50 Shades of Chocolate

Our skin is an organ, in fact; it is the body’s largest organ. An adult can carry about eight pounds and twenty-two square feet of it. It protects us from the elements and shields us from becoming walking infections. If the skin is so significant, why do we use it to demean, damage, and separate ourselves from others? When I was a baby a woman stopped my mother in a grocery store aisle to express what a beautiful baby I was. She then proceeded to abruptly ask my mother “Who’s baby is this?” Full discloser, here is a little background on my family’s color chart. My mother is caramel brown, my father is dark chocolate brown, my sister mocha brown, and I am coco brown. To say the least, we are a chocolate rainbow, our coloring may vary but we are still very connected. Feeling as though someone's skin pigment makes them inferior is cowardice. Look at the people around you and try not to see their color as different. It is unique, cultural, and interesting. The body tells a story. It is a window into a person’s life, culture, pain, and experiences. To be an individual is to be different. We all embody our family’s lineage and their journey along with our own. In this story the issue was not a woman complimenting a baby, the issue came from the woman trying to compartmentalize how two people can be connected based on the color of their skin. Her response gave my mother the impression that she could not grasp the possibility of two people being biologically related without having a similar skin tone. In cultures where skin tone variations do not stray far from one another, this can be seen as a foreign concept. However, the assumption that it is okay to judge someone based on appearances is nonsensical. Ask questions and educate yourself, but never assume that because something is unfamiliar to you it is impossible. If you are still wondering how my mother addressed the woman’s comment, she simply stated facts “She is my flesh and blood.” Enough said.