Melanin Compromise

Light Skinned Women are African women.

Seated in a rattan chair proud!

Seen Johnson.

Being labeled 'light skinned' in the vernacular of Black Americans, historically, is either an indictment against those of the darker hue, or a vain appeal to whites to be accepted as white! The spirit of the distinction is racially based as a compromise to being African and being less in value than white women, who were not valued beyond chattel by white men! Being called light skinned was a compliment in the way that divided consciousness. It left some believing they were better than or less than, and somehow excused the fact of being African from the equation of identity. It was and is sabotage.

Blacks insisting on clinging to this manipulation do not own their own images; whites do. A problem of their freedom is their misperceptions of identity leading to an assortment of problematic thinking that renders powerless the truth of who they actually are, and as an exchange their souls and minds back into the mindset of being owned. Scientifically, they come to not know what melanin is, nor its distinction. Their belief in science reverses the natural order of things believing what is recessive is dominate. It doesn't matter to them the truth. What matters is impotence and fear. This is a crushing ideology, but heavily defended in daily life. 

All that is being said is Blacks in America do not see the African. Blacks see white to be seen by whites as equals, as co-creators in a democracy not made for them. The truth of Black power is in knowing. The strength of Black power are its truths. Why the collective does not own their own images is a riddle asking to be unraveled, but is rivaled by fear; fears of the white people. This is what white people know, and fear because if Black Americans became more than a color, and property, or mere symbols of the guilt whites own, and live by; white people would have no perception of power to believe is their power! The bondage here is two-fold shared by white people and Black people.  

In 1918, U.S. senator, Hiram Johnson said, "The first casualty of war is truth." From the moment white men accepted their Doctrine of Discovery as truth, and from God; they killed the truth of their nature, and became less human. This began the unique history of Europeans as slavers, and this demented perception of life became a way of life that led to the founding of America. In the midst of all the turmoil of comeuppance the Arab people are the most threatening to national security meaning national security is not the protection of the country, but security against the evitable karma of conquest and brutality. Killers cannot numb themselves enough from this eventuality and the U.S. is not exempt. What else protects us from recognizing these truths are the assumptions of supremacy and the fear of detection by righteousness.

But, the Arabs are clear. 

The last attacks on London by ISIS made it clear in the words they posted: "Kill the Civilians of the Crusaders. Run Over Them by Vehicles. Gain Benefit from Ramadhan." The American entertainment news did not dissect the text for viewers, and with this industry and the War Department's best interests at heart, viewers were aided by the overall lack of historical depth the American public is known for. I recognize that there are many reading this who will not know what word draws attention to the core issue of the wars between the Arabs and the Europeans! But, despite that the illusion of fighting for our freedom insists on being the national justification for what we do against others!  

What is denied by Black Americans is how African spirituality from throughout Western Africa via the slave trade evolved and survived within African women in the African Diaspora. It ranks them as the most profoundly beautiful among women in the world! This is salvation for a people. Nationally, this depth of insight and possibilities is outside the possibilities of not reconciling with others, but of being able to become human, to become whole.


Gregory E. Woods, Keeper of Stories 
June 9, 2017

2 dangers in the truth.

Black & white of a Black woman by Roland Dawson. 2016.

"The challenge and the beauty of this photograph is the gulp of air taken in that doesn't come out, and the inability to overcome from the feel of the image to speak coherently!" ~ Gregory E. Woods, Keeper of Stories [June 12, 2017]