elegantpaws:

wickederthanyou:

I grew up wishing for a different skin colour. Angel, with her beauty and her kindness, is the one person who made me accept myself. I can never thank her enough.

This hurts to read. No one should be made to feel inferior yet so many are and so many people condone it. I glad for this OP, but this reminds me that there are probably others out there suffering in silence. 

I so agree. Though the sentiment is beautiful in its thankfulness, why on earth would you want to alter yourself for some dimwits perceived acceptance/approbation? Simply not on.

For the longest time, in all of my fantasies, I imagined myself as a blonde-haired blue-eyed white woman. Not joking. It’s painful to remember actually because I was so unconscious about why this was even wrong. It’s not easy to shrug off the world and just be yourself when you grow up as a POC and every single media outlet is touting that WHITE IS BEAUTIFUL. For young girls of color especially. They face a double burden when it comes to self esteem and body image.

Confessions like this don’t need pity or sadness from white folks. They need to be heard and respected. And it should make you angry that ‘wishing for a different skin color’ is actually pretty damn prevalent in most POC communities.

It’s my mum telling me I shouldn’t go to the beach cos I’ll get all ‘burnt and ugly’

It’s my relatives describing a girl as ‘dark BUT pretty’

It’s watching my 13 year old cousin put on skin lightening cream

It’s being told by a white stylist my hair must be ‘tamed’ and that it’s a ‘mane’

It’s the constant pressure to straighten my hair because wavy curls ‘just don’t look nice’

I could go on and on and on.

Everyone who’s reblogging this confession, please don’t talk about how we should shrug the world off and ‘be ourselves’, especially if you’re white. Respect and understand how hard it is to make a confession like this. Respect that pain and respect the experience that led them to it.