Problem: Skin Tone Pride

Running errands this morning, I pulled up alongside a car bearing an incredibly large sticker in the window reading "White Pride."

Shocking, isn't it?

The driver didn't appear to fit into the stereotype of the shaved-head young twenty-something militia-type male...instead it was a 30-something woman, dressed relatively tastefully (from my view in the window), chatting away on her cell phone. (That was the second of two reasons I no longer wished to be anywhere near her car.)

It is simply appaling that in this day and age people exist who both take pride in the tint of their skin, (a genetically-dictated trait...not one they can control, nor one they have selected,) and who see fit to advertise their obvious bias toward a particular shade or pigment of flesh.

I am "white." I've been called white, caucasian, "of European descent," and a whole host of other not-so-nice expressions for my skin shade, which is somewhere between peach and pale beige. If you were to pick up color from a box of crayons to mimic my skin tone, it would probably be some pale variety of peach. That's fine with me. But I'd be just as fine with it if the crayon were dark brown, bronze, or anything in the color spectrum from deepest chocolate brown to albino pale. My concern is not so much the shade of my skin but the way I'm treated because of it AND the way I think of myself and others with regards to skin tone.

And just how DO I think of myself? Probably the way you do: I have x amount of skin pigment, which gives me the look I sport on a day-to-day basis, but otherwise, barring sunburns and wrinkles, I don't give my skin much thought, color or otherwise.

The woman in the car next to me obviously felt differently, and there is very little I can do to change her mind, unfortunately. By advertising her "pride of ownership" over a pale body covering, she has very effectively announced her opinions - about herself, her ancestry, and others who do not share that skin tone. And her opinions, rather than making me want to "high-five" her, make me instead roll my eyes, cringe, and look away. I also worry for her: put her in the wrong neighborhood, and she'll be shot. Some would argue "One less stupid white woman," right? Not so. One more hate crime based on unecessary race-based pride and hatred in the first place. Why on earth would this woman wish to advertise those opinions? White pride is not popular, cool, Godly, respectable, reasonable, inclusive, or anywhere close to healthy. Quite the opposite: it's sickening. Dividing. Ridiculous. Even, if you catch my meaning, obscene. White pride. Disgusting.

I hope it makes you as sick as it made me.

Now, a confession: The sticker did NOT say White Pride. It said "Brown Pride." Are you every bit as sickened? Every bit as bothered? Instead of the skinhead stereotype, are you picturing another stereotype - perhaps a young twenty-something Mexican with a shaved head and mustache all tatted-up in a low rider? Not so, my friend. It was a thirty-something Latina, well-dressed and on her cell phone in an Altima. Does that make it okay?

Of course not. It's still as sickening, dividing, ridiculous, and obscene. For her to advertise her race-based pride and hatred is almost as bad as the fact that it exists at all...that she finds it both necessary and appropriate to inform others that her marginally darker skin tone is something to be proud of. And what is pride, really?

According to Dictionary.com, it has a number of meanings, very few of them anything resembling healthy: a high or inordinate opinion of one's own dignity, importance, merit, or superiority, whether as cherished in the mind or as displayed in bearing, conduct, etc. That's one. Another: a becoming or dignified sense of what is due to oneself or one's position or character. DUE to oneself, huh? Try a third: pleasure or satisfaction taken in something done by or belonging to oneself or believed to reflect credit upon oneself. Pleasure or satisfaction taken in a hereditarily-passed skin pigment. Wow. Want to know the synonyms? They're great. Get this: conceit, egotism, and vanity. And here's the kicker to the whole thing: search for "pride" on dictionary.com and then check out the advertisement column at right...one of the "related ads" has a link, and it says "Brown Pride." Then there are those who take it to the other, self-righteous extreme. I won't go into it, but this is an interesting page: http://mysorebutt.com/white-pride.php It's still (more or less, but at least they make a point) unacceptable.

Since when is it appropriate to put one's genes above anothers? To take pride in a skin tone passed from a forebear? To reinstate Nazi ideals linked to a different skin tone? Now, American pride or Latino pride or African-American pride, fine. That's a matter of culture, and I can tell you here and now that I'm proud of my American heritage and I love a good hotdog on the barbee. But white pride? Brown pride or black pride? Give me a break. The statement alone implies that the owner of a given shade of skin believes themselves to be possesed of, what was it?, "a high or inordinate opinion of one's own...importance, merit, or superiority." That is simply not acceptable behavior, whether coming from an adult or from a child who should have been taught better by an adult.

How do we change it? Now, that's the question. And, as usual, it falls to the correction of personal attitudes and behaviors, and setting an example for others who exhibit poor behavior. We abolish pride - particularly where it's based on something as ridiculous and uncontrollable as skin color! - in our own lives, and refuse to buy the "Brown Pride" t-shirts, the "Black Power" window stickers, the "White Pride" banners. We deign to acknowledge the biggots who wear and display them. We treat all people as equals regardless of pigment...unless they choose to prove to us that they do not deserve the respect we offer, in which case we attempt to extend the benefit of the doubt because they might be having a bad day. And most importantly, we choose not to be offended.

Know someone who advertises pride due to flesh tint? Chat with them about it...tactfully. But the most important thing is working on ourselves; making the decision that our skin pigment (or lack thereof) is just that: pigment, not person. And then treat others the way God would have you treat them...like people.

Problem solved,

Mommy