Ghana den Naija check like some Cussons; sometimes dem dey hype dema body but more times dem dey troll dema body. Da motive for the Ghana side usually bi say Nigeria never get light. Wey edo a, Naija go counter plus, Ghanaians bi too black. If Kenyans no dey dema zone wey dem come talk some a, dem too Naija pipo go talk say dem bi black pass!
Then times den edey check like normal tin say dem go laugh sombro say ibi too black. Me sef dem take do me saa, from primary school all. Adey kae say den we get some senior for secondary school wey dem dey bell am Kiwi, for obvious reasons. Ibi as wona eyes dey gbele small small wey squad rec say, tsale, dat tin wey edo a dem dey laugh sombro secof eget dark or darker skin no, ibi yawa. Ibi some imperialism-inspired yawa, say you go figa say secof somebro get darker shade you fine pass am or you better pass am.
For Ghana here, we no get racism. Ibi colourism den classism wey we get. Plenty pipo dey measure dema beauty standards against dema skin tone. So more times you get light skin a, da default connotation bi say you fine. You no spy da situation jerh ah, you go figa say eno bi big deal. But distin bi tied to plenty self-esteem tins. E dey mong wey plenty pipo for Africa dey like bleach dema skin. Pastors wey you go figa say at least dem go barb say God make dem for ein image inside, ibi dem sef bi da gangalia. So you figa kiddie edey grow up for Ghana here or any African country wey colourism bi pervasive so, go figa say ein too e fine?
Beauty companies wey dey make bleaching products constantly dey try perpetuate dis yawa narrative say fair skin bi da yardstick for beauty. Wey da more we no dey talk about am, da more squad dey internalize am say ibi fact. We for start dey make conscious effort say we go call out colourism. If you dey some space wey sombro want troll you say you bi too black a, tsale clap back. Hard. Make dem no say you fine. Eno bi light skin e go make you fine.
Ano get problem plus light skin pipo. If you bi light skin, no yawa. Just make sure say you no go see your body den figa you better pass anybro secof your skin tone.
We start dey demonise light skin superiority complex a, gradually e go hard say anybro go misbehave along colourism lines. Some Naija proverb dey say “Monkey no fine but ein mama like am.” Eno dey apply here. We no dey talk against colourism secof we too we bi too dark or secof we no fine. Da fine deɛ we all fine some (e just bi wona money matters edey let we down but we bi fine boys and girls; dark or fair).
So make nobro dey ein corner den figa say dis bi some anti light skin agenda. E just bi say, colourism bi some yawa distin!
Written by Nana Karikari Prempeh
Feature Image by Marc Posso
Glossary
yawa – disgrace/embarrassment/shame
sombro – somebody
tsale – buddy/mate/pal
figa – think/presume
distin – thing/this thing
nobro – nobody
jerh – well/good
pipo – people
gangalia – gang leader (corrupted)/ring leader
barb – understand/get/catch
kiddie – child
secof (sake of) – because (of)
