A Letter To The Dark Skin Girl

Dear Dark skin girl

I’d like to start this off by saying, I am your biggest admirer. At least in my mind I am. I promise I’m not a creep. I just, I really admire the colour of your skin. Your skin is the colour of earth. The earth that gives birth to the greenery we see. Your skin is a tapestry of an incredibly powerful story.

I admire the way your skin glistens in the sun. Like pearls. Or gold. When you walk in the sun, I see a person whose dazzle they fear. I see you hold your head up, and I revel in the perfection that is you. Sparkling. Drawing attention. Beautiful.

Your skin is like a decadently rich dark chocolate poured out for the famished to feast. You are spectacular dear dark skin girl. Your skin is breath-taking. Your skin is naturally magnificent. I could write elaborate soliloquys but they would all convey just one thing, your beauty. And your beauty compares to no other.

The world hasn’t been kind to you. Society has tried to make the colour of your skin something dirty and something to be ashamed of. The world has criminalized your melanin, tried to make your smaller. Tried to dull your shine.

The ones you’ve admired have said things to you that have made you question the Creator for making you with this gorgeous colour. You have heard it all:

“If you were just a bit lighter, you’d be pretty.”

“You’re pretty for a dark skin girl.“

“You’d be a little bit more prettier if you were her colour.“

These words, they’ve damaged you. They made you question yourself. They demanded that you look in the mirror and see what they see. An ugly mess. An anomaly. A person not worthy of attention.

This isn’t helped by the existence of a whole industry that’s telling you can also be pretty by being light-skin. Oils, injections, powders, concealers, foundations, more oils, more injections. Money spent to alter your entire mien just to fit society’s standard of beauty.

It’s extremely hard not to listen them, I know. They set the standard after all. But, your uniqueness is meant to be celebrated. I celebrate it. I beg you, don’t listen to them. Don’t change the very essence of who you are. Embrace your profile, embrace you. Hold your head up and don’t let them dictate who you are.

Dear dark skin girl. The shade of your skin is not a problem to be fixed. Your colour is not a mistake. You are beautiful.

Love…
A dark skin girl