Black Politics: The Complexion Complex

Remember when light skinned guys used to be in? Nowadays, women are sweating Tyson Beckford, Tyrese, and Morris Chestnut leaving yellow brothers in the dust. Have light skinned girls ever been out? I mean look at Beyonce, Halle, and Tyra. I can’t remember when a dude didn’t swoon over any of them. At the end of the day, does it really matter though?

We all know that one dude who only dates light skinned girls. It’s so funny that even in 2007 the issue of “being light skin is better” is still at hand.

My former manager, who is a beautiful woman that happens to be dark skinned, clearly had a complexion complex. I say this because another gorgeous woman (who happened to be dark skinned also) walked into the store and my manager dished out, “You’re pretty for a dark skinned girl.”

Are you kidding me?

Now, as a black woman - regardless of the fact that I’m light skinned - what my manager said was offensive…to me. I mean what the hell was she implying? Had the girl been lighter, would she have automatically been considered “beautiful”? Or do you have to be extraordinarily attractive to be considered good looking if you’re dark?

I think as a race, we have been in some sort of debate such as this one at some point, but why is this even an issue? Both Kelly and Beyonce are fly, but I definitely think the media is much more likely to draw attention to the lighter one…and has adamantly. It’s sad, yet on the other hand, it’s no secret that the media is biased to what’s believed to be more attractive. However in real life, what’s the preference? Personally, I have dated an assortment of chocolate – light, dark, medium and once even some white but I’m honestly much more concerned with what’s inside. I don’t think it’s fair to only look at one shade of blackness as beautiful. That doesn’t make us any better than other races who are prejudice to us as black people.

Black folks, I ask you, how can we be racist against our own race? It’s a little backwards, don’t you think? It’s all absurd and getting to the point of disturbing. I know some girls who want to be with darker guys because they want to have brown babies. I heard about this one girl who was light skinned with good hair who only wanted to date and reproduce with a dude with the same complexion and hair. It’s believed that darker guys who only date light skin women do so to make up for their darkness, because they consider their own complexion as inadequate. So if they have the fine, yellow broad on their arm, they can be looked at as “good enough.” My cousin has a belief that all light skinned girls date ugly or average looking guys and I know some other folks who believe that all dark skinned people have perfect skin. It’s absolutely fascinating the bull that we will convince ourselves to be true to justify our narrow-mindedness. I absolutely hate it when someone judges me just because I’m light.

NEWS FLASH: good hair and genes are not determined by complexion. I have seen ridiculously good looking women who were dark and light – who had good hair, short hair, curly hair, light eyes, big butts, small ones, etc. I have gorgeous friends – all different shades, shapes, and sizes – and none of us have a preference…complexion wise. My best friend is so yellow she’s damn near translucent and her man is as dark as a shadow but they’re both insanely attractive and if they were to reproduce they would have beautiful brown babies. However, I know for a fact that’s not why they are together. If he’s a good man, good looking and good to me then it’s all good. The complexion politics seems like it will always exist just like normal racism. But maybe it isn’t pure ignorance, instead maybe it all depends on what a person knows. Maybe the dude we know who only dates light skinned girls had a light skinned mother and sister. And maybe the first girl he asked out was brown skinned but broke his heart shut him down. That’s still not a good enough reason, but granted I’m trying to find some type of legitimate loophole that will make sense of all this.

At the end of the day though, it’s all politics. Light skin, dark skin, it’s just skin and with the complexion complex some of us are developing we need to grow some thicker skin. So sure, these politics may always exist. But I think that there’s enough politicking going around – whether we’re light enough, dark enough or good enough – for us to be considered someone’s preference. That’s the beauty of politics.


There’s a party for all us to be covered.