Monday, November 15, 2021

Kids who Wish for Lighter Skin

Pakistani-American Wajahat Ali writes in the NY Times:
My 5-year-old daughter, Nusayba, twirled around in her princess dress, fixing her silver tiara and checking out her newly applied eye shadow and red lipstick in the bathroom mirror. Then she examined her beautiful, brown skin.

“I don’t like my skin color,” she declared. “I wish my skin was lighter. It’s prettier.”

The man continues to explain how he and all his Pakistaani relativies are obsessed with skin coloer.Much more than any White Americans I haave ever met.

He also explains how he is bitter and resentful towards other ethnic groups. Again, much more so that any White Americans I know.

Importing these Pakistanis is importing racial and skin-color hatred.

I grew up in a Pakistani immigrant home, where the obsession with pursuing light skin tone was as common as eating dal-chawal with our hands or hearing the adhan for prayer. An auntie at the birthday party would offer comments such as, “She’s so beautiful, but, tragically, she is dark-skinned” or “For a girl with dark skin, she’s actually pretty.” ...

I tried my best to get her into “Ms. Marvel,” a comic book series about a Pakistani American Muslim superheroine, but she prefers Elsa and Anna from “Frozen.”

You would think that he would appreciate America for being much more tolerant than his native Pakistan. But no, he hates America.

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