Bleaching is more than skin-deep

Ken Jones, Contributor

The prophet Jeremiah, agonising over the difficulty of trying to liberate a person's mind rather than his body, asked in the 13th chapter of his book: "Can the Ethiopian change his skin or the leopard his spots?" Two thousand years later, the question remains relevant; and it is made current by those unwise Jamaicans bleaching in quest of a lighter shade of skin.

We are told by the Ministry of Health (MOH) that despite a vigorous effort "to address the local skin-bleaching phenomenon ... the practice is extremely difficult to change". The authorities are much concerned about bodily dangers, including high blood pressure and damage to the kidneys and the eyes, as well as the skin itself. However, the deeper problem is that illness of mind that causes the bleacher to resist the teacher.

At the root of this form of skin bleaching is lack of self-esteem and an inferiority complex that persuades the victim that he or she is inferior because of a darker colour of skin. Failure to snare a mate or land a good job is attributed to shade rather than grade; what Martin Luther King Jr described as "colour of skin rather than content of character".

Handicap to progress

Black pride is something that National Hero Marcus Garvey made his life's work; and yet, nearly 100 years since he began upholding that philosophy, many of his own countrymen and women remain wallowing in self-pity, convinced that their God-given pigmentation is a handicap to progress. All evidence to the contrary eludes them, often because our educational system seems ill-equipped to deal with the subject.

In 2009, the Marcus Garvey Technical High School elaborated on the theme spoken by Mr Garvey: The black skin is not a badge of shame, but rather a glorious symbol of national greatness. That is a lesson that should be taught constantly in Jamaica; but we are bashful about it; embarrassed by the question; chained to thoughts and acts that confuse race pride with race prejudice.

We may campaign against bleaching creams and soaps. Those are not the problem. Many people use them legitimately to treat skin conditions such as age spots, melasma, scars and acne marks. What we need to provide as an alternative is that product that cleanses the mind and opens the eyes of a community denied instructions in self-respect. Had we been teaching Garveyism in and out of schools, as a way of life rather than as a political tool, we might have avoided many of our current problems, including the downgrading of self on the grounds of skin colour.

Of course, there was a time in Jamaica when dark skin was a hurdle, but it was not a wall; and many of those who would, did overcome. Much have we achieved; and our legacy is rich, despite some ill-founded remarks that our elders have let us down. Even back in 1914 when Mr Garvey was launching his great uplifting Universal Negro Improvement Association, he was able to write:

"It is just 76 years since the Jamaican Negro emerged from his shackles, and within this period of time he has accomplished wonders. The Negro who could not decipher his own name in the dark days has become the grandfather of a race of men who are now proclaiming to the world that there is 'something' of capacity and action about them. In Jamaica, the descendants of the old slaves are to be found in all departments of social, intellectual, administrative, commercial and industrial activity. They have become heads of government departments, privy councillors, attorneys general, King's Counsels, Companions of Knighthood and controllers of finance ... ."

Revise the curriculum

If those persons of colour could do it nearly 100 years ago, certainly we can do it now.

However, the climb will be more laborious and less productive unless we make the conscious effort to revise the curriculum to suit the needs. Our noble accomplishments must be recorded in books, as some are; they must also be told continually by radio and television programmes. The media must consciously devise ways and means of balancing the present menu that overwhelms us with muck music, noisy speech and crude utterances. When we reach down to the depraved and the deprived, it must be to lift them up, not to tickle ourselves at their expense; and then to talk foolishness about 'culcha'.

To be sure, the so-called 'skin-bleaching phenomenon' is not just a Jamaican problem. There are other places and other people also concerned about lightening looks when they should be enlightening their outlook.

They may be excused, having never been directly exposed to the teachings of a Marcus Garvey. However, Jamaicans have no such alibi. Nor can our political leadership claim education in a European environment. So, one is tempted to conclude that this persistent skin is symptomatic of a sick society that takes umbrage and gets defensive when called upon to mend its ways.

The people at the MOH may campaign all they want; spend more time, money and energy telling the thin-skinned and thick-headed about the physical dangers of bleaching. Without a deliberate effort to effect change in the national psyche, they will soon be saying, as did Harriet Tubman: "I freed thousands of slaves. I could have freed thousands more if they had known that they were slaves."

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