I would like to sharea very disturbingexperience that happeneda few months ago which left me really shockedbut quite frankly justified my thoughts about how a lot of so called black people really feel about "the black skin". I am a black skinned woman, always have been and always will be and I do love my blackcomplexion but it seems a lot of black peopledo have a problem with skin colour. I am in my early 40s.

I was out with my son one Saturday afternoon and decided to get a bite to eat. We sat outside the restaurant as it was a lovely day. There was another black woman there with her two children eating also. Whilst there a little argument broke out between me and the woman over something really trivial.Aside from what the real issue was about she then went on to get very personal and started hurling abuseat me. Telling me she doesn't speak to people as black as me and that I should go back to Africa. I asked her isn't she black herself and where does she think she comes from. She said she is not as black as me and that she doesn't come from where I come from. Her daughter who looked about 15 said I come from Portugal because the black people there are really black like me.She told me I was a piece of shit, etc etc. I toldthem that she needed to go back to school and learntheir history because it's clear she doen't know who she is or where she comes from and how she is making herself look and sound really stupid.They just carried on abusing and insulting me saying that I don't exactly look like Jo Lo or Beyonce and claimed I was nothing to look. I can tell you I do look much better than them. Her daughterand son who was about 9 joined in claiminghow my hairis picky picky which it isn't. I said I am a natural black woman and am proud of who I am and if you're not proud of who you are then you are the one with the problem. I even noticedtheir hairwasn't much to talk about either, the mother hadchemically treated hair and the daughter was wearing a weave thatdidn't even suit her and looked like a ragged mop which I told them so. I really didn't want to get into this sort of argument as I felt it was really demeaning and humiliating for us to be carrying on like thatand it really sounded pathetic.I didn't want to lower myself to their standard but whilst we were there they carried on and on with the insults and abuse until I left.When I did get up to leave I went over and said to her that she is no better than me just because she may be a shade browner than me. She claimed she was. I told her that she needs to go and find out about herselfbecause obviously her mother and father is black, so what does that make her. She then got up as if she wanted to fight me. I left with my son who was quite upset by this time. She and her children ran me down to where I had parked my car telling me that Ilook like amonkey and me and my son are ugly. I would add that all this was going on in a place where it was predominantly white people anda lot of them just stood around listening and laughing. I really couldn't believe what was going on myself. I was so shocked that inthe year 2006, black people really still havethis kind of mentality and it seems clear to me that things will never change between us as black people. We have no love or respect for each other and I really can't see it getting any better.



I would be glad to hear your views.

Glorybee....sorry you went through that. Some people are just igno9rant and will have to learn the hard way.

Rise above it, if you can.

GloryBee: whilst I am distressed to hear of your experience and sorry you had to endure such behaviour...I really need to make a couple of points...

1. What you experienced is NOT racism, unpleasant as it was that idiot despite her prejudices had no power to influence your life in anyway except to cause you temporary distress.. I am not even sure that this idiot was racially abusing youm because the comments you reported were just to stupid for words...

2. I would say if pushed that what you experience was more an example of ignorance and a case of serious self hate. From reading your account, it seemed to me that if someone has to resort to highlighting your skin colour, calling you a monkey and worse denigrating your hair..then it is clear that they have no self esteem or for that matter any form of education...they are to pitied and ignored as the fools they obviously are...personally I would have had their stupid arses arrested for harrassment and threatening behaviour but thats just me...

To conclude although I see why you did it, this is not example of racism, black or otherwise, so therefore the title is misleading...

MGL, she's relating her personal experience. I don't see how that could have already been discussed.

Anyway, Glorybee black people who act like that are a sad, pathetic bunch. They've already accepted that they are inferior to whitesand since it's impossible for them to have any sense of self worth whileseeingthemselves asinferior, they must go in search ofother black peopleto abuse.Their self-esteem actually depends on it because when you think of yourself as a lesser being than someone, you need to find other people to bring down with you and preferably make them feel like they'relower than you so that you don't end upat the very bottom of the rung. This is the way that a lot of non-whitepeople operate. They can't fight white supremacy so they join them and once they have accepted their inferior status, they need to find people to take their frustrations out on.

In grade 9, I made the mistake of snubbing off one of these people, he went ballistic andproceeded to try and make my life difficult because how dare I turn him down when he's lighter than me.:?

The fact that she felt the need to call you names that whites areso fond of refering to black people as, is very telling of that woman's state of mind.Please don't even start to entertain her vitriol for a second. If she wants to spend her life on her knees looking up to whitey, then let her.Just don't let her bring you down with her.

Whatyou experieced was precisely racism in its simplist formatt and in the form of how it indeed began amongst white people.

Another person exerted their hate towards you because of your colour was perhaps darker than them. You were different than they were.

Had they had the power to influence your lifethen indeed you would have sufferred the consequences.

However to suggest this isnt racism is like suggesting a plant cannont develop into a fully grown tree.

Furthermore we dont know who these people are and exactly what power they do pocess to negatively influence other black peoples lives.

Colourism which it could be called, racism, or prejudice all have one common denomintor.

Hate.

Therefore its all a load of convienent bollocks to try and manoverve between them.

Best advice was like the others have mentioned. Show some poise, put poeple in their places and move on.

Glorybee - yep had that from friends and family, when the crunch comes it's how dark you are which dictates why you're disagreement is a disagreement. Had a close friend whoon one or two occasions called me a black crust, could take it on the chin but it doesn't denythe mentality is there....and you just know the other friendsall had it as well

It's human nature, in an argument how manyAfrican diasporans have called a continental African a bubu. It's the mentality that acknowledges 'I am of Africandescent, but I am not African'. This mentality is rife among our people, even amongthose who claim to have your back.

It's all part of this fake existence somelive where we call ourselves brothas and sistas for nothing more thanpacification.

...at the same time the crowd I moved in it wasn't unusual for the red skin brotha to be called a whiteboy in certain arguments. The same things are regularly said in humourous situations and nothing further is thought of it.

Glorybee - next time just tell her you're going for a sunbathe to get even darker...just for her!

[align=left]Why is it only new members have these really harrowing tales??
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[/align][align=left][img]http://www.ambrosiasw.com/%7Eandrew/funny/bullsh*t.jpg[/img]
[/align][align=left] This is a complete fable.
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stick-upkid - maybe some people are posting with more than one name.

Kunjufu wrote: Thank you for your comments. The only other word that I could use to describethis person would be 'prejudice' towards darker skinned people which to meis not too dissimilar from being racist. Hada white person made all those derrogatoryremarksand made reference to my skin colour that would clearly be looked upon as racism whether or not thatperson was in a position of authority or just an ordinary street person. It makes no difference whether the perpetrator is black or white, the fact remainsthat they have a problem with black people thus making them racist/prejudice.

This person clearly showed me that she doesn't like darker skinned people and had she herself been in a position of authority where I had applied for a job, yes shewouldhave refused me the job based on my skin colour.She wouldn't exactly say she is not giving me the jobbased onskin colourbut would have refused me for some other reason which I would have to accept.I believe that if someone is racist then they are racist right across the board the only difference is that someone in authority would of course have the power to affect your liberty.

There is nothing imaginery about what happened. It is a true fact that it did happen. The woman clearly stated that she doesn't like dark skinned people and doesn't talk to people like me. Doesn't that suggest racism/prejudice in its purist form? So to suggest that I have used the word racism wrongly, I would strongly disagree with you.