Fair Skinned = Beauty?

As I made my return from the city, the comments of one of my kids the previous week was playing a solitary note repeatedly in my brain. What did he say that was so jarring? Nothing psychotic, as many of my kids are prone to do. Actually it was a sincere declarations of his taste.

Basically, he said that he preferred fair skinned girls, specifically using the terms "White and Spanish." The reason I found it troubling is the fact that he is a dark skinned boy. When his skin recently started to go through changes, he hoped that he was becoming lighter. Do you see why I am a bit worried?

He's so interesting to me because he's an encapsulation of some of the issues the Black community faces today. He's proud of his blackness, I know that. When he first came to the program, we bonded over the song "I'm Black" by Styles P. He also reaches his most violent if someone uses the "N-Word" around him. But his preference for fair, and near-disgust for dark, troubles me so much.

It's weird because I have always been a member of the Rainbow Coalition. In high school I had dalliances with Asians and Jews. My first extended girlfriend was Japanese and Black. Coffee Bean is Indian. But I've always had the perspective that everyone was beautiful, never saying that the Jewish girl was hotter than the Jamaican.

His statement makes me wonder if he has some sort of inner hatred. During the weekend, I sadly found myself comparing the different attributes of the women I saw. I am sad to admit it. Ashamed that I even questioned myself. But luckily, my earlier suspicions came through and I found no difference. So why does he?

Is it because he hasn't seen prospects to match his interests? Or is it that all the things he's gone through have made him resentful of the melanin he carries? I'm not exactly sure where I'm going with all this but I had to get it off my chest.