"You're pretty for a dark skin girl." My only response to that is, "Thanks I guess?" What does that even mean? It's pretty much common knowledge that the standards for beauty are stereotypical and limited to certain groups. For so many years, Hollywood has been brainwashing society by feeding us with specific types of images to classify beauty; what it is and what it should be. We've been told time and time again beauty is in the eye of the beholder. But if the multitudes of people who have said that actually believed it, then why do children name call and tease one another based on physical appearances? I refer to children here because even though they are so young and beautifully innocent, they fall into the brainwashing mechanisms set forth by their elders and generations before them. The worst kind of compliment to give someone is to literally insult them but try to lighten the blow by saying something "somewhat nice." That, my dear, is not a compliment, that is an insult.

For centuries people have been judged by the color of their skin and encouraged to believe that dark skin is not as "easy on the eyes" as light skin. This belief is dividing the black community. Back in the 1700's, a man named William Lynch wrote a letter to slave owners. The gist of that letter was basically telling them in order to sustain power over the slaves you must separate them by groups according to the shades of their skin. Place the slaves with light skin inside and they will be the house slaves. The basis of their jobs will be to cook, clean, watch over the children and keep the house. Place the slaves with dark skin outside. They will be the yard slaves. They will pick cotton and tend the fields. He told the slave owners that with this division they will have power over the blacks for centuries to come, and boy was he right. As a whole we are, and have been, a divided people for sure. And that division that started with a white man is ever so deeply rooted in hatred and driven by fear. That hatred has grown so much that it not only comes from people outside of the black community, but it has spread within the black community itself and transformed into self-hatred.

I remember years ago I had a very close friend whose skin is much lighter than mine, look me in my eyes, knowing I have dark skin and say to me that she was told by a family member that she shouldn't seriously date man with dark skin. My heart was in my throat. I was speechless. "Why not?" Why should the shade of his skin matter? I was born in the North but have lived in the South since childhood. I can tell you that based on my experiences the South has a real problem! To be completely honest, I never even noticed the shade of my skin until I came to the South where I was made overwhelmingly aware that I am different. So much so, that at one point after moving to the South I went through a period in which my self-esteem sunk to an all-time low. This was mostly due to the company I kept (and this is coming from someone who really never had self-esteem issues before that point in my life). As a proud black American, I can tell you that for those of you who don't truly understand what it is like to be black, I have an analogy. To be born black, is like being born in a club that has a ranking system. The lighter your skin, the higher your rank. Hollywood contributes to this ignorance.

There are so many different black celebrities whose skin appears to have lightened over the years, but the most drastic recent change I have noticed is Lil' Kim. From the 1990s to now, she is almost unrecognizable. And Lil' Kim is by far not alone on this journey. One thing I did notice is that it seems when celebrities have photo shoots their makeup is applied to make their skin appear lighter. Also the lighting is adjusted to have the skin look a shade or two lighter, along with Photoshop. But there are two sides to every story and with these issues becoming so blatantly obvious people seem to be finally taking notice. There are finally some celebrities that have been encouraged to embrace dark skin like Lupita Nyong'o and though it's a rare find, she is not alone.

Our skin comes in many beautiful shades as does every race, but with us it's more evident due to our contrast. We range from light skin, to brown skin to dark skin. All equally beautiful but not treated equally beautiful. I'm black and I'm proud to say that. When you deny the beauty in your blackness by dividing our race, constantly reiterating that you should be classified differently due to the shade of your skin and when you no longer want to be referred to as black because to you it isn't PC; you're encouraging colorism. And you are a part of the problem. As I said before all races have many shades but you never hear white people separate themselves according to the shade of their skin and there is a reason for that. It causes more unjustifiable division than unity. Maybe one day we'll all come together and realize that all shades are beautiful and that we should act as one because we are.