THE ISSUE OF COLOURISM IN NIGERIA

Colourism has long been a common issue in Nigeria, one that is hardly addressed or looked into, probably because people are distracted by a lot of other things but it is something that should be looked into as it affects everyone.
What is Colourism?
Colourism according to Wikipedia is Discrimination based on skin color also known as shadeism and is a form of prejudice or discrimination usually from members of the same race in which people are treated differently based on the social implications from cultural meanings attached to skin color.

Most of us are aware of racism which is discrimination based on the race of a person but colorism is different, it occurs within black people and is not only popular in Nigeria but even in the United States and other countries, where even within a discriminated race such as that of the black race there seems to be a preference for people of a lighter skin color than those that are darker and it is all around us; music videos, movies e.t.c

One can say that it all traces back to the colonial times where anything white was seen as the best and superior while anything black was seen as inferior therefore making black people have a complex and we can still see it all around us where if a white person happens to be in the country the person is given extra special treatment but what we are focusing on is the discrimination within our race. Because anything white is seen as better even within the black community anything lighter is better and it is all part of the complex.

If we look at most black American Western movies we will notice that most of the lead actors and actresses are never really dark, most of them are even mixed. The only movie that was an exception was the movie ‘US’ where most of the actors and actresses were black.

In Nigeria, people are sometimes treated better just because of their skin color. Light skinned people or ‘fair people’ as we may call them are treated better than those with darker skin and have conditioned some of them to believe that they are indeed higher than others because of their skin color. They even get more opportunities just because they are ‘fair’.

To show how colorism is such an issue in Nigeria, most times we see Nigerians making fun of Kenyans and Ghanaians based on how dark they are and it just shows how deeply rooted we are in colorism in Nigeria where we even make fun of dark-skinned people forgetting the beauty in being dark.

Due to colorism, the bleaching industry has become successful in Nigeria, many people have figured that if you can’t beat them then why not join them. They realized that there is a preference for lighter-skinned people so they might as well make themselves lighter to share in this privilege. Many Nigerian celebrities are not as dark as they were before because they also figured that they will be taken more seriously if they bleach.

CNN reports have it that Nigeria has the highest number of bleaching cream consumers in the world. Many stores and supermarkets are full of these bleaching creams that are feeding off the insecurities of women who probably hate their skin color because of what they see around them. Some mothers even bleach their babies so that when they grow up they become fair. Some people bleach because their partner ha a preference of lighter-skinned girls.

If you carry out proper research you will find out that they are many black girls and guys that had one point in their life felt insecure because they see the preference given to lighter-skinned people or are being mocked because of their color.

The only way to tackle Colourism is if Nigerians change their mentality and instead of being shallow in their thinking, learn to appreciate people for who they are and not just their skin color. Also, we need more dark people to embrace their skin color and flaunt it to encourage other dark skin people like them to love their skin color and not bleach their skin. We should love people for who they are and not their skin color