Skin bleaching in Jamaica

(Taken from My thoughts on...bleaching)

This past week, Jamaica cracked down on the sale of skin bleaching products and will launch a public awareness campaign about the dangers of bleaching. As much as I applaud this, I think it's too little too late, as bleaching has become fully integrated into the ghetto subculture in Jamaica. If you go to any shop within the inner-city, you can find rows upon rows of soaps and creams that promise to give you that clear, light complexion. What they don't tell you is the side effects of these products, such as an increased risk of skin cancer, nausea, shortness of breath, convulsions and delirium. With such obvious health hazards, you'd wonder why people would engage in such a practice. But many of the users, mostly young teenage girls, believe that the advantages, such as easier access to jobs, high salaries and wealthy men, outweigh the disadvantages. And besides, it's nothing more than a simple fashion trend to them.

I believe this bleaching trend originated not with Buju Banton's song "Mi nuh stop cry...", but much further back, to the days of slavery, when our ancestors were ruled by white masters. Eventually, we learned to equate light colour with power and wealth. As some the plantation owners left Jamaica for jolly ol' England, the remainder and their offspring mixed with the populous, so brown became the new "high class" colour, though white is still prized. And to think that after all the progress black people have made, all the blood sweat and tears spent on gaining the freedoms and respect that we now enjoy, this inferiority complex is still ingrained in the collective psyche of our people! And on the heels of Martin Luther King Day at that! Well I for one am proud of my skin, apart from the fact that it's acne-prone. The Government is also at fault, as they should also help to uplift poor people by providing them with opportunities. If this is done, hopefully Jamaica will one day be a country where its people "will not be judged by the color of their skin but by the content of their character."