THE EDITOR, Sir:
I WISH to thank you for carrying my letter 'Black these days' in The Gleaner.
I was overwhelmed at the number of positive responses I received. However there was one response which made it apparent that there is still work to be done on the minds of some of our ignorant folk. I received an e-mail from one man who proceeded to hurl racial insults at me and my black-skinned kind.
He made it quite clear and I quote, "Black Girls" (need to) learn proper English and have a knowledge other than what the latest dance is...Not everyone has the charm nor the brains to become beauty queens." So I guess his poorly enunciated point was the fact that we as Black 'Girls' are only good as Dancehall Queens and patois-hurling illiterates?
Now obviously this is a man who has not only responded in anger without thought but he has given me further insight into the ugliness of racial hatred that still exists within our society.
There are so many of us that walk around black-skinned with white masks as Fanon succinctly describes it. I believe it was the movie Smile Orange that described this kind of colonial mentality as similar to that of a 'black goat looking over a white-washed fence.' There are many races within Jamaica who all have a right to representation and cultural expression. However, our colonial past - and by all appearances, present- has left us with a social hierarchy based on shade and class. Significantly the upper-classes consist of a higher percentage of the lighter shade, white, Syrian, Chinese and in some instances Indian races (to name a few) than the lower social divisions. This is no news, however, it is time our society acknowledges that we have a problem of self-imposed 'pigmentocracy' which goes beyond the roots of slavery.
Black women in many instances may choose not to enter these competitions because they know they do not fit the stereotyped preference of brown-skinned beauty by our society. They may also choose to not enter because they consider themselves better than parading on a catwalk in a bathing suit being displayed for flesh first then brain after!
Jamaica, we have a far way to go yet, but based on the responses I have been receiving the battle is on its way to being won!
I am etc.,
AKILI MALAWEE
boldnbright@yahoo.co.uk
United Kingdom
Via Go-Jamaica
