Skin: Two Perspectives
Title: Skin: Two Perspectives
Summary: Two sisters couldn't be more alike, but they would never realize it
Disclaimer: I know the light skin vs dark skin debate is around in other races, but this story is about two African-American sisters who both have to go through the harsh debate.
Raine
Another one graces the cover of the newest edition of the magazine. Her smile bright; long, black hair falling in curls past her shoulders. Light brown skin with a red undertone covered her.
Typical.
Even in a magazine directed toward African-American women, they still had ideals of beauty that tortured women's self-esteem. Hardly any diversity. Multi-racial or bi-racial women were always considered more beautiful than the girl with same-race parents. This seemed to be especially true in the African-American community. You weren't considered beautiful if you were dark-skinned and had "bad" hair, a no-no. Stay out of the sun and relax your hair as best as you can.
Raine grimaced. Gripping the magazine in her hands, she threw it in the corner of her bedroom and walked over to the mirror. Her reflection mocked her. Big dark brown eyes, plump lips, dark skin, and long, wavy black hair that could break an ordinary comb. She hated it. Without the dark skin, which she considered a curse, she could look every bit like the girls on the magazines. She had the body, the face...everything except the skin. Everything on the radio like "I gotta yellow girl" (light skinned black girl), "redbone in the passenger seat", "she may be black, but", made it harder to find beauty in herself. Boys in school turned her down and humiliated her in every way.
"She's too black."
"I bet you couldn't see her at night."
"Tar baby."
All of them hurt. All of them said. It didn't matter she was thin, didn't matter she was nice, didn't matter she was intelligent. Her skin was a setback at first glance. Raine's skin told a fictitious story to whoever saw it and would jump to conclusions: dirty, undesirable, easy, poor, anything you could think of. When she was little, she cried every day from the torment in school. No one would play tag with her or touch her. It hurt to be told you were ugly, or worthless because of who you are, when they were the same race as you.
But what really stung...what really ground salt into the fresh wounds, was what her mother said years ago. Raine was outside on a hot, summer day, playing with the neighborhood boys. Everyone was sweating from the heat and having a good time playing hide and go seek like ten year olds do. Suddenly, without warning, Raine's mother opened the screen door and screeched out, as clear as day.
"Come on in the house! I told you not to play in the sun! It'll make your skin darker!"
Even to this day, when she was fifteen, she still was conscious in the sun. Jealous of the light skinned girls. Light skinned girls like her sister, Amira. It seemed so much easier on their side of the spectrum: Boys, popularity, easier life, beauty...the list goes on.
They were blessed. She was cursed.
Amira
She could hear the crying from behind the door. Her mother always said to leave Raine alone during that time. Go outside or try to drown it out. She would eventually fall asleep.
So Amira grabbed her coat and walked outside, thinking to meet her friend Genevieve. Genevieve was dark skinned just like Raine, around the same complexion. But Genevieve never thought of it as a curse, more like a blessing. She loved to experiment with different colors on her deep, brown skin the colour of smooth chesnut. She used to think exactly like Raine, but soon realized it wasn't what you looked like, but how you acted.
It ain't how you look, but how you appear.
Amira had fun around her. Her confident stride made everyone look at her, and admire her. There was some queen quality to her walk and stance. The ability to demand respect with a single glance. Amira was jealous of this, and her skin. Once, Genevieve tried to teach Raine these qualities, but her self-esteem kept her at a distance, unable to approach someone out of fear. It broke her heart to see her sister like that.
Amira walked past a group of girls, and immediately prepared herself for what was to come. It always happened. A light skinned girl walks by a group of girls and is automatically attacked.Why couldn't she just fit in and not stand out? Why did everyone think she had it easier because of her damned melanin content?
"She thank she cute." One of them say, staring her down and sucking her teeth.
"I wouldn't touch her with an ugly stick."
Amira tried to block them out and made her legs go faster, building a wall between herself and the other girls. They were the 'redbones'. She chuckled at how Raine could envy them. Who were rappers to say who was worth their time? Who was the media to say what was beauty? One day blonde will be in, the next redhead. Maybe hazel eyes for a week, grey eyes for a month. All that should matter was how you percieve yourself. Everyone is beautiful, even the vicious, cruel people. Their exterior was gorgeous, but their interior was hideous. How could Raine not see that? Was she blinded by the skin? Shaking her head, Amira passed a poster for a new skin "brightener". It featured a women with mahogany brown skin being transformed into a mocha tone.
It sickened her. What was so great about lighter skin? It actually made life harder for her. Genevieve and Raine had advantages. No one talked behind their backs, trying to guess their ethnicity.
'She must be Colombian'
'Maybe Indian'
'A Mulatto'
'Naw, a Vanilla Wafer!'
So many times she wanted to turn around and yell. Amira was not a cookie, nor a food. She was African-American. Black. Not Halfrican. Not Light-skinned. Not High Yella. She was a person. Not a cookie.
She thought she was cursed. Genevieve and Raine...they were blessed.