This article is not meant to offend anyone. No hate or shade.

Colorism - Prejudice or discrimination against individuals with a dark skin tone, typically among people of the same ethnic or racial group.

I've recently experienced colorism, all within the past month, with a few friends of mine. I'm a dark skinned woman and I have light skinned friends who I love dearly, but I can not help but notice how differently I am treated because of the color of my skin. It's actually quite stupid the more I think about it. I am repeatedly offended because I am of a darker shade than others. Like.. what?! Does that not sound ridiculous to anyone? The worst part of all of this is that black men are the ones who disrespect me. Not white, not Mexican, but my so called African American brothers. People who add to the degradation of darker skin women and men, need to examine the reasons for their biases. I'm positive it goes deeper than "I just don't prefer darker skin."

It's quite upsetting. People only like to focus on the exterior than the interior. My light skinned friends and I are the same as far as personality goes but because I don't have curly hair or fair skin, I'm automatically frowned upon. I wish it wasn't like this. What sucks is that, my light skinned friends will never understand what I go through; they're always wanted and praised. They don't understand that because I am of a darker shade, our experiences as black women are totally different. Luckily, my friends aren't insensitive.

I wish people didn't obsess over skin tone or texture of hair. We're all humans at the end of the day. People come in different shapes, sizes and skin colors. I have never treated anyone differently because of the color of someone's skin. Who am I to even do so? I can't help that I was born like this. I can not change this and if I had the choice, I wouldn't.

I love being dark skinned. I love being filled with melanin (which is good for you btw.) Dark skins of all shades are beautiful. I refuse to let people's messed up perceptions of beauty bring me down. Because if we're being honest, the people who treat others differently based on looks usually have issues. Whether it's self-esteem issues or they are not happy with themselves. Whatever it is, I stay far away from it. I don't need to be surrounded by anyone who doesn't like me because of my skin tone. When it's all said and done, we are all black. So, I really don't understand why there's an issue to begin with. And for that, I will end my article with this:

To the dark skinned girl who sometimes feels insecure around light skinned friends, you are beautiful.

To the dark skinned girl who gets made fun of and teased because people can't appreciate your melanin, you are beautiful.

To the dark skinned girl who fears going out because of embarrassment, bask in your skin and slay the moment you walk out the door. You are beautiful.

To the dark skinned girl who wishes she was a lighter skin tone. Stop. Love the skin you are in. You are beautiful.

But, most importantly.

To the black men who frown upon their own women within the same race, you are not beautiful. You are trash and need to do a lot of self-reflecting because it's men like you who continue to create problems and are partly to blame for the divide within the black community.