Shades of Brown

I can remember like it was yesterday Mamas, when I had this encounter with ignorance. I was dropping off my son at school. The doors were closed to the classroom so we had to wait. Another mother and her child waited at the door with us. She asked me "Is that your son?" I felt confused and said yes. She began to say that the little boy she had wasn't her son but was dropping him off for a friend. Funny, how I assumed that the little boy she had was her son without judgement of appearance. She then begin to tell me my son reminded her of her son. I get that line so many times I would be rich if I got money for it. I thought in my head really you think so. Then she went on to say people always think that her son is not her child because he is lighter and has "good hair". Not only did she comment on that but then begin to talk about her friends. I think this is where I felt sad. Her friends are very dark in complexion and had a child together. The child came out light brown. The sister said thank God the child came out light brown, because she would have no hope in the appearance department if she had her parent's skin tone. You know Mamas I had to interject in the matter because she was saying this madness around small children. I told her black is beautiful no matter how dark the skin may be. Not only did I tell her that but I told her Christ is Black. Rev1:14 His head and his hairs were white like wool, as white as snow; and his eyes were as a flame of fire; 15 And his feet like unto fine brass, as if they burned in a FURNACE; and his voice as the sound of many waters. Something burned in the furnace won't be white or light brown. Now would you say Christ is ugly if he came down in your presence?

I saw the ignorance and self hate and felt sad that she has lost out onthe beauty of black skin. We come in so many different shades of the earth. We can be as dark as the soft soil, reddish brown like clay, and light brown like the sand on the beach. Christ made us beautiful like him but we let society and other people brainwash us to think differently. I have seen so many times on t.v. a black man say " That baby ain't mine, she too light!" Two light brown people can get together and have a dark brown baby. My twin is dark brown and my other sisters and I are a lighter brown. People would ask us why is she darker than us. Mamas, we have to retrain our thinking and not pass it on to the next generation. I heard my Grandma say crazy stuff like "All that yellow wasted." I cant knock her because she came from a generation that were taught to hate their skin. It's time to come out of the slave mentality that has been embedded in our heads. We are much better than that. Christ compared us to a speckled bird , Jeremiah 12:9Mine heritage is unto me as a SPECKLED bird,the birds round about are against her; come ye, assemble all the beasts of the field, come to devour. We come in array of browns from the darkest to the lightest of the spectrum of brown. Let us remember who we are and love the skin were in.

-Peace Mamas