black looks"; "black words"

stemming from evil characteristics or forces; wicked or dishonorable; "black deeds"; "a black lie"; "his black heart has concocted yet another black deed"; "Darth Vader of the dark side"; "a dark purpose"; "dark undercurrents of ethnic hostility"; "the scheme of some sinister intelligence bent on punishing him"-Thomas Hardy

offering little or no hope; "the future looked black"; "prospects were bleak"; "Life in the Aran Islands has always been bleak and difficult"- J.M.Synge; "took a dim view of things"

(of events) having extremely unfortunate or dire consequences; bringing ruin; "the stock market crashed on Black Friday"; "a calamitous defeat"; "the battle was a disastrous end to a disastrous campaign"; "such doctrines, if true, would be absolutely fatal to my theory"- Charles Darwin; "it is fatal to enter any war without the will to win it"- Douglas MacArthur; "a fateful error"

(of the face) made black especially as with suffused blood; "a face black with fury"

extremely dark; "a black moonless night"; "through the pitch-black woods"; "it was pitch-dark in the celler"

the quality or state of the achromatic color of least lightness (bearing the least resemblance to white)

harshly ironic or sinister; "black humor"; "a grim joke"; "grim laughter"; "fun ranging from slapstick clowning ... to savage mordant wit"

total darkness: total absence of light; "they fumbled around in total darkness"; "in the black of night"

(of intelligence operations) deliberately misleading; "black propaganda"


definitions of the word white

free from moral blemish or impurity; unsullied; "in shining white armor"

marked by the presence of snow; "a white Christmas"; "the white hills of a northern winter"

the quality or state of the achromatic color of greatest lightness (bearing the least resemblance to black)

restricted to whites only; "under segregation there were even white restrooms and white drinking fountains"; "a lily-white

movement which would expel Negroes from the organization"
glowing white with heat; "white flames"; "a white-hot center of the fire"

This Black is beautiful thing is so flickin deep. look at these definitions and you'll see why.

I personal when I was younger I would only talk to light skinned people.....my mom is light bright dayuum near white and my dad is one of the darkest things coming out of south carolina (but dont get me wrong my dad Is a very handsome man) but my recent ex is black like my father nappy black hair but his skin complexion is absolutely beautiful...Im sorry but I havent come across any white people with complexion like that.....there are a few models I see from africa and they have this beauty about them thats different then any other models I have seen. and it not just the black once either people of color just have a different beauty about them!!!!

The man said it right there.

The problem is... does the human race, as a whole. truly believe that? Of all the races I am most concerned about the black race because they are the ones that seem to have the most problems with their racial features. What other race straightens their hair? What other race uses chemicals to lighten their skin?

Beauty, as society sees it, seems to always take the path of moderation. A handsome or beautiful person is usually someone whose features are not too big or too small or too dark or too light or too fat or too thin etc. Which is why light skin or whites will tan. Its not because they think that black features are beautiful... its more because they want to hit that middle ground between being too dark or too light.

My opion should not offend anyone, just take it as a stepping stone for your reasoning! In other words NUH BEAT ME DOWN FOR MY OPINION!

To say black is beautiful but try to look more europen than AFRIKAN is kinda pointless and fruitless in our development as a people! BLACK IS BEAUTIFUL and needs no makeovers. The make overs confuse our youth and they are the generations of future! Straightened hair to remove kinks do not make you beautiful it makes u look like another. Getting with others just to make sure your offsprings are lighter shade is hypocracy towards the BLACKNESS of i people! My views may not be yours though! I am about to start a post based on this thread, you have motivated me! Thanks!

the reason why that happens is becuase everywhere you look, our appearance of being black is synonymous with all things negative.

This might be true... but I think there is something else that contributes to these esteem issues. Surely some of our features (the broad nose, large butts, and kinky hair) can't be associated with the colour black or even the word black.

what are the connotations surrounding black and white (or light and dark) in languages/societies besides english?

Damn...you know what's so funny...I know so much guys who tell me that Beauty is in the eye of the beholder...and society places all these rules on what is beautiful....and complain that women try too hard to be skinny rather than fat...or bleaching their skin or hair...or wearing contacts....and so on and so on....

and they be the the ones with the biracial girl/white girl/asian girl/skinny girl/contact wearing sista/latina/straight hair indian....

but never would i see them with a DARK DARK DARK, kinky haired, overweight/big lip/big nose woman....

so basically TALK IS CHEAP!!!