When I was in the fourth grade, I had a crush on a girl. My friends knew. Without my approval, they told her. Classic. I didn’t want this but I was curious to see what she’d think. I’m funny. I get good grades. My uniform is clean. My Timberland boots are fresh. I had a fancy glue stick from farrin. I’m as appealing as any 8 year old can be. Let’s see what she thinks.

She comes over to me and whispers into my ear:

“Me woulda neva want you because you black like ants.”

I am SHOOK.

This was my first taste of shadeism.

Fast forward fifteen years. Her current significant other is about the same complexion as I am. Yikes.

For years I witnessed the slander thrown at the dark skinned people. Dark skin was undesirable. Dark skin was unwanted. Dark skin is ew. Everybody wants a light skinned partner. Myself included up until I was about fifteen. I came to the conclusion that the mentality was foolish and shallow.

Within the years after that, I noticed a change. Us dark skins were becoming ‘desirable’. I saw this as progress. I thought “wow, now they like us too”. I thought the shadeism was ending. All shades could now flourish. Thrive. Prosper. It’s lit!

Things weren’t really as they seemed. It wasn’t progress… not entirely. It was something else. A paradigm shift. For a while, both shades flourished and prospered. Fast forward to the present. The same slander that was being thrown at us dark skins is now being thrown at the light skins.

One was once undesirable because they’re dark skinned. Now, one may be undesirable because they are light skinned. I see comments made on twitter where, if you switched the skin tone being referred, the woke task force would come for you. For example, I saw someone tweet something along the lines of “Why the hell would I want a light skin nigga? Ew!”, and others chimed in to agree. Yikesicles. A few years ago, I would see something like this play out on Facebook. A dark skin nigga being the subject. Had this tweet been made about the now cherished chocolates, that girl would have been dragged across the TL for all to see.

I’ve even seen someone say they’ve found a person with all the traits they’re looking for except one draw back; they’re light skinned. The common excuse of “preference” may be used here.

The offensive things once said about us dark skins are now frowned upon. That is good. Similar offensive comments being aimed at the light skins are lauded in a sense. This is bad.

It’s like when everyone wore baggy jeans and over-sized t-shirts. That was in style. Clothes that fit right were ew. Time passes. Everyone’s clothes now fit (some closer than others. Ha!). Baggy and over-sized clothes are ridiculous. Laughed at.

How long until the next shift? What’s the next wave? I want know so I can pick who I have children with. Can’t have the wrong colour kids now can we? Lol. Taam.

Let’s stop offending our fellow humans because of skin tone. It’s all the same stuff on the inside. Heart. Lungs. Liver.

Excuse mi.