MORE THAN JUST YOUR SKIN COLOR.

‘They call you woman of color, man of color, that’s ok. But you are not black” – Rev Chris OYAKHILOME.

Hie loves, today’s topic is very dear to my heart. This might be a long one so grab a snack, cup of coffee and sit comfortably. I will try my best to detach my emotions so l communicate my thoughts clearly. Let’s get into it!

For a very long time, dating back to centuries ago people of color have been taken for slavery, killed, abused and colonised. I think it’s because other ‘races’ considered them to be premitive, barbaric and feeble minded. Mainly because the African continent had so many mineral resources but hadn’t ‘developed’ as other continents. I always imagine how it would have been, if Africa had not been colonised by white people. Lupitha N’yongo said ‘Wakanda is a clear depiction of what Africa would have become if it had been allowed to develop at its own pace, without being forced by colonization’. I believe her.

I used to be a big fanatic of the #blacklivesmatter movement because l used to identify myself with that color and my heart broke everytime a person of color was killed, merely because they are ‘black’. I have studied a lot about the discrimination that comes as a result of color, dating back to slavery, being the empath lam, l made a decision to stand by #blacklivesmatter.

After watching a teaching by Pastor Chris and he said that we are not black, because black means absent and it is associated with everything bad. Thieves, black magic, witchcraft, hell and the devil. I sat and tried to understand what he meant and a thought hit me while l was having dinner with my mum that l shouted and Said ‘mum! mum! I get it now! I get it now!’. Here is what l explained to her….

The reason why some races are against black lives matter is because they still identify us as black. If we are being honest with ourselves, ‘black people’ are usually not considered as humans, they are seen as animals, machines. That is why they were enslaved because their SKIN COLOR was different. It was seen as ‘black’, which is associated with darkness and worthless. I told my mum that ‘mummy before we were colonised, did we see ourselves as’ black’, emphatically No! We used to go hunting and gathering, happily. Our skin color was never a subject.

In my own opinion, the colonisers called African people ‘black’ to cripple their minds. To set a gap, to enslave them, to paralyze their ability, to lame them, to take away their voice, to take away their land, to take away their culture, TO DOMINATE THEM.This is why many generations still oppress people of color because they performed better than they expected, they later retaliated, took back their land, renowned part of their voice. But l believe they have not been able to recover and rediscover their full identity and potential. This is because post trauma from slavery and colonization has had a stronghold on people of color.

So when we say #blacklivesmatter we are not doing ourselves good, we are still calling ourselves using the name THEY GAVE US. We are AFRICANS not BLACK. Therefore #ourlivesmatter. Our skin is not black. We refuse to identify ourselves by merely our color because even amongst us, there are different shade of ‘black’ and this causes another problem which is colorism (racism amongst people of color). Colorism exists because we believe the closer you are to being ‘white’ the better. This is one of the signs of the post trauma from slavery and colonization.

Many people have been killed mercilessly at the pity of police in America and beyond because they are ‘black’. If we remove the whole ‘black’ and ‘white’ people phenomenon we have a #HUMANRACE. We are all humans and the earlier we acknowledge that the better. If we could remove skin color as a factor racism would stop. If we are to identify each other as human, and not with our skin color or shades, we would deal with all the killings. They kill them because of their skin color, forgetting they are human beings. So if we all live in the consciousness that we all are human beings, we all have souls, minds, bodies and function the same. A white person has breath the same way a person of color does. So we are all the same. Racism needs to stop, we don’t need to be divided because of ‘skin color’. What does color have to do with this? Your skin color doesn’t determine your intelligence, hardwork or wisdom. It’s just a color…. ( and well we can’t ignore the science behind the way your skin color is the way it is…)

My dear Africans. YOU ARE NOT Black, you are human beings. (this will hit different if you understand the difference). So it’s not #blacklivesmatter it’s #ourlivesmatter because when you kill, you are not killing a skin color, but a human being…. Stop it……

Last week l watched a video and a man said “light women look cleaner than’ dark’ women”. This is self hate at its best because the man was a very dark men. The thing is, identifying ourselves as black creates a wrong slef image which causes us to hate our own. That is why Africans kill each other because they are their own enemies. They now believe White is superior and we are inferior. Stop it Africans, don’t judge people based on how close their shade is to being white. Why is your self esteem so low that you hate other people of color to such an extent, it’s distasteful, offensive…. You are hating your own, yourself.

This has been intense. I feel like crying, honestly. We need to wake up and realize how divided we have become because of just skin color, mere skin color. It’s not worth it. I hope as you wake up tomorrow and look in the mirror you are not seeing a black woman or black man, but you see a determined someone, someone who has hope and future, someone who is MORE THAN JUST THEIR SKIN COLOR.

I love you all, but God loves you more. See you again next week. 🥂🥂