Big ups to the brothers that are not ashamed to be seen with a dark skinned women, to the sisters that don't have skin color as a standard or principle to dating in their life...
Big ups to that women who gives birth to a child and beholds beauty and not worry about what the skin shade will be or is, to the women and men who tell their dark skinned children they are beautiful.. to the people who teach their children true beauty , beauty that resides with in, beauty that goes beyond what the eye sees..
Big ups to the people that look at a dark child in the street and randomly tell them how beautiful they are !!
Friday, August 16, 2013
Tuesday, September 11, 2012
Monday, September 10, 2012
RESPECT IS DEEP ROOTED IN KENYA (I WAS PERSONALLY TOUCHED BY THIS ARTICLE)
"To strangers Kenya is often portrayed as a lawless, corrupt and corrosive country, where crime is rife in the capital Nairobi, and Machiavelian politicians cynically milk their electorate for votes simply to feather their own nests, rather than for some wider common good.
Some of that is of course true, and there is a lot of misplaced respect for those in positions of power.
However, scratch beneath the surface and you’ll find a society where respect is all around.
It’s deeply rooted in African history and the clan system, where the good of the community takes precedence over individual desires.
Respectful blessings
Sadly, the erosion of some of these traditions is unquestionably the result of imported Western culture, but the roots are still there. During a recent visit to Amoseli national park, I got a glimpse of this traditional sense of “respect”. I was invited to take tea with the district Masai chief. As each of his eight children entered the compound, they lowered their heads so that myself and all the other adults present could touch their heads and bless them. This was not about being a white person in Africa and therefore being afforded a degree of privilege.
Respectful blessings
Sadly, the erosion of some of these traditions is unquestionably the result of imported Western culture, but the roots are still there. During a recent visit to Amoseli national park, I got a glimpse of this traditional sense of “respect”. I was invited to take tea with the district Masai chief. As each of his eight children entered the compound, they lowered their heads so that myself and all the other adults present could touch their heads and bless them. This was not about being a white person in Africa and therefore being afforded a degree of privilege.
It was about being an adult and it was a beautiful gesture.
I later learnt that this is standard conduct in all Masai homes.
It touched me deeply as a humbling and precious introduction to Kenyan life.
In the car journey back to Nairobi I mused how back home in the UK, I’ve been to friends’ homes on many an occasions, and a grumpy teenager has slouched past, without even snorting a greeting.
I was invited to take tea with the district Masai chief.
As each of his eight children entered the compound, they lowered their heads so that myself and all the other adults present could touch their heads and bless them.
This was not about being a white person in Africa and therefore being afforded a degree of privilege.
It was about being an adult and it was a beautiful gesture.
I later learnt that this is standard conduct in all Masai homes.
It touched me deeply as a humbling and precious introduction to Kenyan life.
In the car journey back to Nairobi I mused how back home in the UK, I’ve been to friends’ homes on many an occasions, and a grumpy teenager has slouched past, without even snorting a greeting.
I’m not offended - but the contrast is startling.
Respect in Kenya penetrates much more deeply than just respect for elders.
Among the middle classes in the urban areas like many other parts of the world, respect is associated with material possessions, wealth, influence and power.
Therefore icons such as Nelson Mandela, Bill Gates and David Beckham have global currency, and the car you drive, determines your position in society.
Football in particular commands a great deal of respect.
When I tell people that my home in London is within eyesight of the Arsenal stadium - they want to shake my hand (unless of course they are Manchester United supporters).
Moral respect
But what about respect among those who have few material possessions and whose daily life revolves around getting enough to eat, and getting home before dark when Nairobi’s streets become unsafe?
A missionary whose worked in East Africa for more than 45 years showed me what respect means in the slums of Korogocho - Nairobi’s second largest slum.
People here are respected for what they have been able to achieve, mainly for their own families, not through education or riches but through human endeavour.
Many of the health workers are greatly respected in Korogocho.
They’re respected yet many of them are illiterate, and they’ve risen to positions of leadership because of their sense of social responsibility and individual dynamism.
It’s a moral respect rather than a respect based on wealth and commodities, and it is very visible everywhere.
Its foundations date back to the clan system where nobody starved to death and nobody was an orphan - everybody looked after each other.
Without doubt religion underpins much of East Africa’s sense of respect.
It is not necessarily organised religion, although church attendances in Kenya run at around 90%, and visiting Evangelists attract enormous crowds.
It is religion in the sense of one’s place in the world - that individuals are simply links in a chain, and that tomorrow you could lose your job or you could contract Aids, so you’re acutely aware of being judged by the life you lead."
Thursday, August 23, 2012
Monday, August 13, 2012
It's crazy how dark skin is hated all over, while everything started with dark skin
I couldn’t have said it better myself… see that’s the thing… it is hated hated hated.. even when a baby is born, the mom has so much hatred for dark skin in so much that they would go as far as praying the baby don’t turn out dark… making comments such as “you can see that they gon be black like hell” “oh my gosh look at the ears, did he/she really have to take her/his daddy’s skin.” why cant they be happy that you have a beautiful new born no matter how their skin will turn out.. I promised myself that I would write something from a light skin’s point of view but no I’m really sorry coz even at my own home I am thrown with silly little comments about dark skin being horrible that’s all the influence I’m getting… I cant even say a thing about the light skinned little girl because they are always the pretty ones….what can I say.. “no you are not as pretty as they say… you are just light skinned” no I cant say that..because they are pretty.. we all are…ts sad coz the light skinned babies get very dissapointed when they realize that they are black not white, that when the white folk looks at her they see a black person… yet we sit around and pick on our own skin tone when we are the same…
I would say random..
Found this when I was educating myself a little more about Africans and it took me back to something I said a while ago about Africans, respect and how to be a lady.
“When meeting most people shake hands or say a normal greeting. Elders are to be respected. Gestures are a little different than in the states. Items are passed and received with two hands. Women add a curtsy. When people talk women usually sit on mats; men sit on higher platforms or a chair. To make eye contact with an elder is considered rude. Public affection is very rude, but friends of the same sex may hold hands.”
Tuesday, August 7, 2012
The unbearable darkness of being beautiful
"IT WAS ridiculous. I told this woman she was beautiful and she argued with me about whether or not I meant it. She said, because of her complexion, that only a whiteman from Europe would tell her she’s pretty and mean it. It made me realise how hard dark beauties have it on this planet.
Abdullah Ibrahim’s daughter is a prolific rapper called Jean Grae who grew up in Brooklyn, NewYork. My first experience of her work was 10 years ago, via an article she’d written about South Africa on a hip-hop website
Abdullah Ibrahim’s daughter is a prolific rapper called Jean Grae who grew up in Brooklyn, NewYork. My first experience of her work was 10 years ago, via an article she’d written about South Africa on a hip-hop website www.allhiphop.com
She spoke of South Africa’s vibrancy, how we have an interesting media industry, a music style called kwaito and other great things. The most striking thing she said, however, was that the television advertisements actually have beautiful dark women in them. It made me wonder about what goes on in the United States but now I get it.
Since there isn’t a specific race group for people of mixed heritage such as South African coloureds, Beyonce and Rihanna qualify as black and are the preferred black faces of campaigns. Dark-skinned girls develop an inferiority complex becauset hey’re not visible. Kelly Rowland admitted that she grew up wishing that she looked like Mariah Carey and has only recently started to feel pretty.
The eyebrows of more socially or politically conscious people would have gone north when they saw the descriptive phrase “dark beauties” but they know the phrase very well. It means “you are dark but you’re beautiful” or “people like you are not usually beautiful”.
Millions of women walk around feeling like this and eventually different things become their source of feeling beautiful, like straightened hair, weaves, polished accents, material wealth, a trophy man, and so the list goes on. I just wonder what little black girls go through when they watch TV. Of course, Indian and coloured people go through this as well, and so being an acceptable young woman, as in not ugly, becomes rather expensive.
In my eyes when growing up, Naomi Campbell’s beauty could only be matched and not topped. She was the epitome of beauty, but my friends liked the green-eyed Tyra Banks. All the girls I liked who looked like Naomi—black and coloured—weren’t even mentioned as pretty.
Mind-boggling stuff it was.
Women with darker complexions do sometimes lack confidence, and it has made relationships with my favourite type difficult. There’s a suspicion about the real reason you’re with them and fears that you will leave them for someone prettier, so you leave for peace of mind.
Maybe Europeans find dark women a novelty, as Africans do lighter women, but it is certain not evenly spread. I’m not convinced that many white women tan because they believe they’re inherently ugly.
But I like all races so, like Kanye West, you might see me “with some light-skinned chicks and some Kelly Rowlands”. Just don’t argue" Follow my blog with Bloglovin
Abdullah Ibrahim’s daughter is a prolific rapper called Jean Grae who grew up in Brooklyn, NewYork. My first experience of her work was 10 years ago, via an article she’d written about South Africa on a hip-hop website www.allhiphop.com
She spoke of South Africa’s vibrancy, how we have an interesting media industry, a music style called kwaito and other great things. The most striking thing she said, however, was that the television advertisements actually have beautiful dark women in them. It made me wonder about what goes on in the United States but now I get it.
Since there isn’t a specific race group for people of mixed heritage such as South African coloureds, Beyonce and Rihanna qualify as black and are the preferred black faces of campaigns. Dark-skinned girls develop an inferiority complex becauset hey’re not visible. Kelly Rowland admitted that she grew up wishing that she looked like Mariah Carey and has only recently started to feel pretty.
The eyebrows of more socially or politically conscious people would have gone north when they saw the descriptive phrase “dark beauties” but they know the phrase very well. It means “you are dark but you’re beautiful” or “people like you are not usually beautiful”.
Millions of women walk around feeling like this and eventually different things become their source of feeling beautiful, like straightened hair, weaves, polished accents, material wealth, a trophy man, and so the list goes on. I just wonder what little black girls go through when they watch TV. Of course, Indian and coloured people go through this as well, and so being an acceptable young woman, as in not ugly, becomes rather expensive.
In my eyes when growing up, Naomi Campbell’s beauty could only be matched and not topped. She was the epitome of beauty, but my friends liked the green-eyed Tyra Banks. All the girls I liked who looked like Naomi—black and coloured—weren’t even mentioned as pretty.
Mind-boggling stuff it was.
Women with darker complexions do sometimes lack confidence, and it has made relationships with my favourite type difficult. There’s a suspicion about the real reason you’re with them and fears that you will leave them for someone prettier, so you leave for peace of mind.
Maybe Europeans find dark women a novelty, as Africans do lighter women, but it is certain not evenly spread. I’m not convinced that many white women tan because they believe they’re inherently ugly.
But I like all races so, like Kanye West, you might see me “with some light-skinned chicks and some Kelly Rowlands”. Just don’t argue" Follow my blog with Bloglovin
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