Rusangu Times Daily
Shades of Africa
Africa is known as the home for all black
people, where everyone is proud of their
race and heritage.
But in Africa there is such a thing as being
too dark-skinned or too black. In most
African cultures youll find that brown
skin is preferred over dark skin, the lighter
your skin the better chance you have at
being considered being pretty. This is
called colourism or shadeism, a
discrimination based on skin colour, this is
subcategory of racism. It is a form of
prejudice in which human beings are
treated differently based on
social meaning attached to the
shade of their complexion.
The term is said to be coined by
Alice Walker around 1982, it is
not a synonym of racism, racism
is discrimination based on race
and ethnicity, colourism
however is based on skin tone.
Most cultures in Africa bleach
for different reasons, but most
bleach for whiter skin.
Colourism originates back to
years of slavery and
colonization, various shades of
the African skin came from the mix of
genes of the white slave masters and
colonizers who raped the black slaves.
Biracial children were still considered
slaves based on the fact they were not fully
white and had a black parent; however
were granted more privileges than their
darker skinned kin. Light skins were also
characterized as smarter, more capable of
educational training and worked less hard
job. This ultimately resulted in the issue of
colourism.
WHO (World Health Organization) has
reported that Nigerians are the highest
users of skin lightening products by 77%
followed by Togo 59% , South Africa with
35% and Mali with 25% . These results are
ghastly and show that Africa needs to help
those who suffer from self-hatred of their
skin colour. Several African celebrities
have recently been under fire from the
public for lighting their skin.
An example of one these celebrities came
from South Africa, local musician,
Namasonto Mshoza Mnisis. In a recent
interview with True Love Magazine, she
said that Ive been black and dark-
skinned for many years; I wanted to see
the other side. I wanted to see what it
would be like to be white and Im happy.
Namasonto before and after bleaching
She also said her lightened makes her feel
more beautiful, and it was a personal
choice to her, no different from when
people get breast implants or nose jobs.
Each treatment cost up to US$590/ 360,
many companies that sell skin whitening
products make the woman with dark skin
feel inferior to a woman a woman who is
lighter skinned. A recent advert in
Senegal, last week, has sparked outrage
from woman and men in all over Africa,
not just Senegal. The advert showed a dark
skinned woman before and then after her
using the cream. Khess Peteh is printed
above which loosely translates to All
white or All light. Nearly 2,000 people
signed an online petition to bring the
advert down; even a counter campaign
called Nuul kuuk was set up defending
black pride.
Skin bleaching might look like fun and
games but it has serious consequence.
Skin lightening creams contain a substance
called Hydroquinone, in some patients it
causes itchiness, mild redness and dryness
of the skin. Hydroquinone, also has
substances that can increase the risk of
cancer. In many countries you can buy this
drug over the counter; however it has been
banned in Europe only available through
prescription. Skin bleaching jobs gone
wrong and what overly bleached skin can
look like: unnaturally white with a greyish,
very dull tint. However, the corpse-like
skin is not even the worse of it. When
Hydroquinone is used in doses higher than
2% or over a period longer than three
months, the whole skin lightening business
can have some pretty negative effects.
Overuse of skin whiteners can also cause
pigmentation to build up in your fingers,
toes, ears etc, causing them to look darker
and mismatched. Yet another negative
reaction can develop known as the bleach
panda effect, where the skin on the face
becomes thinned around the eyes and have
increased pigmentation. Cute on a panda,
not so much on a human.
I wonder how a group of individuals who
are already oppressed by society and have
been for many centuries can then start
segregating each other, black people
already know how crippling discrimination
and disadvantages faced based race, class,
gender, skin, colour or even hair texture.
Its a shame we live in a world where
racial groups boost their own self-esteem
at the expense of others.

Reported by Effie Thangalimodzi