Skin color

On this rainy day, I'm thinking about the fuss over skin color. I mean, we do all know by now (I hope!) that the color of our skin is due to melanin. More pigment, darker skin. Less pigment, lighter skin. An evolutionary adaptation to the climes we evolved in.

So why all the fuss over skin color? On trip to Thailand several years ago, was hard pressed to find any lotion or potion that did not lighten my skin while I slept, ate, or otherwise went about my day. What are these lightening ingredients? Who knows? Surely that is not as important as having the highly prized lighter skin no? So what if the mercury destroys your skin over time? We are all dying anyway, so we might as well look fair and lovely while we are alive no?

A distinct memory from many years ago floats up through my neurons. My sister, my cousins and I are sun bathing on a very crowded piece of sand in Myrtle Beach, South Carolina. Why, since we are already dark skinned are we sun bathing, you might wonder. Because the heat of the sun warms you from the inside out. Because the sun rays seem to lightly stroke your skin. Because in short, it feels good. So there we are, all spread out on our beach blankets soaking up the rays, when we hear loud shouting. In Malayalam. It is my Ammachi, on a balcony at least fifteen floors up, who happened to look down and could not believe what her eyes were telling her. Surely those could not be her grand daughters lying in the sun making themselves darker. Could it? Her yelling got no reaction. Figuring that for some reason we did not understand Malayalam, Ammachi switches to English, and yells, “Girls! Get out of the sun! You will become black!”. People on the beach start looking up to see what all the hullabaloo is about. Our response is the only sensible one given the circumstances – ignore the strange, crazy woman who seems to be yelling at someone else.

Skin color is just that. The color of our skin. Nothing more. Nothing less. All the baggage we assign to it is just that. Our baggage. I have spent much of my life hearing some well intentioned person say that I am too dark. That I should spend less time outdoors, and try to keep my skin fair. That no one wants to marry a darkie. Proved them wrong, and on this rainy day, I think about the sun and miss how it feels on my skin.