source of photo: Thegrio.com
A few weeks ago I emceed a beauty pageant at a London location. Meeting the contestants vying for the crown, I instantly knew the light skinned mixed-race girl would be the winner.
Why? Because most black Africans from all the 53 plus countries and islands that make up the continent have a psychological disease called the “Light Skin Complex” (LSC).
The LSC disease remains largely un-diagnosed as affected persons refuse to acknowledge this terrible psychological ailment. Africans in general have largely dismissed LSC as non-existent because, as with most matters concerning Africans, they need to see, touch and feel before believing it.
Genealogy
LSC begins to manifest itself during the early childhood years of the African child. Growing up, they are surrounded by foreign adverts and imported goods brandishing models with features dissimilar to theirs. The school textbooks tell of far away countries with their neatly arranged row of houses and beautiful manicured lawns. They carry pictures of blue eyed curly girls baking jam tarts for 4th of July, and of a snow-white Christmas with turkey and apple pie.
The African child is thrown into an adopted Western culture from birth, forcing them to accept it as the yardstick measurement for an accepted living standard.
Most recently, the 21st century African child is being force-fed the Asian culture – namely Chinese and Indian.
You see, from the moment it is born, the African child is taught unknowingly to self-hate, embracing everything and everyone but its own-self. They know more about the Dykes of Holland than the Savanna Highlands (Cameroon). They know more about the Delaware car industry than the International Soap Factory (Cameroon). They can quote Shakespeare faster than Ngugi wa Thiong’o (Kenya).
They know Mao Tse-tung and the Great Leap Forward, and don’t know Sundiata Keita (Mali). They have heard of both Queen Elizabeths but haven’t the foggiest idea about Queen Nzinga (Angola).
Queen Nzinga of Angola
Prognosis
Diagnosing LSC is easy and free. Carriers of the disease display symptoms of a crater deep inferiority complex, resulting in sheepish behaviour around individuals they consider “better than them” because of their complexion. Affected persons often act mute and are not themselves. In Pidgin-English we say “shake-shake like old dross”, meaning they literally rattle like a rattle snake and are extremely nervous and sweaty.
Sadly, these persons do not recognise they have been struck with LSC.
Extreme caution needs to be taken when diagnosing LSC carriers, as it can result in confrontation and violence.
Characteristics
The disease generally has no gender or income bias and is known to attack all genders from a wide range of background. However, black male Africans appear to bear the brunt of LSC as it is often common practice amongst this group to purposely form liaisons with lighter skin counterparts, in the hope that it raises their esteem amongst right thinking members of society. It is regarded as unearthing a huge pot of gold and commands respect, pride and admiration.
Ironically, affected persons turn out to be the educated unenlightened from rich backgrounds. The rich are wealthy and educated, yet fundamentally blighted by this psychological disease.
On the other hand, the poor who are affected by LSC welcome it as an acceptance of self-worth which enables them to step into the right social circles.
Treatment
The cure for LSC is cheap and freely available to all: enlightenment and an education revolution.
Many affected persons see education as a way out but as shown above, education is often processed and manufactured depriving them of their true identity. There exist many educated unenlightened Africans; the Oxford or Princeton graduate is still found to hold intrinsic primordial and archaic values.
The tragedy of the educated Africans is that they come out more disconnected from Africa, confused and bewildered by the jammed boxed infusion of the different cultures they’ve been thrown at all their lives.
They are like a broken porcelain vase – too beautiful to throw away but of absolutely no use.
Looking forward
LSC remains widely endemic amongst most Africans. Because it is not acknowledged, help is hard to come by. LSC has given rise to a type of psychological dysmorphia commonly found in Africans.
Yes, the light skin mixed-raced contestant won the prize, and was crowned queen of the night, making her the third light skinned girl to win this competition in a three-year-run successively.
And you wonder why the little girl flicking through the pages of her mother’s glossy magazine dominated by beautiful ladies looking nothing like her, does not hesitate to bleach her skin pawpaw yellow.
And you wonder why the little boy grows up into a man – psychologically distorted seeking only light skinned women for companionship.
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