End stigmatisation of colour

THE EDITOR, Madam:

Maybe many have grown accustomed to the view that having a black complexion is an unfortunate colour to possess. This is maybe because it is viewed as a reflection and a reminder of one’s black ancestry, whose fame and fortune was that of hewers of wood and drawers of water.

The influence of slavery with its black identity feature is so strong and enduring that people of a similar black complexion are known for hurling pejorative at each other, with expressions such as “Gweh fram yah! Yu black an’ ugly like!”

Sometime ago, a man was praising a woman’s granddaughter, saying how beautiful she looked (the girl had black complexion). The appreciative woman responded by saying : “Yes mi der sah, bot ef yu eava si di ada wan, yu taak sopn difrant – shi a waan high brown skin pickney yu nuh!? Seh wha!?” The ‘browning’ obsession possibly may last for years to come where, if you happen to have a light skin colour. you have immediate right of entry into certain guarded places – but show up with your imposing black features? Security looks you up and down and may invariably turn you away, ‘Gweh!” Science has discredited the concept of race some time ago, where there was found more bridges between the different races on earth than biological walls.

But even prior to that, the Bible itself explained how God himself feels about race. “Now I truly understand that God is not partial but in every nation, the man who fears him and does what is right is acceptable to him” (Acts 10:34, 35).

The aversion towards the black race by blacks themselves has encroached even on products created by black people. Some consumers will devalue an item upon learning it was created by a black man. This black man castigation is similar to cursing the temple and everything that’s contained within it. Yet, the self-chastising of one’s race along with its celebration are equally pointless.

For, if there is nothing scientifically evil about a colour, how can you praise or absolve it by celebrating it?

HOMER SYLVESTER

Elmsford, New York