“At 9, mamma said “Don’t tan, You’re already dark”⁣
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At 12, the fair girl at school said “You’re dark, you’re dirty, stay away from me”⁣
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At 15, my guy friends pretended like they couldn’t see me in the dark⁣
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At 19, I still wondered “Is a little extra melanin a crime?”⁣
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At 23, I was turned down by my valentine “Don’t you think you’re too dark for me?””⁣
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~ One of the millions who are forced to think “I wish I was fair-skinned”⁣
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The colonial beauty standards left by our colonizers have littered our citizens for decades. The idea that ‘fair >> dark’ has shattered many dreams and broken many hearts. Though our communal mindset has been slowly changing since independence, the rate of change must be improved before any more harm can be done. So this Valentine’s Day ❤️, let’s release ourselves from the clutches of these unreal beauty standards and instead, learn to look into a person’s soul rather than their body.⁣

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