Have you ever heard of black people discriminate among themselves? Yes, the world right now is dealing with racism and other weird stuffs. That’s why there are movements against racism like the “Black Lives Matter” and others.

You wouldn’t believe me when I say that colorism exist. Colorism is the discrimation of people due to their skin color or skin tone. Colorism shares some similarities with racism, but there is a difference. Colorism is practiced by people belonging to the same race while racism is practiced by people of different races.

Colorism is common, especially in third world countries. In Africa, almost 80% of dark-skinned women bleach themselves. This is because of the discrimation that comes with being dark-skinned.

It’s not because they want it but here are the possible reasons why women bleach: to look beautiful, to get employment, to find a husband and other weird reasons I can’t state here.

Colorism contributes to bleaching of dark skinned women, especially those women who have low self-esteem. In Kenya, my country, there are showbiz entertainment, music industries etc. But, you’ll find that some dark-skinned women do not get to venture into any of them because of colorism.

That’s why there are so many light-skinned video vixens featuring in music videos as compared to dark-skinned vixens. Light-skinned ladies end up getting jobs in high-profile industries like the fashion industries and music industries. Dark-skinned ladies end up getting almost nothing, they can’t even be socialites or models.

If you are a dark-skinned lady in Kenya, the chances of you remaining single for the rest of your life is high. That’s why they tend to bleach themselves to, perhaps, attract a potential mate for marriage. In Swahili, we call the dark-skinned ladies “vienyeji” which in laiman’s terms means “unattractive girl from upcountry”.

For the men, it’s the opposite. The light-skinned men get judged alot sometimes, especially by women. Some women prefer dark-skinned men while comparing light-skinned men with sissies and gays. This is wrong but it is the sad reality. A gay can be dark-skinned too. Just because some men are light-skinned with no beards doesn’t mean they behave like women.

Colorism and bleaching goes hand to hand, this case doesn’t exist only in Africa but even in some other countries like India, the Philippines islands etc. In India, there are black Indians (with darker skin tone) and light-skinned Indians. The former mostly live in poverty as the possibilities of them getting employed are minimal.

In the Philippines islands, there are dark-skinned Filipinos too, but they don’t get the same equal opportunities as the light-skinned Filipinos. Like in India, they too suffer in poverty, they can’t even be models as they are considered “unattractive” which is wrong. But, as I said earlier, it is the sad reality.

I am something between dark and light-skinned. What they call “chocolate brown” skin tone. But that doesn’t give me the right to judge others just because they have a darker skin tone than mine.

Bleaching is wrong too, when you bleach, you are destroying the temple of God. But telling this to them, it’s like playing a guitar to a goat. They won’t listen, they’ll come up with excuses that “this is a free country and we can do whatever we want” or “this is my body not yours!” I don’t blame them, I should probably get a life and keep my ideologies to myself. Who needs them anyways?

If you feel this writing has offended you in anyways, then I’m sorry in advance. But if you were positively touched by this, please share it to others. Stop colorism, it hurts.