Ankitha Ramaiyer
TRIGGER WARNING: Colorism
Dear Fairness Cream Companies,
Well, not so dear.
Have you no morals?
Ever looked at your models?
Virgins to sunlight; skin so pale,
Starved and bleached and left so frail
Made the beauty industry a catastrophe
Leaving young girls' skin prey to atrophy
"7 shades whiter in just 7 days"
Brown skin is what you aim to erase
Counting your bills for criticism and pain infliction
You chose to pick on her complexion
You told her that she needed correction
Leaving her with neither confidence nor expression
You discriminated against dark skin
In a country filled with melanin
Made the beauty standards impossible to reach
Drowning her self-esteem and fortitude in bleach
Disappointed in looking at her own reflection
Unable to fulfil her in-laws' expectations
She decided to slap on that cream and foundation
And tried to hide her "imperfection"
Because art and beauty were only fair skin
And fairness was desired by her own kin
Termed her dark face as ruined and ravaged
Now thought of herself was nothing but damaged
You placed vanity above sanity
I call this inhumanity
How do you live with this insanity?
With your creams, pastes, “neembu ka rass,” "haldi,” and "mitti"
Dear people who buy fairness creams,
Dear people who have dark skin,
Dear people who are not of this so-called "ideal" shade,
Dear beautiful people.
Yes, you may be a person of dark skin
But not as dark as the souls who created that substance for you to douse your face in
Not as dark as the hearts of those who created a need for that cream
And not as dark as the minds of those who slaughtered your dream
And aunty, while you sit there nonchalantly
Sipping on chai, judging me exhaustively
Saying, “arrey, men want fair girls, beti”
I will not douse myself in your scorn and pity
While that fairness cream can make you “7 shades whiter in just 7 days"
That fairness cream
Cannot make you 7 times smarter
7 times stronger
7 times braver
And come on certainly not 7 times lovelier
We are the definition of beauty
Colour of the earth, we stand with unity,
Strongly, smartly, bravely, gracefully
We are not fair, but we sure are lovely.