Shells by the Seashore

The Santa Monica noose incident brought up a lot of questions and concerns about the relations between whites and blacks in the country.  However, in our class, it made something else even more apparent -- skin color.  The fact that I am black has nothing to do with how I am treated, but rather the color of my skin determines my fate.

For so long, the dark-skinned blacks in this country have been put down and denied common courtesy because they are darker, and the light-skinned blacks have been pampered -- earning the job, and later the nickname, of "house niggers."  Not only that, but the ridicule that many darker blacks in this country had to face was harsh, and often happened at the hands of their lighter counterparts.  Clearly, this mistreatment is wrong, and, as many have noted, this mistreatment is a reminder of the mental chains that slavery still has on us.  But in recent years, I have seen a decline in the amount of light-skinned black citizens mistreating their fellow dark-skinned citizens, and more of the emotionally battered dark-skinned blacks picking on their light-skinned brothers and sisters.

I have constantly heard that "just because you're light-skinned doesn't mean you're great."  The comments come from all over the place.  Twitter is always filled with the tweets, and retweets, of the statements like the one I just mentioned.  Without even knowing my favorite subject, these people have torn me down into less than a person, a shell, judging my whole outlook on life on the color of my skin.  I have never believed that the fact that I am a "redbone" makes me beautiful or better than any darker black person.  I am tired of being attacked emotionally by people who automatically believe that I believe I'm great.  I do think I'm a great person, but not because of my skin.  I believe that I am great because of all the things underneath my skin.  All of my quirks and fears and achievements make me great, not my skin.

I'm sick and tired of being told that I do not deserve to think highly of myself because of a circumstance beyond my control.  I'm frustrated because people constantly rip me off my high horse like I don't deserve every inch of it, because they think I only got it because I'm "bright."  I'm sick of constantly having people want me to prove my open-mindedness and lack of prejudice by talking about how I have dark-skinned friends, or having to defend myself when people see that my best friends are both light-skinned.  The mental attraction we have to each other has nothing to do with the skin that holds all of this greatness inside.  I am not okay with being defined by a mere shell of myself.  I am human, and I have more to me than my skin.  I am deserving of everything that I get because I work for it and because I am capable of attaining it, and no one can tell me I'm not.  I will not let this mistreatment just pass because it is done by people who have been hurt by people who are my same color.  It is unacceptable to make someone feel as though their accomplishments aren't worthwhile because their skin is a certain color, no matter which side it is coming from.